Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett
Fans have been a bit hesitant when it comes to The Hobbit movies. I can understand the frustration as Peter Jackson and his writing team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens took one book and turned it into three movies by adding characters and taking details from the appendices. So far, they are nowhere near as good as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I feel like The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was heading in the right direction.
It's Comic-Con time which means we get the first glimpse at the new "teaser" trailer for the final installment, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. I have a strong inclination that this will be the best of this trilogy. Jackson may redeem himself from how the series started. I haven't read the book yet which I am embarrassed to admit, but I think that makes it a bit easier to judge the movies without any preconceived notions of what Tolkien's story originally had in store.
For all the LOTR and Hobbit fans out there, what are your thoughts? Does this third one have promise?
RELEASE DATE: December 17, 2014
Here's the trailer
I was never expecting these movies to reach the heights of LOTR, mostly because, after all, there's not nearly as much at stake in them. In LOTR, the entire fate of Middle-Earth hangs in the balance. Here, it's more about setting those events in motion. Still, the somewhat mixed reaction to the "Hobbit" movies so far has left me somewhat perplexed. I quite enjoy the more leisurely pace of the films; it makes you feel as though they're happening in real time and you're right there with the characters (the same reason I prefer the first 3 seasons of LOST over the last 3). Even the items Jackson & Co. invented (i.e. the Orc pack pursuing the Company on their quest, Legolas and Tauriel in turn then pursuing the Orc pack) seems to fit in well with the spirit of Tolkien. Hell, I feel Legolas got more character development in DOS alone than he did in the entire LOTR trilogy (where his arc was basically just 'I hated Dwarves... but Gimli made me change my mind about them : P). Though I know you said you haven't read the book, I'll just say, unlike in LOTR, there IS in fact top-tier character death in this one. Hopefully that's not spoiling too much.
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