The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:32 am

PtB explained my problem better than me. It's the "battle" in the name that irks me. Yes it is Tolkien but unsuitable as a title of a film or book imo. "War of the Five Armies" actually sounds nice.And there are even more THEs in BOFA!It is THE Hobbit: THE Battle of THE five armies

Passdagas the Brown wrote:I also hope that the battle doesn't totally swallow the film as Helm's Deep did TTT. That was my least favorite sequence across the LOTR films.

I thought you said Weathertop was.

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:38 am

It is.

And Helm's Deep. And the Paths of the Dead. And the Flight to the Ford. And...

Post by **Frelga** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:48 pm

I do not agree with dear Frelga's last sentence, not at all. It doesn't sound like a videogame. It sounds like Tolkien's name for the battle that forms the heart of the last part of the story being adapted. It makes perfect sense.

I don't think it's the heart. More like the left kidney, important but nothing you can't live without.

Post by **Smaug's voice** » Mon Apr 28, 2014 7:33 pm

Might be of interest to some

‘The Battle of the Five Armies’ is the right name for the third Hobbit film - Tolkien Society

Mon Apr 28, 2014 8:33 pm

I agree with most of what he says.

Post by **Elentári** » Fri May 02, 2014 7:23 am

TBotFA Official logo...

Post by **Elentári** » Fri May 02, 2014 11:01 am

Video clip: Smaug will be a killing machine!

Post by **Alatar** » Fri May 02, 2014 11:06 am

I am a little concerned that PJ will feel the need to top Pelennor Fields and Helms Deep. From a book standpoint, this was a pretty minor battle surely?

Post by **Elentári** » Fri May 02, 2014 11:12 am

Are you referring to Smaug attacking Lake-town, as in the clip above, or the actual Bot5A?

The latter, certainly, should be a smaller skirmish, on the scale of Helm's Deep, no more. But it seems doubtful PJ will find any restraint now - and indeed, should he not "top" Pelennor, would movie critics slam it for failing to do so?

Post by **Alatar** » Fri May 02, 2014 11:54 am

Well, you can see their logic. Pelennor was basically Men against Orcs. Including the Dwarves and Elves, you would have to expect a bigger, more impressive battle. Particularly now that Movieverse has established Elves as Superhuman acrobatic battle ninjas.

Also, I got the impression that the clip above was referring to both Laketown and the BOFA and various times?

Post by **Dave_LF** » Fri May 02, 2014 1:12 pm

Elentári wrote:TBotFA

Man; that acronym is so much more annoying than any of the others. I'm sticking with BFA (B5A would be kind of svelte, but it requires tricky shifting).

And I don't care what urbandictionary says; it just makes the discussions more entertaining!

Post by **Elentári** » Fri May 02, 2014 2:27 pm

Dave, I can't decide which acronym to settle for yet...still trying them all out!

Alatar wrote:.

Also, I got the impression that the clip above was referring to both Laketown and the BOFA and various times?

Hmm...it was certainly confusing, but I think Clayton was purely referring to the "battle" of Lake-town...he references the fleeing inhabitants and having Smaug - so unless this is confirmation that Smaug will be at the Bot5A, (:nono: ) I just think "battle" was a bit of a misleading description...

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Fri May 02, 2014 2:28 pm

I'm not exactly sure why, but I have a very bad feeling about this film...

Fri May 02, 2014 3:18 pm

Of course you do!

Al wrote:Also, I got the impression that the clip above was referring to both Laketown and the BOFA and various times?

Yes, I definitely had that impression, even watching it after having read this exchange here. And I also have the impression that the attack on Laketown may well be the opening of the film, without any other prologue. Although maybe I am taking "opening sequence" too literally.

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Fri May 02, 2014 3:49 pm

Given the massiveness of the "pre-destruction" Dale set, I am still expecting to see some sort of extended Dale flashback, either at the beginning of TBOTFA (worst. acronym. ever) or somewhere else.

I really, really hope that the actual battle feels real, substantive and consequential. This is one set piece that can be utterly destroyed by an over-reliance on CGI insanity, and I hope PJ thinks about going out with more than just a bang.

Post by **Alatar** » Fri May 02, 2014 4:23 pm

We've been calling it BOFA for years. Why change now?

Its not like anyone called The Desolation of Smaug TDOS?

Post by **Elentári** » Fri May 02, 2014 4:50 pm

Voronwë the Faithful wrote:Of course you do!

Al wrote:Also, I got the impression that the clip above was referring to both Laketown and the BOFA and various times?
Yes, I definitely had that impression, even watching it after having read this exchange here. And I also have the impression that the attack on Laketown may well be the opening of the film, without any other prologue. Although maybe I am taking "opening sequence" too literally.

Okay, watched again for the third time, I get what you guys are on about now...dreadful cutting! Clayton only references "the battle" briefly, never the full name, and immediately returns to talking about Smaug in Lake-town again. Even the second screen cap is not an explicit reference to the actual Bo5A. However I agree that Clayton's final comment about an epic conclusion to the trilogy can only be referring to the Bo5A.

Post by **Elentári** » Wed May 14, 2014 5:13 pm

From Total Film issue 220 interview with Martin Freeman

http://www.totalfilm.com/magazine#null

Mostly concerns MF's role in Fargo, but there is this snippet about Bo5A, courtesy of Bexlin on TORn:

"For out in December, of course, is the final part of The Hobbit, with Freeman again shouldering the immense action and spectacle as diminutive hero Bilbo Baggins. At the time of writing, there is speculation that the third installment could change its title from There And Back Again to Into The Fire, with the new moniker registered by parent company New Line. But whatever the title, Freeman’s confident the film will deliver, and he’s here to assure any fans worrying that Tolkien’s slim volume won’t spread over a third movie.
“We obviously all signed up for two films [Freeman was officially announced as Bilbo in October 2010], but I tend to trust Pete’s decision, because he’s the man in charge and he’s done it before and he knows the world better than anybody does,” he says. “We still have the Battle of the Five Armies, the death of Smaug…” He pauses, laughs. “Yes, Smaug gets it! That’s not giving too much away – I’m glad it’s an old book!”
As to the details, he can’t say too much. And we’re not even talking confidentiality agreements here, just pragmatics. “You have to understand,” he explains, “I know very little about the Battle of Five Armies because there weren’t really 53,000 people doing it, and it’s no secret that a lot of this stuff is fantastic use of CGI. I mean, Bilbo has had his journey, literally, all through the battle bit, and through the seeing off of Smaug, but lots of stuff goes on that I, as Martin, have no idea of. But I do know it’ll be good because Pete’s one of the best choreographers of war I’ve ever seen. What I love about him is there’s always human cost. It’s not just gung-ho slicing of swords; he always cuts to someone terrified.”

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Wed May 14, 2014 5:59 pm

Freeman's comments about PJ always sound like very faint praise...

Post by **Passdagas the Brown** » Wed May 14, 2014 9:10 pm

There seems to be a serious drought of BOFA-related news. Shouldn't we have at least a v-log at this point?