The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies fan reviews... SPOILERS

[Smaug's voice]

I pretty much agree with Jewelsong.
Weathertop's a scene I quite liked. The only odd bits I dislike is the victimised Frodo and Aragorn's torch sticking into the Nazgûl's face. It is a bit different from the book but having Frodo cry Elbereth's name would have complicated matters in my opinion. Having seen the films before reading the books, I remember that scene sent me shivering. I think that was the moment when I was finally drawn into the movie (and Tolkien).
Arwen's ride isn't a good departure from the book. But from a cinematic point of view I think the chase is gorgeously shot. Then we have Arwen blubbering - and it's bad. But it's only a passing moment, barely 3 seconds unlike the two other Tauriel scenes which I'm simply afraid to watch again. Lilly and Liv both overact. But Lilly's is harder to bear given she gets more screentime. (I must mention I liked Tauriel as a character in DoS)
The falling stairs, I didn't even notice the physical flaws till someone pointed out. And that's why I prefer the old PJ. His physics defying scenes are less glaringly obvious than now - barrels, goblintown, forges, Ravenhill don't come even close to the sense of reality in any of Moria's scenes.
Likewise the upside down crawling orcs are no different from the billions of CGI bodies in Goblintown, neither are the cockney trolls different from cockney orcs (who once mentioned the term "picnic" IIRC).

I agree with Di very much that things in LotR annoy me far more than the things in TH. But that's only because I'm far more emotionally invested in LotR and it's characters than in TH (in which I think I cared about only Bilbo, Balin, Bofur and Bard...oh and Gandalf of course).

[Smaug's voice]

Since PJ and co decided to change Thorin's dying words, in the end they make zero sense.

"If more of us valued home above gold..." He says.
Hello? Didn't Thorin and the dwarves set out to reclaim Erebor because it was their home and not because of the treasure? Their intention is stated explicitly in AUJ.

[Smaug's voice]

BTW I must thank the TH films for one thing! They desensitised me so much against Legolas' stunts that now I don't find his LotR acrobatics distracting at all!

[Dave_LF]

Since PJ and co decided to change Thorin's dying words, in the end they make zero sense.

"If more of us valued home above gold..." He says.
Hello? Didn't Thorin and the dwarves set out to reclaim Erebor because it was their home and not because of the treasure? Their intention is stated explicitly in AUJ.

I thought the whole point was that he became obsessed with the treasure and forgot what the quest was really about.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Since PJ and co decided to change Thorin's dying words, in the end they make zero sense.

"If more of us valued home above gold..." He says.
Hello? Didn't Thorin and the dwarves set out to reclaim Erebor because it was their home and not because of the treasure? Their intention is stated explicitly in AUJ.

I quite disagree with this. For the dwarves, and for Thorin in particular, it was never so much because it was their home and much more about the treasure, and the power that the treasure will give him, particularly the Arkenstone. It is Bilbo who is set up from the first film about caring about home, not just his home but their home ("you don't have a home. It was taken from you. And I will help you take it back.") And then after Smaug is killed, it is Bilbo who says that the quest is completed because they have taken back Erebor, whereas Thorin is all about consolidating his power. You will notice that despite the fact that Gandalf says all who comes in contact with the dragon treasure gets infected by its sickness, it really is only those who have are want power that are affected: Thorin, Thranduil, Alfrid, the Master.

[kzer_za]

IAWSV on the LotR movies

The only "bad LotR" thing listed here that significantly bothers me is the Paths of the Dead and some of the Gimli jokes (though there are other things not listed, like Denethor). And to a lesser degree, Frodo could have stood up for himself more. There are plenty of moments in The Hobbit much worse than any of LotR's biggest problems, IMO. The humor is generally better, but even then, there's still Alfrid in BoFA and "I could have anything down my trousers."

Regarding the cockney orcs - the last time I read LotR I was struck by how bad a lot of the orc dialog in "The Uruk-hai" (the chapter) is. PJ's version is worse, but not by that much.

I think the falling staircase is great (and actually has some pretty subtle character moments), but we've been over that plenty of times before.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yes, probably just as well not to revisit the falling staircase.

[Alatar]

Grrrr....

[yovargas]

If the complaint on the staircase are the wonky physics (is it? ), surely we can agree that TH brought us far greater sins in the "wonky physics" category!

[Smaug's voice]

For the dwarves, and for Thorin in particular, it was never so much because it was their home and much more about the treasure, and the power that the treasure will give him, particularly the Arkenstone.

The dwarves' words and actions in AUJ mostly and in some parts of DoS contradict the idea that the dwarves set out to take the treasure than their homeland. It is about retaking their home, with a bunch of dialogues thrown in DoS to indicate Thorin is motivated by the wealth as well. AUJ especially is very inconsistent on this compared to DoS.

Balin: You don't have to do this. You have a choice. You've done honorably by our people. You have built a new life for us in the Blue Mountains, a life of peace, and plenty. A life that is worth more than all the gold in Erebor.

Thorin: From my grandfather to my father, this has come to me. They dreamt of the day when the Dwarves of Erebor would reclaim their homeland. There is no choice Balin. Not for me.

Bofur looks decidedly hurt when Bilbo says they do not have a home.

Gandalf: Take back your homeland.

Thorin: We are the Dwarves of Erebor. We have come to reclaim our homeland.

I think Dave's explanation fits better.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[ot]I love both your signature picture (brilliant) and your new avatar photo![/ot]

[Smaug's voice]

Thanks! kinda cute isn't it?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yup!

[Alatar]

If the complaint on the staircase are the wonky physics (is it? ), surely we can agree that TH brought us far greater sins in the "wonky physics" category!

Nope. Nothing in The Hobbit screams WRONG to me like hundreds of tonnes of rock reversing direction.

[Beutlin]

Just passing by to mention that I absolutely love the staircase scene. It has great pace, there is a sense of danger, and the moment when they finally make it and the “Fellowship theme” is played in its full glory makes me want to rise up and shout: “Hell yeah!”. Plus, that dwarf choir! It is easily a better action scene than virtually any of the action scenes in “The Hobbit” films (maybe excluding the Erebor prologue).

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Since PJ and co decided to change Thorin's dying words, in the end they make zero sense.

"If more of us valued home above gold..." He says.
Hello? Didn't Thorin and the dwarves set out to reclaim Erebor because it was their home and not because of the treasure? Their intention is stated explicitly in AUJ.

I thought the whole point was that he became obsessed with the treasure and forgot what the quest was really about.

Apropos this point, I really like this observation made by "leonmuse" at TORN (who of course also posts here under a different name):

Here's an interesting quote from Thorin which has changed from one film to the other:

AUJ:

Dwalin: Is Dain with us?
Thorin: They will not come. They say this quest is ours and ours alone.

BOTFA:

Thorin to Bilbo: This gold is ours and ours alone. (this is just before or after the part where he literally sounds like Smaug, can't recall precisely!)

I think this illustrates Dave's point quite nicely.

[Pearly Di]

Just passing by to mention that I absolutely love the staircase scene. It has great pace, there is a sense of danger, and the moment when they finally make it and the “Fellowship theme” is played in its full glory makes me want to rise up and shout: “Hell yeah!”.

Oh, me too!

And I love the dwarf choir.

[Sunsilver]

[OT] Smaug's Voice, you need to add one thing to that picture:

"Middle Earth, from a dragon named Smaug. You wouldn't know him by any chance, would you?" [/OT]

[Frelga]

Just passing by to mention that I absolutely love the staircase scene. It has great pace, there is a sense of danger, and the moment when they finally make it and the “Fellowship theme” is played in its full glory makes me want to rise up and shout: “Hell yeah!”.

Oh, me too!

And I love the dwarf choir.

It's the part where I close my eyes and just listen to the music.

Three guesses for the other one.

[yovargas]

Hmmm. Beacons? Frodo waking up in bed?