Hall of Fire Reviews - Post Them Here! [SPOILERS!]

[Alatar]

I'm not gone on Holm's Bilbo either, but I LOVED his Frodo in the BBC Radio Play.

[Pearly Di]

I'm not gone on Holm's Bilbo either, but I LOVED his Frodo in the BBC Radio Play.

His Frodo is awesome. He sounds a bit too old for my personal imagining of Fro, though. But still. A terrifically moving performance. And Bill Nighy's Samwise is the best Sam EVER.

[tangent]Holm was actually 50 when he voiced Frodo's part in the BBC LotR back in 1981, so he was Frodo's actual age ... except that Frodo is a hobbit 50, not a human 50, so he is in fact closer to a thirtysomething human, if that makes any sense to anybody. Ideally, I'd like Frodo to be played by an actor in his thirties. [/tangent]

I love Holm's Bilbo. He really conveyed a powerful sense of how the Ring was beginning to take over dear, cordial, eccentric, 'I love to tease my tiresome relatives' Bilbo.

[Sunsilver]

I hated what they did to Bilbo in the ring-finding scene in FOTR (pulling the skin of his face back to make him look younger.) BLECH!

I was glad they didn't try to make Ian the main character for The Hobbit. At his age, that likely wasn't an option, anyway!

I have no objection to his performance in LOTR, and thought his freak-out when he asks to see the ring in Rivendell (and subsequent apology) were very well done.

Other aged actors: When I told my friend how old Christopher Lee was, she couldnt believe it. A couple of years ago, someone posted a clip of him at an awards ceremony. Both his voice and hands were shaking badly, so badly they felt he probably would not be able to reprise his role of Saruman for The Hobbit. This is likely the reason the White Council scene showed him either seated, or standing motionless.

Despite his age, he carried off his scene very well - I would even say flawlessly. Tolkien talks of Saruman's honeyed voice, and persuasive powers (during the scene after the fall of Isengard) and I think Chris did a good job of conveying that in the WC scene, though his tone is very condescending.

[Stranger Wings]

Ok, so I saw it for the 3rd time.

Wow; other directors can only wish you disapproved of their work so much!

Directors take notice. The key for repeat viewings from me is to take a book I love, and adapt it poorly. Guaranteed at least 5 trips to the cinema.

[Stranger Wings]

ELLIE!! <squeeeeeee!!>

Re: Bilbo. I don't think I totally realized how "over the top" I felt the LotR Bilbo was until I saw Martin's Bilbo. I know a lot of you really liked Ian Holm's Bilbo, and I know many of you are familiar with him from other venues. I can't recall ever seeing him before LotR.

But of the two, I am SO going with Martin Freeman. Ian's Bilbo was a bit cartoonish for me. He was kind of sputtery and flighty, and even in the weightier moments of his role, still seemed really imbued in "I'm really small, and I'm kinda cute". If any of that makes sense.

I'm beginning to believe that I don't care much for Tolkien's characters depicted in a cartoonish light. I didn't like how Gimli was such a comedic character in LotR (although I loved the "little hairy women" comment, I don't know why), and I don't love how Radagast was made to be so "entertaining" in this movie. Yes, as Ellie says, he is supposed to be a shy, hermit-y, animal-loving kind of guy. (Perhaps I take offense because I relate to the guy, in a way!) That eye roll when he saved the hedgehog was ridiculous.

But back to Martin: he made Bilbo a REAL person, I think. Yes, a fussy bachelor, but not sputtery and goofy. He really was a fussy bachelor, to me, not an actor playing a fussy bachelor. And his way of projecting his emotions is so much more subtle than Ian's. I really, really do like that scene of him staying his hand over Gollum. You can see where his compassion takes over, perhaps overtaking his reason.

It is just SO good.

With respect to Ian Holm, PJ chose some of his most over-the-top takes for the film. There were allegedly lots of takes where he played him a lot more subtly, but PJ wanted "big, heightened emotions!" (which is not very British) and that's what Holm gave from time to time.

If I were to guess, I would say that Holm may not be overly happy with PJ's decisions.

[Stranger Wings]

Anthy!! I think you're the only person I've heard say they didn't like Holm's Bilbo! It's nice to know I'm not totally crazy for thinking that - or if I am, I am crazy in good company.


And yes on the "cartoony" criticism. It's entirely possible to be light and playful and humorous without straying into cartoony. (Merry and Pippin hit this really well, IMO.) Gimli was just about my least favorite thing about LOTR because of this and Radagast goes even further. Blech.

I also wasn't a huge fan of Holm's Bilbo, but I love Ian Holm. I blame it on Peter Jackson, who asked for over-the-top. He is especially melodramatic in his confrontation with Gandalf before he leaves (and I really hate when he talks with the ham sticking out of his mouth - just about the least English thing one can think of). I think that was all PJ's doing.

But in a few scenes, he shines. I like his "little rivers" and 'butter scraped over too much bread" speech.

I thought Gimli, Merry and Pippin were awfully cartoonish in LOTR. Amazingly, they were all far more cartoonish than what we saw of the dwarves in AUJ!

[sauronsfinger]

Ok, so I saw it for the 3rd time.

Wow; other directors can only wish you disapproved of their work so much!

Directors take notice. The key for repeat viewings from me is to take a book I love, and adapt it poorly. Guaranteed at least 5 trips to the cinema.

I saw FOTR about a dozen times in the theater. I went as far as to bring schedule of showing in multiplexes and sometimes saw the Moria sequence three or four times in a row in a span of two hours and I am NOT counting that as a full film viewing. One or two less for TTT and ROTK.

I saw HOBBIT twice already and may go one or at the most two times.

That should tell you something about my comparison of these films.

[Inanna]

Hey sf!

[Elentári]

Make sure you try and see AUJ in HFR, (48fps,) sf...would be interested to know how you find it!

[Ellienor]

Hi everyone!
I also was not overly fond of Ian Holm's Bilbo. Just didn't nail the character. I didn't get much of any feel of Bilbo from Ian Holm's portrayal. With time I am also getting less fond of Elijah Wood's performance, too. Picky, picky picky! But Martin Freeman was absolutely perfect. I read an article where PJ completely adjusted the shooting so that Martin could be gone for a big chunk of time for his other series and I now understand why he was willing to do it.

Another thought I had on the movie was the flashback scene in Moria. It's pretty clear that PJ wanted to highlight that the dwarves are bada$$ in battle. Has anyone seen 300? Anyways, the lighting and the look of Thorin during that scene completely gave me a flashback to 300. I ended up feeling that PJ was deliberately trying to evoke that movie, with the intent of making the dwarves tough. I don't think Tolkien for one minute envisioned Dwalin as a bald headed tough guy. I mean, Dwalin would look good at a Harley convention, don't you think?

Balin continues to be my favorite, particularly younger Balin in the flashbacks. The actor who plays him (forgot the name) imbues him with soulfulness and grit, and gentle humor. Great actor.

It's almost as if PJ anticipated that some fans would want cartoonish dwarves and some would want tough ones and so he split the difference making some of each, attempting to please everybody.

Again, I think one of the reasons why I'm so pleased, is that I went in with somewhat low expectations having never truly loved the Hobbit source material. So I am content. I have two more movies to look forward to, but I won't obsess nearly as much as I did during that two year period between the release of FOTR and the release of ROTK. LOL. A win-win all around.

[Primula Baggins]

I'm so glad to see you here, Ellie.

I too am getting less fond of Wood's Frodo, in retrospect (though I need to rewatch the films, but somehow there's never time). I think Freeman's Bilbo, which was near perfection to me, showed me what might have been. And I had just read the book for the first time in years, so the comic and silly touches in Bilbo were more expected and acceptable. It was lovely to see his emerging courage and resolve in his face, rather than have the narrator of the book tell me about it.

[kzer_za]

There are some things they could have done differently with Frodo, but I like Wood's Frodo overall. On my rewatch of the trilogy this year, I was particularly impressed by his performance in RotK (besides "Go home, Sam").

I'm not a fan of the old Bilbo/Frodo scene in The Hobbit though - what does it actually add besides an awkward link to the LotR trilogy? They could have gone straight from "In a hole in the ground..." and the next couple lines to "Good Morning."

[Primula Baggins]

Well, I will have to wait until I can rewatch. I bought the EE Blu-Rays over a year ago and have gotten through half of FotR so far. I certainly remember liking both Frodo and Sam (both with quibbles). But with Freeman's Bilbo I don't remember feeling a moment of "Oh, I wish he had done that differently."

[Pearly Di]

I thought Holm's Bilbo nailed it. .

Elijah's Frodo had a pleasing elvish air. . But I did miss, very much, Book Frodo's dry sense of humour and inner steel.

Martin's Bilbo is perfect.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

One thing that was a total non-issue for me: Bifur's axe-head. All that angst and petition-writing, and at the end of the day it didn't remotely distract me at all at any time during the film. Hopefully that will continue to be the case for the other films.

Edited to add: nor have I seen a single critic comment on it negatively (or at all).

[anthriel]

Anthy!! I think you're the only person I've heard say they didn't like Holm's Bilbo! It's nice to know I'm not totally crazy for thinking that - or if I am, I am crazy in good company.

I don't know anyone I would rather be crazy with.

And yes on the "cartoony" criticism. It's entirely possible to be light and playful and humorous without straying into cartoony. (Merry and Pippin hit this really well, IMO.) Gimli was just about my least favorite thing about LOTR because of this and Radagast goes even further. Blech.

Good point about Merry and Pippin... they didn't come off as cartoonish to me, either. They reminded me of a lot of guys I know, actually, with all that silly, funny goofiness. I've seen that before... maybe that's why it seemed okay!

]With respect to Ian Holm, PJ chose some of his most over-the-top takes for the film. There were allegedly lots of takes where he played him a lot more subtly, but PJ wanted "big, heightened emotions!" (which is not very British) and that's what Holm gave from time to time.

I had a feeling it might be Jackson at work, there. I didn't mean to imply that Holm did a bad job... when I said Holm's Bilbo, I meant the Bilbo I saw in LotR, played by Holm.

Thank goodness Jackson let this Bilbo have a bit more nuance. It was quite a good choice.

[Inanna]

One thing that was a total non-issue for me: Bifur's axe-head. All that angst and petition-writing, and at the end of the day it didn't remotely distract me at all at any time during the film. Hopefully that will continue to be the case for the other films.

Edited to add: nor have I seen a single critic comment on it negatively (or at all).

That's so true. When all the dwarves were entering Bag-End, I was keeping a look out for Bifur and his axe-head. I noticed it then, and well, never again till you just mentioned it.

[eborr]

saw it last night in 2d so much more imersive (sp) than the hfr 3d. The characters seem to be part of the world as opposed to being imposed on it. Even the excellent goblin town stuff worked just as well. I am not rabidly anti 3d i though it was wonderful in Avatar. I suppose the next watching will have to be in conventional 3 d

[Elentári]

saw it last night in 2d so much more imersive (sp) than the hfr 3d. The characters seem to be part of the world as opposed to being imposed on it. Even the excellent goblin town stuff worked just as well. I am not rabidly anti 3d i though it was wonderful in Avatar. I suppose the next watching will have to be in conventional 3 d

That is a relief to know, eborr. My local cinema is showing it is 2D from today so I may well go and check it out over the weekend. I really wanted to be immersed in the movie and the 3D spoilt that, let alone the HFR for me.

[Dave_LF]

One thing that was a total non-issue for me: Bifur's axe-head
...
Edited to add: nor have I seen a single critic comment on it negatively (or at all).

That's probably because no one noticed it! It's going to be awkward, because sooner or later, you're going to see it and think "wait a minute; this guy's got a frickin' axe sticking out of this forehead and no one says anything about it?!" And it's going to be awkward bringing it up in future films or doing closeups on the guy for the same reason.