Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Ah, okay. I thought they were the same song.

EDIT: And here it is.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aRGTHLNNEOc?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's quite a lovely song.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Does anyone still get excited for these films?
I cant even watch the original trilogy any more because of those damn giant eagles at the end.

These just seem like the same stories with different titles at the beginning. I started watching The Hobbit and soon enough there were long swooping shots of them running up stairs fighting Orcs. Just like the previous films.

And the bit about the 45 minute battle at the end of this film? Reminds of when Lucas said about having the longest light saber fight ever in RotS.
It starts and 5 minutes in you go "Yes, this is the longest lightsaber fight ever and now I'm bored. Will it ever end?".

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Yes. I do. The Tolkien-verse rocks and so does Peter Jackson's flicks.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

I enjoy them quite a bit and look forward to the finale.

Weren't the last two earning a little less than WB was hoping for? I wonder if this'll kick things out financially? Though as they've made what, over $2 billion so far, I don't think I WB is losing too much sleep ;).

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

I watch the LOTR Trilogy (extended) from time to time. While I agree that some of the scene "themes" get repetitive, it holds up a little better overall story wise than the two Hobbit films so far.

I get what Jackson is trying to do in order to make the Hobbit flow better into LOTR, but I would rather have had a more straight up translation of the book. A more fun single film would have suited me just fine, three films is just too much bloat.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

I think you're being sarcastic but the first Hobbit flick made a billion worldwide and Smaug made 958 million. I'll wager that a certain segment of the population didn't bother with the second installment. I think Jackson spent 500 million on all 3 films, so WB has been living off of the profits since the first film.

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=hobbit.htm

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=hobbit2.htm

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

It just dawned on me - if you don't know who or what the "five armies" are here's the wiki for it. This has book spoilers NOT film ones.

http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_the_Five_Armies

I'm stoked.

Its literally going to be a "todos contra todos" type of flick!

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Can't wait to see Beorn tear some shit up.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

It's gonna be awkward that Gwaihir has had zero lines in all these movies. Heck, you can argue that he technically hasn't appeared since the Eagles in the movies could be anyone. I guess they'll be used as a Deus Ex Machina for the fourth time in these Middle Earth flicks. I still feel it was a missed opportunity to not elaborate on them and why they only help out sporadically.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

I wouldn't mind that. They are kind of a cheap thing in the films. Swooping in to help out of nowhere which is rather tiresome.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

That will be legit!

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

I can't wait 'til purists complain about the bloat in the battle and how we shouldn't see it at all. Instead demanding that the screen cut to black when Bilbo gets knocked out by a stray rock/boulder/whatever (whilst invisible, no less) and later be told what happened. Cos it'll be far more satisfying and appropriate that way. ;)

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Exactly.

While still a giant chunk of change, that is a fairly significant drop for the sequel.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

And they're still in the green by a LARGE margin. Very large margin.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

I think they spent like an extra $50 million to go from two films to three, so they are doing just fine on the extra investment.

The Eagles really should be explained, although the explanation is really pretty weak. It is a definite weakness in the stories--no getting around it. (Someone is welcome to try though, I am open-minded!)

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

The Eagles will always be a Deus Ex Machina but they seem less so when explained. And it wouldn't take much time to explain. They don't even need to have the Eagles speak or have the scene when Gwaihir gets a crown of gold from the Dwarves. Just have a quick conversation where Gandalf explains that the Eagles are dicks to everyone but share a particular hatred towards Orcs.

It's like the Ghost Army from RotK. Total Deus Ex Machina, any way you slice it. However, at least they don't come out of fucking nowhere and their disappearance from the rest of the story is explained (Aragorn enlisted them to aid in the siege of Gondor and let them go once the city was saved).

I think that Tolkien does offer an explanation of why the Eagles are the way they are in some of his writings, but I'm not sure what it is.

Wasn't the explanation for the ghost army that you had to be the heir with the sword and that they'd only help for a particular amount of time? While a little of of nowhere, those rules do track.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Yes, in the Hobbit. The Dwarves and Bilbo even get to stay with the Eagles at their place for a while. The basic gist is that the Eagles prefer to be left alone and don't give a damn about anyone else. However, they really hate Orcs and when they saw Orcs pursuing Gandalf, the Dwarves, and Bilbo near the borders of the Eagles' domain, the Eagles chose to intervene. Simple as that.

I need to re-read LOTR but I think the Ghost Army helped a bit longer in the books. And they helped Aragorn since he was the heir of throne of Gondor.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

The Ghost Army is explained in that manner in the extended cut--it's been so long since I've seen the theatrical cut that I am not quite sure how much of that is explained there.

The Eagles make much more sense in The Hobbit than Lord of the Rings in my opinion--well, at least with the way they swoop in at Mount Doom. Still, it never ruined the story for me at all, but I know for some it did, I guess.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Fuck. You guys are making me wish Jackson could at least give a reason for the eagles being there. It would actually add a lot cuz otherwise... they just literally swoop in to save the day cuz the day needed to be saved.

I do think just explaining it in one or two sentences would actually add a lot to them.

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

In the books the ghost army was cursed by Isildur (guy who cut ring off Sauron back in the day) because when they were alive they promised to help him and then never showed. He cursed them and they are between life and death.

Only Aragorn can command them as he is the heir and he says that if they finally honor their promise and fight, he will free them. I don't remember how long they stay and in the books I don't really remember them being a deus ex wave of green death that sweeps over everything. I think it was more "hey, we tripled our army but still have to fight".

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Yeah, as I recall, the fight didn't instantly end with their arrival. But I don't recall Aragorn letting them go immediately after the siege. Didn't they participate in the battle at the gates of Mordor?

Re: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (2014)
 

Peter Jackson can't explain something in one or two sentences. It would take at least a reel. Or whatever the hell ten minutes worth of pixels are called ;).

Wasn't there a finite limit to what they could do before the bargin was fulfilled and they could go on to the next life?

I remember when Aragorn showed them Andúril, the sword, they kind of freaked out. Tolkien was usually fairly rigorous with how the magic worked, I'm sure there was some reason why they couldn't stick around.