Soledad&#39;s Journal

Hated the first one. And I'm not sure the second one is any better. I translated the official film guide into Dutch, and when I think how much words were spent on Bard's kids and their pig and the Master's servant Alfrid, I fear the worst.

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Actually, I had expected to hate the first film a lot more than I did, in the end. I went to the cinemy with no expectations at all, and came out with a pleasant surprise. Not at all like from the LOTR films, which I hated with a passion and felt horribly cheated afterwards. Save for Boromir, that is.

Personally, I found Freeman as Bilbo fantastic. Of course, I fell in love with his acting by watching Sherlock (never seen him before), but even so, I found him very properly hobbity. For me, he also brought the visuals, unlike Elijah Wood's Frodo.

I needed a bit to get used to the way too young Thorin, but IMO Richard Armitage did a good job. More grey in the hair and a longer beard would have been better, visually, but he sold me his Thorin nonetheless.

I won't speak of the other Dwarves here. Well, not much. I liked Balin (although the original makeup design would have been better) and Óin (although he, unlike Thorin, looked way too old). Bofur was endearing. The rest of them were horrible.

What you say about Bard's get makes me worry, though.

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Oh, I love Freeman as Bilbo, I should have added that+ he´s so much better than Elijah Wood that it hurts to think of it. And the scene with Gollum wasn´t bad at all. And I liked Balin, too.
Radagast, though, was pure horror. I don´t want Disney in a Tolkien based film.

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I think we're all agreed that Freeman is a strong Bilbo, though I also like Ian Holm in the role. Balin is my favourite dwarf. I found the Gollum scene the highlight of the film -- largely stuck to the original, and both Serkis & Freeman work for me. I didn't mind Radagast so dreadfully much; it was almost the first time that one recalled it is a children's book, though you are right the whimsy is Disney not Tolkien.

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Ian Holm was a very good old(er) Bilbo, but Freeman completely nailed the part. If I'm looking forward to Part 2 despite my misgivings, it's because of him.

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I grew up with Holm as a hobbit, as he played Frodo in the BBC radio version, the first decent dramatisation I encountered. (I recall being flummoxed as a child by the Bakshi version.)

If only one could edit out all those bits where Jackson et al. have gratuitously screwed with canon for no reason whatsoever.

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The only part of the film I really disliked was the unnecessarily long scene in Goblin Town. Mum told me afterwards that she'd expected to be bored by the film but she wasn't - save when she had to watch basically the same running and fighting scenes over and over again in Goblin Town.

Oh, and I still hate Jackson's Elves - though I could bear Galadriel much better here than in LOTR.

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I've blanked the Goblin Town bit, mercifully perhaps. I just remember the stupid tree thing at the end, and Thorin hugging Bilbo. Argh.

I thought Blanchett phoned in her part in this -- I quite liked her in LotR.

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Hm... a private version with only the parts you like. I can't wait for the moment such a thing becomes possible even for the technologically challenged.

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We can pray. I did recently think about buying editing software to cut the BBC Robin Hood down to just the Armitage scenes, but came to the conclusion it would entail a lot of watching of the other stuff to delete it.

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More grey in the hair and a longer beard would have been better, visually

The one piece of post-film fanon I do rather like is the idea that Thorin periodically chops off his beard in token of the loss of his homeland.

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You're right, that's a neat idea. He still looks too young, but, of course, the idea was to make him look sexy. And it worked, too! I liked the looks of Fíli, too - Kíli's designer stubble seemed too little to me, though.

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I don't think Armitage has to try hard to look sexy :) After hating the film, and the AO3 fanfiction, I had an Armitage binge -- rewatched North & South and Shakespeare Retold -- Macbeth, bought Robin Hood & Sparkhouse, and read whole swathes of fanfiction...

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Yes, I saw him in Robin Hood, too. He was very... slimy. *g*
But he was still the best thing in that series, save for Much. I liked Much.

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I liked the relationship between him & the Sheriff a lot, though the Sheriff himself was more of an archetype than a character. Much was also great, but so underused. One of the reasons I really hate that incarnation of Robin (the character) is the horribly cruel way he treats Much, which made watching some of Much's scenes really painful.

Did you ever get to see Robin of Sherwood? One of my teen heartthrobs was the Michael Praed version of Robin. And the series got me into Clannad, one of a tiny handful of non-classical musicians I enjoy.

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That does feel to be padding! I don't understand why they decided to go for three films (other than to make money).

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I know a guy who thinks Jackson did this because he has become addicted to filming Tolkien and turning the story into three films gave him one more year.

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I wish he'd gone for The Silmarillion instead. Surely he could get funding to film some other Ardaverse story?

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Now, you've just cursed "The Children of Húrin" according to PJ into existence. *sighs*
Or Finrod being eaten by the werewolf.

Or perhaps he'll go back to the "Lost Tales" and revives the evil, giant cat, Tevildo. Or makes a monumental epos about the Fall of Gondolin.

Suddenly I'm very, very afraid.

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I'd like to see PJ's Gondolin!

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The problem was never the visuals with him. Well, not always. I found Rivendell disgustingly decadent and the idea that the Lórien Elves would build spiral staircases around the mallorns utterly ridiculous.

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jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com

In some ways, I think it would be interesting to see him work on some of the Silm stories - Beren and Luthien could make a very good film - and given all the different versions it would feel to me less breaking that the changes in the Hobbit.

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Well, actually I'm very happy he can't go for Sil until the Tolkien Estate sells him the rights. Which may be never.

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If I'm truly honest, the Sil has never been a real love of mine. I admire it, but it's never gained that bone-deep love that I have for LotR & The Hobbit that makes PJ's versions of them feel like travesties. But I can quite see that someone who loves the Sil would dread what he might come up with.

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