Bilbo and the butterflies! Yes! I was thrilled to see that, too. It was one of my favorite bits in the novel, and it is pitch perfect here. Martin Freeman redeemed a multitude of sins in the first movie. I expect he will here, too. Btw, how's Tumblr Savior working for you? I clicked through (stupidly) to a rant about the movie in which the poster snarked about the butterflies in the aforementioned scene not being velvet black, re: "I expect they were a kind of 'purple emperor,' a butterfly that loves the tops of oak-woods, but these were not purple at all, they were a dark dark velvety black without any markings to be seen." <= ETA: that's the quote from The Hobbit, not from the complaining Tumblrite.
Yeah. Like dark black (what? isn't black inherently dark?) would show up against the russet colors used for the foliage of the trees. There is such a thing as artistic license, and it was used effectively here. It was tempting to point this out, but...well, it's an instance with Savior might have been useful.
so I'll just use one of those pointless action sequences as an opportunity to visit the restroom like I did during the first Hobbit film.
A good action sequence will raise my heartbeat and engage me. A bad one will have me looking at my watch, wondering when the director will move on to something more interesting. That is exactly what happened during The Hobbit: AUJ. I have no objection to action scenes, but lordy. PJ is indulgent, and it's impossible for me NOT to compare his approach to those of directors who handle action sequences more effectively. To me, the ham-handed approach of excessive CGI-action takes what could have been an excellent movie and shoves it down into mediocrity.
I liked The Hunt for Gollum a lot. As you aptly note, it would have been improved by less obvious homage to PJ, but I really liked the more understated quality of the film. The landscapes play a huge role (not unlike Tolkien's novels), and the soundtrack is far more subtle. Actually, birds serve as the soundtrack! The orcs are an improvement, that's for sure, although IIRC, the orcs in Born of Hope are even better: considerably less monstrous, and more human. That rings truer for me.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zaluzianskya and ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
skylark_photos
no subject
Date: 2013-06-12 12:09 pm (UTC)Yeah. Like dark black (what? isn't black inherently dark?) would show up against the russet colors used for the foliage of the trees. There is such a thing as artistic license, and it was used effectively here. It was tempting to point this out, but...well, it's an instance with Savior might have been useful.
so I'll just use one of those pointless action sequences as an opportunity to visit the restroom like I did during the first Hobbit film.
A good action sequence will raise my heartbeat and engage me. A bad one will have me looking at my watch, wondering when the director will move on to something more interesting. That is exactly what happened during The Hobbit: AUJ. I have no objection to action scenes, but lordy. PJ is indulgent, and it's impossible for me NOT to compare his approach to those of directors who handle action sequences more effectively. To me, the ham-handed approach of excessive CGI-action takes what could have been an excellent movie and shoves it down into mediocrity.
I liked The Hunt for Gollum a lot. As you aptly note, it would have been improved by less obvious homage to PJ, but I really liked the more understated quality of the film. The landscapes play a huge role (not unlike Tolkien's novels), and the soundtrack is far more subtle. Actually, birds serve as the soundtrack! The orcs are an improvement, that's for sure, although IIRC, the orcs in Born of Hope are even better: considerably less monstrous, and more human. That rings truer for me.