Sorry, corrected version:
B kills grandfather of A, A tries to kill B, B gets injured badly and then B tries to kill A, which leads to A trying to kill B.

Yup that's pretty much it.

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This, which is definitely a good reason for the animosity. You try watching someone kill your grandfather then defile his body, and you try letting it go when someone cuts your arm off (especially when you're a psycho and that someone is half your height).

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Saw it last night!

What a wonderful movie.

It’s amusing to see how the majority of movie goers complain about the length of the film. It was wonderfully paced in my opinion. What happened to people’s attention spans these days?

The score was absolutely brilliant! I giggled like a schoolboy when they used a subtle Isengard theme for Saruman’s entrance. Richard Armitage stole the show as Thorin. The golf and chip anachronisms were nice touches too.

I ended up liking the goblins. They are much dirtier in the movie in comparison to the GW models. The Necromancer plot was a joy to see, can’t wait to see it develop. Radagast was odd, but he certainly wasn’t a Jar Jar Binks like character. I was so worried that sick Sebastian was going to end up having gas problems… thank GOODNESS that scene ended up being quite dark and thrilling.

*drool* Rivendell knights…

I’m giving the movie 9/10.

-1 cause Azog should have been a real actor. He could have easily joined the ranks of Lurtz and Gothmog in terms of badassery but his CGI presence was distracting.
I hope he gets killed off quickly so Bolg (who looks 20x better) can develop for the next two movies.

I have two questions for you Tolkien lovers!

1) What is the relationship between Moria and Erebor?

Balrog forced the dwarves out of Moria. Dwarves moved to Erebor. Smaug forced dwarves out of Erebor. Dwarves fought and won battle for Moria… but they lost it again… and then Balin got it….but Balrog is still there… wait, why wouldn’t the dwarves tell anyone about the Balrog? …. Ahhh *head spinning*

2) How come the Morgul blade didn’t turn to ash like it did in Fellowship?

Thanks!

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Two episode would be enough from this movie. The story isn't that exciting.

1) The Dwarfs of Erebor are Durin's Folk and as Durin built ruled Khaza-Dum they want it back as its a holy land for them. Erebor they want back because it was the home to those who survived and thus their children want their family lands back.

For the Balrog it wasn't clear to anyone if it had decided to remain their they like to hide after most of them where killed when the Elves men and Valar subdued Malkior/Morgoth.

2) Sense this doesn't show up in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (they have been debating if the Necromancer was a threat for quite some time in that version and the white council is never actually identified nor a meeting depicted in the book) you would have to ask the script writers.

It hasn't been used.

The dwarves won the battle at the gates of Moria, but at such a cost that they didn't have the strength to go in, until Balin mounted his expedition later. And they never got a word out about the Balrog.

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I thought the morgul blades only decayed when they touched flesh... Still it doesn't matter. Tolkien didn't give an answer, as he didn't come up with that bit of the storyline, P.J. and co. did.
I have just been to see the film, and loved it. However, I thought that:
.Azog's role could have been Bolg's-if they really wanted some super ork to be chasing Thorin around, he would have been a prime candidate. Azog wasn't destroyed in AUJ, and Bolg would have to have been.
.Gandalf could have found Thrain in Dol Guldur, and that way he would have known all about the evil and the White Council wouldn't be pretending that a morgul blade meant noting and that Sauron's re-appearance was so sudden, as Gandalf would have 1st hand evidence. This would perhaps destroy Radagasts place in it all, but, though he was great, aside from delivering a morgul blade and playing chase with some wargs, he didn't do an awful lot...
.Thorin's Company were too good at surviving deadly falls. Too many times, they should all have died.
.It's true that the film was slow to start, but I completely understood why,and fans will know whats going on, even if some find the action to slow to begin.
Apart from that, I thought the film was the best I've seen in ages. I liked the idea of orks chasing Thorin, but thought it could be done a bit differently. Still, great film, and good to be back in Middle Earth again!

I LOVED everything Radagast in the movie. The rabbit chase was awesome, and that is coming from a rather purist person. It's a great representation of the playful, sort of out of this world mindset that makes radagast the lesser wizard.

I liked the movie, because I'm a fan of Middle Earth. However, you would all be lying if you said this movie had great storytelling and character development. Everything after the white council scene was just blurry and inconsequential. Everything before that was absolutely amazing.

But, I've read the book many many times, and even I don't know which dwarf is which in the movie, so how is someone who hasn't read them supposed to know that? O.o The screen time was extremely unbalanced. ALOT of Fili, no Kili whatsoever for example. And Thorin really isn't all that impressive apart from his flashback scenes. At the end when he's walking down the bruning tree in slow motion, I was going: "Oh yeah, OH YEAH, this is it! He's gonna go total badass right now, wait for it, wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.... what...nothing? really...?"

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Wasn't it alot of Kili and not much of Fili?

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Well, I saw it yesterday and overall, I really liked it!
Some things I loved first:
- Erebor: lovely! I loved the whole concept of it. Maybe indeed a bit too much gold, but I can live with that. The concepts of the Dwarves was not exactly how I've envisioned them, but I can live with them. At least they really looked like Dwarves.
- Dale: again, looks splendid! Liked the market with the dwarf traider, toys and the design. Didn't have too good shots on the warriors, so can't really say if I like those. What I saw was mostly eastern influences, but that makes sense.
- Elves: quite liked their look overall, also on the wood elves. I prefer chain mail and no plate in Middle-earth, but I think they had a very Elfish aura about them. They all looked very fair and more distinguished from Men, which is good.
- I actually really liked the slow start of the film. The book itself starts slow too and the beginning was pretty much in line with it. Really loved the 'Good morning' bit! Also the other bits that were litterally from the book were pretty good. The riddle-game was nice (but I had hoped it to be as tense as in the book).

Some bad things though:
- Stone Giants: what a poor scene. I hated their design (living parts of the mountains, right), I hated their battle. It just looked like a bad excuse to have an action scene. Also, part of the High Pass suddenly is revealed as being part of a Stone Giant, which seperates the Company is a very intense way *cough*. And when we suddenly see that the other group of Dwarves have indeed miraculously survived (so much tension.. ehrr not), they just go into a cave and they are suddenly safe again, and continue like nothing happened.
- Azog: one of the poorest things in the movie (other than the stone giants). why didn't they let him die in front of Moria? Okay, so they wanted to have some Orc Warg Riders hunt Thorin and let them be lead by Azog and explain their grudge, but why him? They could have taken Bolg for his role. That would've been a bit stretching it, but at least it wouldn't have been as bad as having Azog survive.
Oh, did I mention that I thought his design was poor too? And
- The White Council: didn't like that Gandalf had to answer to the White Council for things he does. I kinda liked how Saruman was already sabotaging the plans, but it was not subtle enough. It could've been much better, all those 4 are very good actors, but the script just was a bit poor and shallow here.
- Radagast: a bit too corny for me. Mostly he was okay, but I would've loved to see Gandalf take the initiative in the Dol Guldur part. This would've made the entire White Council part richer too. So again, why deviate from the books if you can't make a better story-line?
Oh and by the way, don't get me started on his wood-sledge drawn by rabbits..
- Galadriel: although she's a great actress, there were some things I disliked: her teleportation (telepathy is already stretching it, this is just ridiculous) and the story about the Witch-King which was locked in a tomb. WHAT? Why, just why?
- Goblin Town: the Great Goblin was way too big for my liking, and I didn't like how they made Goblin Town. Sure, all the wooden walk-ways looked pretty and created some interesting fighting scenes (which I found unnecessary), but it's not like in the book. And besides, it doesn't make sense either to have so much wood, on the top of a high mountain pass! Also, how did Gandalf turn up in Goblin Town, while the High Pass was ruined (see Stone Giants)? And why did Bilbo escape by just lying on the ground. Really? Oh and by the way, the part were the Dwarves fall on the three layers of wood and miraculously survive was one of the worst parts I think..

Hm, looking back most of my comments are negative. Doesn't really represent how much I enjoyed the movie though. I loved it overall. There were lots of parts that were beautiful, lots of parts that were from the book literally, but there were also too many parts that were changed in a poor way.

Yeah that. Goes to show PJ managed to have no character development at all in a movi that is already stretched.:p

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He's already had more character deveolpment than the book. At least now we know who Kili, Balin, Bofur and Thorin are, and to a lesser extent Dwalin, so in the next movie we can see some of the others. Even though they hardly got any screen time, I felt that Dori, Ori, Fili, Gloin and Oin were represented enough for me to get a sense of who they are. The only ones who really got nothing in the way of character development were Nori, Bifur and Bombur.

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You can already tell that PJ is building up fili and kili to be the fan favorite 'younger' 'fun loving' types, just to have their death at BoFA more impactful....

Any of the dwarves who came in singley at the start got some good character progression imo, and I would say that bombur didn't talk very much (if at all), but you still got a sense of what he's like...

You had to remind me :'(

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We will see if they die. Nothing is for sure.

Thanks for your review-style information. I think you may have helped me make up mind not to see the film!

It looks fun, but the book is really special to me and I just hate it when the plot gets changed for a film. I don't mind ommissions (like Tom Bombadil in LoTR) but doing things in LoTR like making Faramir take Frodo to Osgiliath; elves turning up at Helm's Deep; Merry and Pippin meeting Gandalf in Fangorn; Arwen saving Frodo from the Black Riders; Theoden being possessed; Aragorn being thrown off a cliff; all the nonsense of skulls on the paths of the dead etc. etc. I can't bear it! I know it is necessary to make some changes to make a successful film out of a book, but I'm a bit of a purist and love the original story too much.

The Hobbit film looks like a fun romp. However, I think I'll just read the book again, and let my imagination do its magic!

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Hmm its interesting... I first saw P.J.s Lord of the Rings many years ago. I had read the Hobbit some years before, but didn't remember it when I saw the films. After, that I read the books (and got into the hobby), but was never really bothered by those 'P.J. moments' you mention. But I re-read the Hobbit in anticipation of the film, and when I saw the film, really disliked some of the changes, eg. Azog, even though much of the film was true to the original. Maybe I cherish the Hobbit as a 'special book' too much. That and C.S. Lewis's Narnia were some of the first books I read and really enjoyed, but its the Hobbit and LOTR that really stay with me.

You know that Bombur will have his big moment in Mirkwood. I can't imagine the writers cutting his part out of that scenario Bombur's girth poses a problem for the company. Nori had a small part with his dramatization of false courage and his dinky little slingshot. Bifur is the one I think that will have little to say or do especially with that axe embedded into his forehead.

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