posted
I thought that the Necromancer and the Witch King were both there at the fortress. It looked the the Necromancer was down the passageway/doorway in front of Radagast, and the Witch King was coming up over the wall from behind him. I also had the impression that the Necromancer was the one who revived the Witch King, and the Morgul blade was just proof that the Witch King was resurrected, implicating the Necromancer.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
It's a sad commentary o my life that I got that reference.
MM, I get what you're sayinga and it makes sense- I hope they do it that way. I base my post on my roomate, who told me that it's the same guy -and he's read the Samirrillion or however the fuck it's spelled, which seems to have those story elements in it, as the Hobbit certainly did not.
The only trouble with having the Necromancer as a seperate threat is that we know the witch King can kick Gandalf's ass: if it's both of them vs. Gandalf, it would be a very lopsided fight..and it would really screw up things having Gandalf know with certainty that the Witch King was alive, and Gandalf doing nothing about it for sixty years....
No, best to leave Gandalf with only suspicions and conjecture.
On the other hand, if the Witch King has split the scene to go renovate his own creepy green fortress and gandalf fights the Necromancer mano-a-manao, it would work in the story's pacjing for when the Dwarves and Bilbo are alone in the forest and inprisoned by the (dick) elves and all that Gandalf-free stuff.
I like that the Witch King is back so early in the overal narrative- sixty years would be about right to build up that army, make those bigass gates, harass the White City and build Sauron's tower...and talk about the boss always watching you. That had to be a crapppy work environment.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I speak as someone who had absolutely NO issue with the high frame rate. Infact it was AMAZING. I noticed immediately that the 3D was far sharper, more vivid and smoother.
I carefully kept an eye out for all the ahem... CRAP that I had been reading about - and saw none of it. No lurid green glow, no unnaturally fast movement of the characters and WHAT the hell is this about '80s day time soap picture'!?!
I have a feeling people in the US are far too accustomed to looking at grainy NTSC pictures. I loved being in a movie, and watching what looked more akin to a MASSIVE HD TV, rather than a tired, scratchy film with blips in the corners for when they need to change reals etc.
Loved the movie, love the 48 fps. I definitely want to see it again and can't wait for the Desolation of Smaug. I am concerned/curious as to how they are stretching it out for 3 movies. They're over halfway to Erebor as it is.
P.S. I loved the humour - once again it might be a US v the world cultural thing that a lot just DON'T get. *shrug*.
P.P.S. I was surprised that they had the trolls speak like they did - but it worked.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Tbe second movie should over going through the pitch black forest and getting captured by the talking spiders (which has the potential of making the movie awesome with suspense), escaping, almost starving, getting captured by dick elves, escaping in barrells to lake town, meetingthe humans (and Bard), breaking into the mountain, parlay with the dragon and then Smaug going into ass beating mode...
The third movie would be the giant fight with Smaug, the dragon's demise, the giant three way war for the riches in the mountain, then the Humans, dwarves and elves banding together against the Goblins and orcs, the trip back to the Shire and I guess that's it.
Oh, and gandalf fights the Necromancer/Witch King at some point, which keeps him from the forest adventures and big dragon throwdown fight.
Lots of stuff left to fill at least two more movies!
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: I loved being in a movie, and watching what looked more akin to a MASSIVE HD TV, rather than a tired, scratchy film with blips in the corners for when they need to change reals etc.
What you're basically saying here is exactly what others have been saying: it doesn't look like a film, it looks like a TV show. The only difference is that you prefer it that way while others do not.
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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quote:Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim:
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: I loved being in a movie, and watching what looked more akin to a MASSIVE HD TV, rather than a tired, scratchy film with blips in the corners for when they need to change reals etc.
What you're basically saying here is exactly what others have been saying: it doesn't look like a film, it looks like a TV show. The only difference is that you prefer it that way while others do not.
In no way do I say it looks like a TV show. This is an epic movie, with a superior image. When did 'tv show' = bad anyway? Why is 'film grain the preference? In a world where everyone seems to want the biggest, the sharpest, the clearest and the thinnest TV out there to watch their MOVIES on, why not make something clear and beautiful to start with, rather than dark and grainy??
Maybe it's the Instagram effect?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I was working in a department store back when TVs with refresh rates higher than 60 Hz started coming to the market. They looked so surreal I didn't really like them. I felt the same with The Hobbit. There's just something....off about it.
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Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
It's not that the "film" look is inherently good and the "video" look is inherently bad. It's just that, for so many years, the latter has been associated with TV shows and cheap, terrible movies, that's what we automatically think of when we see it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
It seriously must be a US thing, or at least NOT an Australian thing. Everyone who I have talked to in Australia, who have seen The Hobbit in HFR have had absolutely no issue and think the picture is gorgeous.
I really don't get what the big deal is.
The 3D was smoother, more vibrant and rich - the scenery was spectacular. NZ couldn't have looked any better.
Infact the crisper picture made the experience more tangiable, rather than being left detached from the experience due to the unrealistic film grain of the picture.
WizArtist II
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posted
OK, IIRC, in the books, the Necromancer is actually Sauron starting to regain his power again after getting nine-fingered by Isildur. That being the case, he is still regaining his power and is nowhere near the threat we see in the Trilogy. And the battle isn't between Gandalf and the Necromancer, its between the White Council and the Bad Dude and IIRC, he simply withdraws from Dol Goldur and reposseses Barad-Dur.
The White Council includes Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel and Celeborn, and Saruman if I haven't totally forgotten it. Gandalf, Elrond, and Galadriel are all wielding one of the three rings of power given by Sauron to the Elven Kings. (Gandalf was given his by the elf lord Cirdan when he arrived on the shores of Middle Earth because Cirdan knew he would need its power)
There is just a brief mention of the "Battle of Dol Goldur" in the book but I'm sure Jackson will turn it into a visual spectacle (including his ubiquitous 'ghosting' effect he seems to love). That alone should eat a good chunk of time.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
The Necromancer is definitely Sauron, it has never been anyone else, and in the movie scene, the WK and Sauron are two different characters. I liked that scene for another reason, Radagast having to defend himself in combat. He always struck me as such a mellow and pathetic little character, tricked by Saruman and failing in his mission as an Istari by abandoning the Children by turning into a botanist. I liked that he at least got some action and purpose here.
Also, this movie redresses the fallacy of Sauron only existing as a burning eye in the LOTR-trilogy, in the LOTR-novels he's described as sitting in the flesh in the topmost level of Barad-Dur with his Palantír. I really enjoyed that The Hobbit showed him approaching a humanoid form again. He already made that transition once at the Fall of Numenor, drowning and having to abandon his first body, taking the ring with him.
Interesting that Gandalf got fast-tracked after his first body died. Maybe Maia corporeal regeneration is like a torrent client, and Gandalf got one hell of a seeder. ; Saruman, if you study the text, rose from his dead body like a wisp of vapor after his death in The Shire, turned towards Valinor in a moment of tragic hope, but a wind from The West came and scattered him into oblivion. That was very subtle and touching to those who'd read The Silmarillion and knew about the Valar.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
I just want talking spiders? is that so bad? Talking spiders in a pitch black forest with no animals and webs everywhere. I want that to be crazy claustrophobic...and it's a pity that Del Toro is not directing for that reason alone. I think that scenewould freak people the hell out- people dont go to a Hobbit movie expecting to be scared shitless and the shock of that would be great.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Hahaha! True! Pan's Labyrinth... that scene with the 'creature' at the table with the eyes in it's hands... (!)
Registered: Mar 1999
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