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vulgarweedNon-spoilery bits (the boring parts):
I absolutely loved the visual designs of Thranduil's realm (reminiscent in some ways of Lothlorien, but closed off, different lighting tones, browns and golds of autumn and a distinct lack of nocturnal/lunar blues) and of Laketown. Laketown. Wow. Beautiful. Bizarre mishmash of bayou stilthouses, Dickensian slums, Norwegian stavekirks, etc.
--Bard appeals to me on a superficial level so far. I think it's his face. Luke Evans has the face Orlando Bloom would have if Orlando Bloom were actually sexy as opposed to just handsome. (They really shouldn't have been cast in the same movie, though. They really are just a few Photoshop filters apart.)
--Kili being wounded by a "Morgul-arrow." OK, this is where my ability to suspend canon-love started to blink out. No Orc has a fucking Morgul-weapon, alright? That is very highly-Ring-lore-specific black magic; that's the reason Frodo's wounding by one was so significant in LOTR. By definition of the word, there are only 9 beings in Middle-earth who use Morgul-weapons (and only 10 who could; I presume Sauron could as well if he bothered.) I mean, being a Nazgûl sucks on so many levels, can't they just keep a few exclusive perks?
Which brings us to:
--The Resurrection of The Nine, which keeps getting repeated by Gandalf and Radagast. Imagine for a moment you're a Hobbit fan who has never read or seen any version of TLOTR or even read a Wikipedia summary. (There must be some, right? I mean, I can't imagine what their excuse is after all this time, but they must exist somewhere!) To them, The Nine are . . . what, a soccer team? Moar context for the cheap seats, please!
--Speaking of non-reading spoilerphobes, I am SO FUCKING GRATEFUL that we no longer have to pretend we don't know who the Necromancer really is. I thought that whole scene was beautifully done. The effects were a little bit Harry Potter, but it was absolutely amazing to see Gandalf in a Maia-vs-Maia magical duel; a spell of concealing vs. spell of revealing. Gandalf technically won in that Sauron was revealed - and yet of course he paid for that by being overpowered, because Sauron is the mightier. (Not so sold on the repeating kaleidoscope effect - yeah, we got it the first time, promise). Yeah, Benedict Cumberbatch plays a dead-sexy trippy swirling mass of black-hole-dense, Black-Speech-speaking soul-devouring mist. Not just a thumbs-up, that justifies throwing the horns! \m/ \m/
--I think I liked this movie overall better than the last one because the dramatic climaxes were more compelling. The Goblin King was a pretty meh villain, and I wasn't sold on Azog until this movie. He's unimpressive by himself, but way more interesting as a part of something much bigger.
I absolutely loved the visual designs of Thranduil's realm (reminiscent in some ways of Lothlorien, but closed off, different lighting tones, browns and golds of autumn and a distinct lack of nocturnal/lunar blues) and of Laketown. Laketown. Wow. Beautiful. Bizarre mishmash of bayou stilthouses, Dickensian slums, Norwegian stavekirks, etc.
--Bard appeals to me on a superficial level so far. I think it's his face. Luke Evans has the face Orlando Bloom would have if Orlando Bloom were actually sexy as opposed to just handsome. (They really shouldn't have been cast in the same movie, though. They really are just a few Photoshop filters apart.)
--Kili being wounded by a "Morgul-arrow." OK, this is where my ability to suspend canon-love started to blink out. No Orc has a fucking Morgul-weapon, alright? That is very highly-Ring-lore-specific black magic; that's the reason Frodo's wounding by one was so significant in LOTR. By definition of the word, there are only 9 beings in Middle-earth who use Morgul-weapons (and only 10 who could; I presume Sauron could as well if he bothered.) I mean, being a Nazgûl sucks on so many levels, can't they just keep a few exclusive perks?
Which brings us to:
--The Resurrection of The Nine, which keeps getting repeated by Gandalf and Radagast. Imagine for a moment you're a Hobbit fan who has never read or seen any version of TLOTR or even read a Wikipedia summary. (There must be some, right? I mean, I can't imagine what their excuse is after all this time, but they must exist somewhere!) To them, The Nine are . . . what, a soccer team? Moar context for the cheap seats, please!
--Speaking of non-reading spoilerphobes, I am SO FUCKING GRATEFUL that we no longer have to pretend we don't know who the Necromancer really is. I thought that whole scene was beautifully done. The effects were a little bit Harry Potter, but it was absolutely amazing to see Gandalf in a Maia-vs-Maia magical duel; a spell of concealing vs. spell of revealing. Gandalf technically won in that Sauron was revealed - and yet of course he paid for that by being overpowered, because Sauron is the mightier. (Not so sold on the repeating kaleidoscope effect - yeah, we got it the first time, promise). Yeah, Benedict Cumberbatch plays a dead-sexy trippy swirling mass of black-hole-dense, Black-Speech-speaking soul-devouring mist. Not just a thumbs-up, that justifies throwing the horns! \m/ \m/
--I think I liked this movie overall better than the last one because the dramatic climaxes were more compelling. The Goblin King was a pretty meh villain, and I wasn't sold on Azog until this movie. He's unimpressive by himself, but way more interesting as a part of something much bigger.
