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[Viking]

I never knew dwarves could have such coordination.

Y'know, near the beginning.

Yes, I was impressed by that too.

[PanH]

We need that in DF too. Dwarfs giving a barrel to a dwarf, giving it to the next and so on.

And firemen dwarves throwing buckets of water booze on the fire !

[Zrk2]

I think the dwarves must have been well and truly drunk for that feat. They'd NEVER do that if sober.

New megaproject: Dish transporter.

[Loud Whispers]

I never knew dwarves could have such coordination.

Y'know, near the beginning.

It really suggests the Dwarves highly underestimated themselves with the whole "we're only craftsdwarves" thing. Because goblintown.

[SalmonGod]

In the books, they really were.... Thorin is the only dwarf in the party who did any sort of fighting, IIRC.  Heck, even Bilbo did more fighting than most of them by throwing rocks at spiders.

[Darvi]

I never knew dwarves could have such coordination.

Y'know, near the beginning.

It really suggests the Dwarves highly underestimated themselves with the whole "we're only craftsdwarves" thing. Because goblintown.

I'd link to TvTropes here but oh wait too late.

[Bauglir]

I never knew dwarves could have such coordination.

Y'know, near the beginning.

It really suggests the Dwarves highly underestimated themselves with the whole "we're only craftsdwarves" thing. Because goblintown.

On the other hand, the clifftop immediately thereafter. I think the Dwarves correctly estimated themselves at first, and then their egos got inflated by easy successes and Gandalf's assistance. Particularly Thorin's ego.

Another example: it took several of them hacking away for a few seconds to kill an Orc who'd already fallen prone off his mount (compare to LotR-style badassery, in which Legolas would have shot the Warg and the Orc fatally before either could utter a sound), giving him plenty of time to scream and give away their position. They were only saved by Gandalf finding the entrance to Rivendell.

[TheKaspa]

Another example: it took several of them hacking away for a few seconds to kill an Orc who'd already fallen prone off his mount (compare to LotR-style badassery, in which Legolas would have shot the Warg and the Orc fatally before either could utter a sound), giving him plenty of time to scream and give away their position. They were only saved by Gandalf finding the entrance to Rivendell.

And Radagast's magic sled.
But the Screaming Orc(tm), well, that was just screenplay needing. Like the needing for Bilbo to scream "I'm going to an adventure", where he didn't want other Hobbits to know that he was no more reliable as before. It took a while before letting his Took side emerge...

[Lectorog]

If the Legos do not lie, in the next movie Legolas will help rescue the dwarves from the spiders.

[sneakey pete]

Saw it with two mates who haven't seen the other movies or read any of the books. They... did not like it.

have to agree with them somewhat too. Movie was to long for the amount of material it had, hence tacking in all the other things that didn't really make much sense when looked at on their own.

[TheKaspa]

If the Legos do not lie, in the next movie Legolas will help rescue the dwarves from the spiders.

It won't be as strange as the elves chasing the warg in the first film

[Bauglir]

But the Screaming Orc(tm), well, that was just screenplay needing. Like the needing for Bilbo to scream "I'm going to an adventure", where he didn't want other Hobbits to know that he was no more reliable as before. It took a while before letting his Took side emerge...

Yeah, sure, but that hardly disagrees with my overall claim that the Dwarves aren't actually badasses in the film. They only think they are, and the cinematography acts like they are (even when, if you examine the things they're actually accomplishing, they're just lucky). It's a way of subverting expectations of what the movie's going to be about, which is perfect for the Hobbit. You have this whole grand adventure, but it's not what the story is about. It's the backdrop for a story about a person who's just caught up in it all, and is the only one who can see how silly everyone else is being, even as he recognizes and accepts the part of him that's enjoying being part of the story.

I see a lot of complaints about the movie being too Epic Action Filmy, but I think that people went in expecting it to be that, so they don't look any deeper. Maybe, on the other hand, I'm reading too much into something that was subtle enough that it might not really be there. Still, if I have to choose, I prefer the perspective that vastly improves the movie and makes it a far better representation of the source material than LotR was of its own. Even if Word of God makes clear that it wasn't intentional, I'll still hold with the accidentally brilliant narrative.

Except the Elves. That's the biggest sticking point for me. Why didn't they sing and laugh

[ragnar119]

I watched the movie and generally was disappointed. The movie was not bad, but also was not good for me. It doesn't have the feel and atmosphere, of the LotR movies. It is not as dark and as mature, and feels like they forced comedy with a lot of funny and wacky characters thru the whole movie. Generally it feels more like a movie made for young audience, but than again, that is how the book was also.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I don't know about you, but I for one enjoy having a movie that isn't GRIMDARKHOLLYWOODDARKGRIMNESS. And besides, The Hobbit is comedic. Not a comedy, but definitely comedic, that's the whole set-up.

[Trif]

The book may have been a children's book, but it had good character development, an interesting world and a message about actions and consequences and such. It was serious.

Now, if the movie had just recreated that, it would've been totally fine. A nice and simple film with an interesting group of characters going on a treasure hunt, an adventure. But instead, some evil orc is out to get them for vengeance, and a subplot about the powers of darkness rising again had to be shoehorned in.
Sure, the movie had some childish humor and jokes about fat old Bombur, but with that many decapitations I wouldn't call it a children's film.