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[eharper256]

Honestly, I enjoyed the film. There was Hollywood Logic at work in some places, and the dwarves didn't feel dwarfy enough, and there were obvious cock-ups-in-translation, but it was still a good romp.

I also thought of Dwarf Fortress in the initial part with Smaug arriving and tearing s**t up. I had a fort go down exactly like that once.

EDIT: I also agree that the end credits song was amazing. Sure, Mr Neal Finn doesn't sound like a dwarf, but its a still a good song, and I'm totally going to add it to my personal Soundsense playlist for DF. I've been humming "Unlike some folk, we never forget, some crimes we never forgive, haven't seen the back of us yet, we'll fight as long as we live..." constantly the last 24 hours... Inspiring, really...

[Cthulhu]

It wasn't bad.  The CGI+48fps had a pretty...  interesting... effect.  The whole thing had the look of a video game cutscene, the classic film look was gone.  At a few points it worked but at others it was just...  I heard it described as a "lurid clarity" and that sounds about right.  I also didn't know it was gonna be a trilogy until like an hour in when I realized there was no way they were going to do the whole book at this pace.  I'm not too mad about it now, I guess I'll have to watch the next movie to see if they put in a lot of non-book filler, that's when I might start thinking it's a cash grab.

The part that made me think of Dorf Forts was early on when the dwarves are singing in Bilbo's house.  It reminded me of the first time I played, when I was generating the world and thinking while that music played.

Overall it wasn't as good as the original trilogy but it wasn't bad either.  They'll have to weather an even worse "I hate when you change anything" sandblasting than before what with Azog and all the other new stuff, but who cares? 

[Bauglir]

I guess I'll have to watch the next movie to see if they put in a lot of non-book filler, that's when I might start thinking it's a cash grab.

From what I've heard, movie 2 is supposed to focus on the Wizards vs the Necromancer, with movie 3 picking up most of the rest of Bilbo and the Dwarves. Of course, that sounds like exactly the sort of story that would suit the style of movie they're doing, so it'll probably turn out to be a better movie than what we've seen so far. Very much more LotR, which would've made it a very poor fit in the book. I don't actually have a problem with this, because I'm actually looking forward to what they can do with a story set in Middle Earth that is constrained only by the very loosest of canon, so that I can compare it to what they've already made, but I predict tremendous amounts of backlash from book fans who'd prefer stricter adherence to the source material. It might be a bit disingenuous to produce it under the title of The Hobbit, but that's about the only objection I can think of to that sort of thing.

I could be wrong, of course. This is all hearsay. Movie 2 could be The Further Adventures of Gollum for all I know.

I also look forward to seeing how they reconcile

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Giant Flaming Eye with Necromancer-related canon.

[Mistercheif]

Well, at least according to book

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

near the end, I recall Gandalf explaining where he'd been during all of the Mirkwood and reclaiming the Mountain stuff, and saying that he was dealing with a Necromancer (or maybe it was imprisoned in the Necromancer's dungeons?) and that he escaped and the Necromancer was defeated. So presumably this defeat at the hands of Gandalf/whoever helped him in there is what led to the change from humanoid necromancer form to giant flaming eye form.

Correct me on any details I got wrong, I haven't read The Hobbit for quite a while, and I may be misremembering some stuff.  I really need to read that again...

[Enzo]

Just got back from seeing this! The only part of this movie I didn't like was the part that wasn't Gollum's cave.

[Heron TSG]

Personally, I enjoyed the hell out of the movie. The soundtrack was fantastic, and I loved the callbacks to the main Misty Mountains Cold theme.

Overall it wasn't as good as the original trilogy but it wasn't bad either.  They'll have to weather an even worse "I hate when you change anything" sandblasting than before what with Azog and all the other new stuff, but who cares?

Man, at first I was against Azog being some kind of weird recurring villain, but then I thought of the advantages. Primarily, it meant that there was something to break up all the walking outside of Goblin Town, but moreover it gave them an excuse to make some actually scary orcs. Orcs in LoTR were scary in their quantity and the threat they represented on the whole. The orcs in The Hobbit were actually individually pretty effective.

And hey, at least they didn't throw in a hundred-odd elves out of nowhere and wipe Erkenbrand from existence, right? 
_{Barbarossa did not approve of the changes to Helm's Deep.}

[Bauglir]

Well, at least according to book

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

near the end, I recall Gandalf explaining where he'd been during all of the Mirkwood and reclaiming the Mountain stuff, and saying that he was dealing with a Necromancer (or maybe it was imprisoned in the Necromancer's dungeons?) and that he escaped and the Necromancer was defeated. So presumably this defeat at the hands of Gandalf/whoever helped him in there is what led to the change from humanoid necromancer form to giant flaming eye form.

Correct me on any details I got wrong, I haven't read The Hobbit for quite a while, and I may be misremembering some stuff.  I really need to read that again...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yeah, that's exactly what the book says, except that I believe it's also canon that he lost his shapechanging ability and so the eye thing would've been his form ever since he managed to regain form of any kind after the Ring was taken. In the novel, Sauron is never directly interacted with except through the Palantiri, which makes it less of an issue because there's no information to conflict with anything.

My money is on the Necromancer being the Witch-king, though. In the movie, I mean. Baseless speculation, but still.

[Heron TSG]

Spoiler: Actual Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well, there was that one part where a statue shaped suspiciously similarly to a ringwraith started moving around. You also have the commentary about how the Witch King was buried so deeply that his tomb would never see light... and then it was opened. By the Witch-King of Angmar himself or Sauron, I cannot say. I'm willing to flip a coin and guess Sauron, though. That way one of us has to be right.

[lemon10]

Spoiler: Actual Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well, there was that one part where a statue shaped suspiciously similarly to a ringwraith started moving around. You also have the commentary about how the Witch King was buried so deeply that his tomb would never see light... and then it was opened. By the Witch-King of Angmar himself or Sauron, I cannot say. I'm willing to flip a coin and guess Sauron, though. That way one of us has to be right.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Hobbit does say that he went do deal with the necromancer, and then later in LOTR, gandalf says that the necromancer was Sauron (apparently with some supplementary explanation in the appendix's).
However, none of this ever goes past a whole line in the book.

I would imagine that it is Sauron in the movie as well, and that although there are strong spells warding the tomb, he just plucked the witch king out, because the rings bondage is greater then any magic the elves could conjure.

There are also quite a few distinctions between the movie and the established lore in these regards (eg. the ring wraiths had been running around for almost a millenia before the events of the hobbit, mirkwood had been corrupted for almost two millenia, among other quite notable changes).

[sneakey pete]

Since none of my mates want to see this with me, i'm considering just waiting till 2014 and go see the inevitable 3 movie in a row session that happens when the 3rd film comes out. Sound like a good idea (neglecting the health risks of sitting for 9 hours and so on), or is this something i really should see now?

[Sheb]

Well, I quite liked it, except for Azog, and the way the eagles just save them at the end. I mean, come on, not a single sentence exchanged between them? It's like the ultimate Deux Ex Machina here.

[Rose]

I loved the movie and thought it was fantastic.

[MrWillsauce]

the way the eagles just save them at the end. I mean, come on, not a single sentence exchanged between them? It's like the ultimate Deux Ex Machina here.

You'll have to blame Tolkien for that one, not the film. It was in the book.

[Sheb]

Well, IIRC, in the book, they at least spend some time thanking the eagles and explaining how they got there.

[MrWillsauce]

True, but in the book they weren't fighting orcs due to the stupid new subplot with Azog.