The Hobbit

[flea]

It's pretty hard to determine that when you haven't and will not see the movie. That's like me not seeing The Dark Knight trilogy and claiming that Nolan simply stretched them out too much.

Peter Jackson did an incredible job with the trilogy. I don't see how we should judge the runtime before even seeing the film. And since when is runtime an issue? If it's too long for you, I don't see that as a shortcoming on the director's part. I see that as the viewer lacking the will to fully maintain an interest in the movie they're watching. I just think that if runtime is one of the first complaints, then that means it's probably a pretty damn impressive film.

I'm excited. I know it's going to be long. And I'm excited.

I've read the book multiple times (childhood favorite) so I know all the elements of the plot. This movie was 3.5 hours. At that rate, the "trilogy" will be 10.5. The Hobbit is a short book. That is unacceptable. Look at the greatest book to movie adaptations and you will notice that none of them are ungodly long (as in 10.5 hours long). David Lean did a great job with Dr. Zhivago and it's about 3 hours and 15 minutes - and that book is a true epic. The Hobbit is not an epic, no matter how you slice it.

[Buckwheat]

Comic book movies should be about 90 minutes then?

Elements can be added. It's all a part of the art.

But I'll say it again. If this is the biggest complaint about the film, then I'll gladly embrace it.

[valade16]

I think thats going to be the series downfalling. You can't split the freaking Hobbit into 3 movies. TLOR were so amazing and they were 3 separate books with 3 times the content of The Hobbit

Bad move IMO.

I agree completely. I read the book and there is just no way they can stretch purely that book into 3 movies.

Yeah, Tolkien can get long-winded, boring, with poor character development. It's basically the same shortcomings that haunt a lot of fantasy writers. They seem to overindulge their invented worlds at the cost of a consistently compelling narrative. GRR Martin got lavish praise because he didn't fall prey to this until books 4 and 5 of Song of Ice and Fire. Frankly a lot of the characters in LOTR are just bad, but it's okay because the story carries it well enough. The Hobbit, on the other hand, was quick enough to trick the reader - and why it's regarded as part of the canon while the rest isn't.

I agree 100%! It seems the problem with most fantasy writers is that they get so entranced in their world that they never want it to end, so they start spinning side plot after side plot and end up rambling in an attempt to flesh out the story.

George R.R. Martin started to do this in the Fire and Ice series, but Robert Jordan was the worst culprit. After book 3 of the Wheel of Time Series there are maybe 2-3 books worth of actual plot driving material and it turned into 14 books total.

Both Martin and Jordan originally envisioned their stories as trilogies... what does that tell you?

[ChitownBears22]

Got my ticket for IMAX 3D Thursday 845pm. Love how Dubai is releasing this a little early.

[steelcityroller]

Yes, is three movies, not just one.

Didn't know that and it just made me get sick to my stomach. They clearly are out to milk this cash cow for all its worth.... I have a very bad feeling about this to be honest. The previews didn't exactly make me excited to see it either.

[NYMetros]

Yes, is three movies, not just one.

Wait wtf? This is incredibly lame.

[Buckwheat]

Three movies

[netsgiantsyanks]

movies? they aren't stretching this into more than one I hope...


...and, I can't wait...I will see this at some point this weekend

it'll be a trilogy.

[MadJack]

it'll be a trilogy.

Hope not...

[steelcityroller]

Three movies

So you would have liked for the original trilogy to have been 9 movies....

[Vinny642]

I gotta work so I wont see the midnight release

[Sick Of It All]

It was going to be two movies at first, but then Jackson decided to add stuff from other Tolkien stories and that is how the third movie was born and am sure it will tie directly to the beginning of LOTR.

[Pinstripe pride]

I think people are also forgetting that the Return of the King extended edition was 4 hours 11 minutes, and the Blu-Ray extended edition made that 4 hours 23 minutes.

or they chose not to watcht eh extended version

[Buckwheat]

So you would have liked for the original trilogy to have been 9 movies....

Honestly?

Yeah.

[SenorGato]

So you would have liked for the original trilogy to have been 9 movies....

Not sure that's how it works.

The Hobbit, despite being only one book, is a very very meaty tale. One of best books I ever read despite only reading it once...over a decade ago. I'm really excited to see the Beorn character on screen.