I have not read the book since Sauron lost his ring, but if memory serves the dwarves spend alot of time avoiding the dragon who anti-climatically flies away from them after deciding Lake Town is the graver threat (and is proved right by Bard the bowman).
I did not like the impervious- to-heat-wheel-barrow-gold-sluice ride...too much to appease the bored x-game crowd. I mean, really? Molten gold is like...hot.
I also did not like it in 3D...too much wierd transition between live action and CG. There were a few moments too where it felt like we were watching the gritty realism of a BBC masterpiece theater hand-held camera without filter or proper transition to 70mm. For me it was stylistically awkward. Q: was it better in 2D? Anyone? Or were the same weird Live TV to Movie filters on again off again there too?
The Barrel escape scene was too long and too white water not enough suspense--i.e. the wrong type of excitement. I remember the barrel escape in the book was very long and very quite yet very suspenseful. Given that I did like the Dwarf barrel bowling over Orcs on both banks, the comic relief it was intended to be worked for me, I laughed.
Martin Freeman is doing the best he can as Bilbo. Unfortunately for me his maroon "Bilbo jacket" is the same color as his "Arthur Dent Bathrobe" I half expected him to find Zaphod Beeblebrox holding the Arken Stone and Ford Prefect offering him a towel.
Did anyone else notice how heavy Legolas has become?
Overall this installment was a step down from the rest. The production standard was not up to the level of the other movies and I suspect there is a reason for it. I got the overwhelming sensation that this was rushed into post-production for commercial reasons. I have to believe there was enough good movie shot to have left us feeling better about it but that is not what the Hollywood/media producers wanted. If given time to finesse the editing and post production...this may have been a great movie. Sadly for us fans, it was not.
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