The Hobbit: Six years on … Where are those 20 questions?

Do you remember?

Far back in the mists of Time of early 2011, rumour spread that Peter Jackson was asking his fans to submit questions whilst the production on The Hobbit was underway. The director stated he would be going through the questions and answering 20 of them as filming took place.

In Praise of Michael Pellerin

I am a big fan of behind the scenes documentaries for films.

My passion started way back in 1994 when, just a few months after the release of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, a ‘making of’ feature was shown on TV. I was mesmerised to see what went on behind the camera lens: the writing of the script, the set design and, of course, the creation of the dinosaurs themselves.

Since then, I devoured any behind the scenes features I came across, no matter what film it was. This occurred well before the advent of DVDs and such instances showed up few and far between.

On Peter Jackson “Winging it…”

The Chaos of The Battle of the Five Armies 

Before ever we set foot inside cinema theatres to watch the final installment of The Hobbit trilogy, ardent fans, paying close attention to the online marketing campaign of the film, would have been aware that this last Middle-earth film was a rough road for the filmmakers.

Rumours had spread that something was amiss and that Peter Jackson’s 6-film closing statement was not as up-to-scratch as expected. The director himself, well known for his scruffy and dishevelled appearance, looked even more so and exhausted than ever before; and yet, with almost a year of post-production dedicated to this third Hobbit film, what went wrong?

The Thorin vs Azog Duels: An Analysis

Why AUJ’s scene works better than BOTFA’s

The comparisons are obvious and the decision to include an initial confrontation between Azog and Thorin at the end of An Unexpected Journey, cleverly foreshadows the eventual meeting at the end of film 3.

It is my intention to analyse the two scenes and work out why one works better than the other.

For the purposes of this analysis, I will be referring to the Thorin/Azog scene at the end of An Unexpected Journey as the “Pine Forest Confrontation”; whilst the scene in The Battle of the Five Armies will be referred to as the “Ravenhill Conflict”.

Time and time again, I have found that the Pine Forest Confrontation has been a constant tear-jerker since my very first viewing of the film. With the Ravenhill Conflict, the emotional resonance lies only AFTER the conflict has ended.

I do not want to go into much detail on the Ravenhill Conflict, as I’ve already said much in a previous post (The Problematic Climax of ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’).

What follows is a personal opinion and is not meant to generalise the overall feeling of any fans or viewers of the film.