mediocre entertainment

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2012)

3D-48fps, before i get into the review i have to say i am a LOTR fan and rate the trilogy in my personal top 10, as such i was really looking forward to this release. first lets get the bad stuff out of the way, the 48fps is certainly pin sharp but the contrast and lighting give the film a very non cinematic TV like appearance, while some may like this personally i like cinema to look like cinema and not like watching 1080p at home. the cgi camera pan's really were almost video game like, and unnatural this created a disconnect between wheat was going on, on-screen and the viewer. the superhuman survival of the dwarf's during several scenes was just ridiculous and i did not feel that the group were in any kind of peril, emotionally you want to at least feel like there is a risk (even though we've all read the book and know the outcome). the movie was just too long, i mean there is a great amount of detail, but lets be honest there has to be as the director and the studio need to stretch out a simple 300page book into almost 9hrs of cinema. this was a commercial decision to milk the audience over 2 years and 3 movies rather than giving us what could have been a fantastic single 3hr movie the scenes with gollum really showed off the latest CGI tech and were jaw droppingly awesome.
all in all fairly enjoyable, but disappointing all the same. i certainly wont be going to see it again and i wont be queuing up for the DVD release (followed no doubt by 6 special edition DVD box sets)