Disaster

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2012)

Okay, I'm a big fan of the LOTR franchise. I was eagerly awaiting this movie and looking forward to seeing it. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I found it a colossal disappointment in multiple areas.
How does it look? The IMAX HFR 3D at 48fps (which has had mixed reviews some saying it's great and brings a new dimension and others said it makes the film look amateur and fake) in my opinion is a grave error and turns the movie into an amateurish looking farce in places. The slick action from previous films is gone with this higher detail and resolution of movement creating the placeholder for a very fake looking movie. The use of CGI is also excessive and the fine detail really shows you that it's computer generated and in no way believable. I'm not saying the CGI looks bad, I'm saying that the detail of the CGI due to the 48fps playback really makes it stand out from the actors which spoils it completely for me. There is a LOT of work to do if this is to become the norm for future releases.
Storyline? Another huge disappointment. The start of the film is extremely slow and the plot is pretty much laid out in full. Bunch of dwarfs and a hobbit take a trip to the old dwarf kingdom to fight a dragon that's sleeping there. No suspense, no guesswork, no excitement. I can pretty much imagine what part 2 will be like. I hope i'm wrong.
Characters? CGI mountain trolls and orc king that speak perfect English and engage in friendly fun banter, what on earth was the director thinking? So what spoils it? Poor CGI which doesn't work with the higher frame rate which means you can spot the difference immediately.
48fps version is a colossal and unprecedented visual disaster and makes a lot of the movie look so amateur, cheap and fake. I just wanted to switch back to normal speed so I could enjoy and absorb what I was seeing. Felt like as others have commented, a soap opera or watching the filming of it. I had no sense of watching an epic movie.
Misplaced comedy. Talking mountain trolls and a talking orc king all making them look totally fake. I expect these creatures to be fearsome abominations. Instead they are over-sized clearly computer generated clumsy comedians. These massive obviously intelligent mountain trolls are defeated by a few dwarfs with catapults. Seriously? Disappointment aside, I am looking forward in anticipation to the next installment.