Garfeimao: Thranduil – “I came to claim something of mine”, now there’s the greedy Elf King I remember from the book. And he is in Dale, and it appears he is actually astride his War Moose.
MrCere: I can’t pin it down quite but something about Lee Pace or Thranduil seems visually different here. Doesn’t it? Anybody?
Aragorn the Elfstone: Lee Pace has forever changed my personal image of Thranduil. Not that it would have taken a lot, since the only other image of the Wood Elves I had to go on for years was their frog-like appearance in Rankin-Bass’ The Hobbit. But Pace has had such a commanding and charismatic presence as the Elven King, that I find it hard to imagine that I won’t picture him on future readings of the novel.
Ainu Laire: Thranduil wants his gems back!
Quickbeam: a direct reference here to something that you’d ONLY have known about if you had watched that 13-minute longer E.E. of An Unexpected Journey. Daddy Thrandy wants his purty necklace back…..
Demosthenes: The obvious implication is that Thranduil wants to reclaim his fancy-shmancy gems. But what about this for a theory? Maybe he wants to reclaim his wayward son and that pesky captain of guards? Regardless, this conversation is obviously occurring within the ruins of Dale and that means that he’s probably addressing Bard. Or, perhaps, Gandalf and Bard. I suspect thew former though.
Calisuri: Is it me, or does Thranduil have a passing resemblance to Data from Stark Trek? Anyway…loving him in this trailer.
Sarumann: “I came to reclaim something of mine.” Not for nothing, Thranduil, but those had better be some very special jewels you want back.
Garfeimao: December gets a wonderfully dramatic score, and over it you can see tiny dark images flying across the letters. Could those be the bats? I also like the dim red glow at the bottom, either the far distant fire from Laketown or the very end of a sunset, signifying the end of all things.
MrCere: This December? Is that when this movie plays? Huh. This tidbit is in there for folks who watch movies once or twice a year.
Elessar: I can’t believe we’re basically a month away from the last Middle-earth film in the theaters for the first time. We’ve been waiting for so long to get to these Hobbit films and to be near the end for me is quite sad. I don’t want it to end.
Aragorn the Elfstone: Once upon a time, this film was going to be rushed for a Summer release. I, for one, am incredibly happy this did not come to pass. Aside from giving PJ & Co. more time to work on the film, doesn’t it just feel right to see “THIS DECEMBER” on the screen?
Ainu Laire: While I am fonder of ‘Requiem for a Tower’ from the TTT trailers, I really do like this music and I must find out where it is from sometime soon.
Sarumann: Thanks for reminding me that we still have a month. Like I wasn’t already acutely aware.
greendragon: Who is that standing up there? Doesn’t look like Azog; is it Bolg and some other orc?
MrCere: The start of a CGI shot that is giving us scale so that ….
Aragorn the Elfstone: “I told you we missed a right turn. Now they’re down there, and we’re ALL THE WAY up here. Happy now?”
Quickbeam: Big bad wolf is about to blow the house down. Rather, big bad Wargs and Orcs and Bats and Goblins and Trolls and……
J.W. Braun : Two words: Ep-ic
Kelvarhin: PJ really likes “Big” Armies, this is gonna be amazing.
grammaboodawg: It looks like the army is funneling into a narrow valley. A perfect trap to me!
Garfeimao: Orc army with Orc banners, and it’s a vast army.
greendragon: Reminiscent of ‘Isengard has been unleashed!’
MrCere: …. now it can turn itself up to EPIC battle scene shot. These are the extravagant shots that CGI allows. Nicely done with the soundtrack as well.
Elessar: That’s a whole lot of Orcs.
Aragorn the Elfstone: I’m reminded of some of my favorite shots in The Two Towers. Massive (pun intended) orc armies on the move are a touchstone of this franchise, that’s for sure.
Ainu Laire: More unused footage from The Last Alliance… let’s see how many times I can use this tagline.
Quickbeam: if only I could see what their insignia might be held aloft on those banners? These might be Orcs with Dol Guldur banners or mayhap Iron Hills’ Dwarves???
Demosthenes: Azog’s army? Or Bolg’s? Somehow, I fancy it’s the former.
Sarumann: “This was the last move in a master plan.” – Gandalf. This movie is certainly adding some epic scope to the battle.
Garfeimao: Gandalf’s quote aside, this image of Bilbo, Balin and the others actually looks like it’s shortly after Smaug has flown off in the night and they have all congregated outside with Bilbo. He seems to be focused on something specific, as does Balin, but not the same thing. The others appear to be moving off the the right, possibly done observing whatever there was to see out there.
greendragon: Pre-Mithril?
Elessar: Post the end of The Desolation of Smaug I think with Bilbo trouble by what they did.
Aragorn the Elfstone: Definitely earlier in the film – probably following the destruction of Lake-town. Is Bilbo reflecting on his part in Smaug’s massacre?
Demosthenes: Bilbo has seen something important again. Is it an army on the move? Or, if this is later the night of Smaug leaving Erebor, maybe it’s Lake-town burning on the horizon.
grammaboodawg: This reminds me so much of Sauron’s pits, only these caverns are in mountain rock instead of a former zen garden.
Garfeimao: The fact that the Orc army is moving into these caves definitely shows they are trying to be stealthy in their approach to Erebor.
Justin: Bat caves.
greendragon: If Gandalf realizes at this point that Sauron has been plotting this ‘master plan’ for a long time, why is he so surprised all those years later, in Fellowship of the Ring, when he discovers that Sauron is plotting again? The story needs them not fully to realize who the Necromancer is at this stage; otherwise they look like total fools for doing nothing between now and Bilbo’s 111th birthday…
Aragorn the Elfstone: I think greendragon’s point is a valid one. It’s one of the many reasons why I tend to view these trilogies separately and not as the Six Film Saga PJ wants it to be (curiously similar to my attitude toward another franchise featuring six, er… seven, films).
Ainu Laire: More unused footage from… well, you know.
Quickbeam: I love this. It looks like a massive termite colony gone into the mountainside. A living slagheap. Sweeping shots of large mobilized battlefield forces have always been the stuff of gripping cinematography since the days of Leni Riefenstahl. Best way to give shivers like when the camera pulled way back from Saruman’s terrance overlooking the amassed Uruk-hai below in the circle of Isengard.
Demosthenes: Why are they travelling into the caves, rather than out? Is this in the hills around Erebor and giving them a secret way to approach closer? We do know that Smaug had contact with Sauron and they had a pact of some sort, so… There’s also a bit of a similarity to the hills around the Black Gate at the climax of The Return of the King.
Sarumann: This orc army looks to be much bigger than what we saw in ‘Desolation’.
