SubJeff on 14/12/2013 at 03:32
So Smaug is hands down the best CGI dragon ever and was just awesome. And Evangeline Lily is very nice to look at.
But the rest of it was heavily marred by the cartoony nature of the effects. CGI orcs get lost. Lotr had proper orcs that were serious and hard core. The effects in this are terrible. And it's too long with too much filler.
Except for Smaug bits, which were brilliant.
henke on 15/12/2013 at 21:30
Saw it tonight. The higher frame rate really isn't helping things. It just makes it look like TV, except for the cgi bits, which look like a videogame cutscene. Either way it's not an improvement from the good ol' standard 24fps.
I actually just watched the first Hobbit movie last week, in preparation for seeing this at the cinema. I liked the first part better. This was just kinda too long and really bland. Overall these Hobbit movies really don't live up to the standard set by the LOTR trilogy.
One thing I do like about them, however, is the casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo. Y'know, I had sorta counted him out when Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy didn't take off. We see it all the time, actors from popular tv series getting a big movie role, then the movie flops and we never hear from them again. So it's heartening to see that they decided to cast him in the lead role for this huge franchise, and it paid off!
N'Al on 16/12/2013 at 05:48
I liked it.
Volitions Advocate on 16/12/2013 at 12:29
A friend described his impressions to me about the higher framerate like this.
"The CG looks cheap at higher frame rates because of excess of information. At 24 fps you don't see things as clearly and it leaves you room for suspension of disbelief."
He figures because the higher framerate leaves nothing for your mind to fill the gaps in between frames, the effects look cheap because you can see them clearly for what they are.
I haven't seen either movie at the higher framerate yet so I can't comment myself.
june gloom on 16/12/2013 at 16:57
That's about how I feel about the special effects in early X-Files episodes. They're run at a much higher framerate than the show itself and it's very jarring.
Muzman on 16/12/2013 at 17:48
It's supposed to be the other way around. CG at 24fps has to have phony motion blur and noise applied, which makes it a little more obvious against the more naturally obtained motion of the other elements. At 48 it doesn't need that so fits better with the other elements. The trouble is everything else takes on a sort of artificial sheen (no one seems quite sure why) and everything looks more fake than you'd really like (even though it actually is).
I've not seen any HFR stuff in the cinema myself though. Only at home.
Caradavin on 18/12/2013 at 02:08
Quote Posted by Muzman
It's supposed to be the other way around. CG at 24fps has to have phony motion blur and noise applied, which makes it a little more obvious against the more naturally obtained motion of the other elements. At 48 it doesn't need that so fits better with the other elements. The trouble is everything else takes on a sort of artificial sheen (no one seems quite sure why) and everything looks more fake than you'd really like (even though it actually is).
I've not seen any HFR stuff in the cinema myself though. Only at home.
Cool; how do you know all of that?
Nicker on 18/12/2013 at 06:04
Quote Posted by Caradavin
Cool; how do you know all of that?
Oh the denizens of Com Chat are veritable rivers of knowledge. Some of it is actually useful and relevant.
Ostriig on 18/12/2013 at 09:44
goddamnit people stop linking to gawker shitmedia
Anyway, saw this last night and I liked it. I enjoyed it quite a lot, in fact. Went in with really low expectations, having seen the first one and come out with a huge feeling of deja vu, but I figured I'd give it a shot and for a fiver at this little local cinema it was an easy sell. The plot and characters seemed even dumber than before, but Smaug was new and totally awesome.
And, unlike the previous one, I saw it in 2D and found the CGI bits far less jarring. Might be that they've worked on them a bit more in the meantime, too.
