MovieChat Forums > The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) Discussion > Barrel Ride Down The Falls

Barrel Ride Down The Falls

posted 9 years ago by MachoManRandySavage
20 replies | jump to latest

I have never seen any of these movies before, but happened to watch about 10 minutes of it on TV just now...Wow, is it awful.

The barrel chase scene is one of the worst big budget sequences I have ever seen. It's one thing to make a movie have an exciting action sequence but it's another to turn your movie into a cartoon/video game. The action is so over the top it's beyond absurd. One shot after the next featuring physics defying acrobatics, metal weapons being hurled about like plastic toys and miraculously buoyant barrels that somehow manage to stay upright while tumbling down an extended series of rapids and falls.

How did these movies manage to be such massive hits? I like the book The Hobbit, but had no interest in seeing it milked over several movies. Michael Bay movies are ripped to shreds (rightfully so) for their cheese and ridiculousness, how have these movies (if this sequence is any indication of the rest of The Hobbit movies) escaped the same critique?

[–] Otaku-sempai 9 years ago

One also has to wonder, if this is how barrels are routinely returned to Lake-town then how do any of them arrive still in a useable condition?

But the movies aren't all this bad; this is one of the worst examples of the over-the-top action sequences in these movies.

"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having." - V

[–] baseballbat-boy 9 years ago

i find it super amusing how a short novel of about 200 pages takes the same time in 3 parts to unveil its story as a 1000+ pages book : D

[–] Otaku-sempai 9 years ago

Tolkien told the story of The Hobbit differently than how he later told The Lord of the Rings. He breezed through many events and fleshing out those incidents is one factor that added to the length of the films.

"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having." - V

[–] Thimblina 8 years ago

I wonder the same thing. How did they take such a delightful novel and stretch it into 3 mediocre movies?

[–] Stenian 9 years ago

Don't forget orcs, talking dragons, elves, wizards...

Just absurd.

*eyes roll*

[–] Otaku-sempai 9 years ago

Don't forget orcs, talking dragons, elves, wizards...

The fantasy elements don't work as well if the rest of the film(s) isn't grounded in some form of reality.

"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having." - V

[–] Conan-1982 9 years ago

Finally someone points out how bad it is.

That's the moment where the Trilogy DIED for me.

Thank you.

What's best in life ?

[–] otter 8 years ago

I lost it earlier, possibly when the Stone Giant sequence was dragged out for half an hour, and then followed by the painful Goblin Town.

I think the damn barrel ride was so overblown because they originally planned to make two films, and this was supposed to be the finale of the first film. The escape from Mirkwood was actually the logical place to break between two films, as that's when Bilbo comes into his own and rescues the dwarves, and they see the Lonely Mountain close at hand.

So I guess this shows us that even if PJ had made two more tightly edited films instead of three slow ones, they still would have sucked.

“Seventy-seven courses and a regicide, never a wedding like it!

[–] Otaku-sempai 8 years ago

I lost it earlier, possibly when the Stone Giant sequence was dragged out for half an hour, and then followed by the painful Goblin Town.

I doubt that the Stone-giant sequence took up even 5 minutes of screen time; it just felt longer.

Even with the addition of Legolas and the subplot of the White Council versus the Necromancer, the book could have easily been adapted into two films (a one-movie version would have still needed to be condensed and streamlined), but Jackson was not interested in such a straightforward approach.

"Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved." - T. Isabella

[–] wittmann73 8 years ago

it was a mess and a half. Couldnt stop rolling my eyes. like from a bad video game with poor graphics. easily the worst part of the movie.

btw, also Smaug vs the dwarves is as bad as it gets and not even in the book.

[–] Conan-1982 8 years ago

"I think the damn barrel ride was so overblown because they originally planned to make two films, and this was supposed to be the finale of the first film."

I was not aware of this.

"So I guess this shows us that even if PJ had made two more tightly edited films instead of three slow ones, they still would have sucked. "

You're probably right, but at least we would have suffered for 6 hours instead of 9. That's something :p

My problem is that I was so happy to be back in Middle-Earth that the hype completely clouded my judgement.

At the time it was released, I loved AUJ: my hyped-up brain completely cancelled the goofy Goblin King and that whole Indiana Jones crap scene etc. The hype effect continued on along with DOS and it was only when I saw the barrel-ride that my jaw dropped and I finally awoken to how bad this whole travesty was.

Suddenly the Goblin King, Radagast the clown and his childish animals all came back at me instantly while I was watching that stupid barrel ride and I was left numb, almost lobotomized for the rest of the movie.

It's like when you find your woman in bed with another guy and suddenly all the hints that she was cheating on you pop in your mind and you feel like an idiot because it was obvious but you were too blind to see.

So in the end it's my fault: I should have seen the writing on the wall since AUJ, like most people did.

[–] danmax67 9 years ago

Yes, the Hobbit movies are abominations. I guess PJ just decided that Tolkien was a hack and he could make a better story. He was very wrong.

[–] oRRe_cheaton 8 years ago

I disagree. The barrel scene was one of the most entertaining scenes in this movie.

[–] syntinen 8 years ago

It was just tiresome. It was obviously intended to be exciting, but it was so cartoony there was no drama or tension; and parts of it were obviously meant to be funny, but as PJ has absolutely zilch sense of humour they were just leaden. if they had filmed the escape down the river as written in the book that would have been far more gripping and scary.

[–] Otaku-sempai 8 years ago

if they had filmed the escape down the river as written in the book that would have been far more gripping and scary.

It would have been different, but gripping? Scary? The dwarves are sealed into barrels that are collected into rafts. We only really see Bilbo who spends much of the time invisibly hiding on the raft or from the Wood-elf raft-men and stealing food.

"Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved." - T. Isabella

[–] syntinen 8 years ago

I wasn't thinking of the part after the barrels have been collected and roped into rafts, but this:

Now the very last barrel was being rolled to the doors! In despair and not knowing what else to do, poor little Bilbo caught hold of it and was pushed over the edge with it. Down into the water he fell, splash! into the cold dark water with the barrel on top of him. He came up again spluttering and clinging to the wood like a rat, but for all his efforts he could not scramble on top. Every time he tried, the barrel rolled round and ducked him under again. It was really empty, and floated light as a cork. Though his ears were full of water, he could hear the elves still singing in the cellar above. Then suddenly the trapdoors fell to with a boom and their voices faded away. He was in the dark tunnel, floating in icy water, all alone …He heard the creak of the water-gate being hauled up, and he found that he was in the midst of a bobbing and bumping mass of casks and tubs all pressing together to pass under the arch and get out into the open stream. He had as much as he could do to prevent himself from being hustled and battered to bits; but at last the jostling crowd began to break up and swing off, one by one, under the stone arch and away. Then he saw that it would have been no good even if he had managed to get astride his barrel, for there was no room to spare, not even for a hobbit, between its top and the suddenly stooping roof where the gate was.

Out they went under the overhanging branches of the trees on either bank. Bilbo wondered what the dwarves were feeling and whether a lot of water was getting into their tubs. Some of those that bobbed along by him in the gloom seemed pretty low in the water, and he guessed that these had dwarves inside. "I do hope I put the lids on tight enough!" he thought, but before long he was worrying too much about himself to remember the dwarves. He managed to keep his head above the water, but he was shivering with the cold, and he wondered if he would die of it before the luck turned, and how much longer he would be able to hang on...…. the eddying current carried several barrels close ashore at one point and there for a while they stuck against some hidden root. Then Bilbo took the opportunity of scrambling up the side of his barrel while it was held steady against another. Up he crawled like a drowned rat, and lay on the top spread out to keep the balance as best he could...

…Before long the barrels broke free again and turned and twisted off down the stream, and out into the main current Then he found it quite as difficult to stick on as he had feared; but he managed it somehow, though it was miserably uncomfortable. Luckily he was very light, and the barrel was a good big one and being rather leaky had now shipped a small amount of water... at last Mr. Baggins came to a place where the trees on either hand grew thinner. He could see the paler sky between them. The dark river opened suddenly wide, and there it was joined to the main water of the Forest River…. Then the hurrying water of the Forest River swept all the company of casks and tubs away to the north bank…. On the shallow shore most of the barrels ran aground, though a few went on to bump against the stony pier.

It's my feeling that any director who couldn't make a scary and gripping sequence out of that - Bilbo alone in the freezing dark water, wrestling with his barrel, in danger of being battered to death by rocks or other barrels and nearly getting his head smashed on the stone arch, not knowing whether his friends are alive or smashed to bits or drowned trapped in leaky barrels; and if they are alive, whether their barrels are still floating downstream with him or are caught in some obstacle upstream with their occupants helpless to free themselves - is in the wrong profession.

[–] Jimothy3 8 years ago

It's a hideous mess of a scene. Too much CGI and too much logic-defiance. Will there ever be a director with the cojones to say "I think I'd prefer to use practical effects for this one". CGI just gives a licence to do as many unbelievable looking stunts as possible. At least practical effects in many cases, despite the limitations, give you a better sense of reality. With CGI there are no limitations, and that's part of the problem. You can therefore have Legolas barrel-hopping while fighting orcs and goblins, and it look completely dumb.

CGI is great in doses, but don't pretend it's what every action scene needs in order to look good. It isn't. Sure, when it comes to the fantastical elements like dragons, balrogs, and whatever else that would be difficult to recreate using PE, go ahead. With certain action scenes where the same earthbound scientific rules apply, then take a hint that if you can't recreate it using PE, it probably means it's too far fetched an action to be done in CGI to satisfy us.

[–] gd5150 8 years ago

This all started with The Two Towers, and Legolas swinging backwards up onto the horse when they're being attacked by the Warg riders. They talk in the appendices how the audience cheered at that scene and they knew they had pulled off a great CGI trick. To me it always looked fake, but it was ok because everything else in the scene was believable. Directors love an audience response and instead of just enjoying it they go overboard with the same trick in the next film.

Take the Legolas snowboarding scene in TTT, and move to him taking down the giant elephant and defying all reality in ROTK. And let the stupidity continue in The Hobbit river raft ride and Legolas defying all reality.

George Lucas has done this to a T. In Return of the Jedi there was a space battle scene with ships all over the place, in 1983 it was quite impressive considering they were using stop motion effects. So what do they do? Go back with CGI, and add in a million more ships thus making the entire thing look absurd. Or in the 2nd new star wars, sorry don't know the names as they're absolutely stupid to me, we see a glimpse of Yoda being a badass and the audience cheers. SO hey, lets make him defy all reality in the 3rd one, the audience will love it. And no, it just became stupid.

Clearly CGI artists are unaware of physics and mass when they do these scenes. CGI should be only be used to fine tune reality, not create it. The lack of Bigatures in the Hobbit is a great sign of how CGI has created total laziness in the motion picture industry.

I'm half through DOS and I turned it off because I'm bored. The Hobbit trilogy to me has been a huge disappointment so far. Much like all the new Star Wars movies after 1983.

[–] Captain_Wesker 8 years ago

Take the Legolas snowboarding scene in TTT

When did Legalos go snowboarding?

---
It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing .

[–] Otaku-sempai 8 years ago

I'm pretty sure that he was referring to Legolas riding a shield down stairs. I'm also sure that you knew exactly what he meant.

"Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved." - T. Isabella