Peter Jackson turned into Gollum with CGI being his "precious"
Having seen again how ridiculous some of the action CGI parts are in this movie yesterday evening, I was thinking how in retrospect it might have been better to have another director take the helm for these movies.
Although stretching out a short book into 3 long films is the problem that kicks it all off, Jackson's love for the OTT action and CGI brings things down for me, and it's something he's got progressively more attached to after the original trilogy with his movie output, and has let's be honest, led to him going downhill since being the creative visionary director he started out being.
He used CGI as was necessary in the LOTR trilogy, and then like Gollum spending too much time with the ring, he formed an unhealthy bond with it to the point it's become his automatic go-to choice for any action, which is so ridiculously far fetched. The barrel scene gave me such a cringe attack that I thought I was going to be hospitalised. You saw glimpses of Legolas's invincibility mode during the LOTR from the shield sliding to the oliphant attack, and now Jackson doesn't hold back in making him this logic-defying super ninja that can take out anyone and anything, as if he expects this is what we all want to see. Well, it isn't! Maybe kids still go crazy for it but as someone who enjoyed those various moments in LOTR, this feels all too samey and desperate 10 years on.
That's why I think it might have benefited from another director who could have given it a different and more refreshing angle, without the over-reliance on the OTT action and CGI that Jackson is now accustomed to. Someone with a new team behind it, as I also think Weta, as good as they've been and were with the original trilogy, their CGI when human characters are integrated into CGI surroundings or vice versa aren't always the best, and it showed here. The special effects in this particular area have dated when you look back at the LOTR, and it appears based on these Hobbit movies there's not been much improvement.