The Hobbit: 10 Times Peter Jackson Ruined A Character

By the time Thorin got around to defeating Azog did anyone even care?

Peter Jackson was smart when filming the Lord of the Rings, he avoided one on one duels at all costs, and when he did include them, they were punchy and affective. Remember when Aragorn took on Lurtz in the Fellowship? That all happened in under a minute (and that was the extended edition), there was no cutting away to other characters, it was quick and brutal, and it worked.

But the Thorin/Azog fight dragged on for what felt like an age. The entire run up was intercut with footage of Legolas doing something ridiculous, or Bard looking sad, or Gandalf waving his wand. When the showdown actually happened, it was was over five minutes of ice skating and forced dramatic pauses.

Jackson seemed to forgo character driven plot in his final film, in the hope that flashy action sequences would do the heavy lifting for him. Sadly it just served to make the final showdown feel like a cheap imitation of a Marvel climax.