Is Thorin to remain alive?

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Besides, this Thorin character in the movie bears utterly no resemblance to the one in the book. He's just a short surly guy without manners, not a dwarf.

I really don't understand the praise for Thorin in the films. Richard Armitage is fine, I suppose, but the portrayal of the character is so safe and boring, cut straight from a Hollywood cookie cutter template with virtually no reference to the original character.

Incidentally, don't the filmmakers look incredibly hypocritical for saying that the Dwarves needed to be given more character than their book counterparts, then proceeding to just give them each a silly haircut and calling it a day? I mean, beyond Thorin, Kíli, Balin and to a tiny extent Fíli, they haven't bothered to characterise them at all - most of them still don't speak. Yet they have plenty of time for characters who weren't in the book or whom they actually made up. I was watching LordPhillock's commentary the other day and there were glimpses of some of the Extended Edition scenes from "An Unexpected Journey," particularly in Rivendell, which do characterise the Dwarves, but merely by showing them being crass and undignified, and the Elves reacting to it with stuffiness and discomfort. In the book the Elves are cheery and fun while the Dwarves are pompous and uncomfortable. Why the complete reversal?