72 Reviews: The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

The enormous hype over the Peter Jackson’s new LOTR prequels seemed to be not in the least bit over drawn. This was what it seemed when the release of the first film was nearing. Of course during our long and painful wait it was announced that this new Middle Earth two part prequel was actually going to be his next big trilogy. This of course led us to believe that all of the films would either be too short, or off the subject of the film in an attempt to make each film feel like an actual full length film. What actually happened when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey came out was a three hour film that underwhelmed a lot of fans. Nevertheless An Unexpected Journey was a warm welcome back to Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth, but it still had problems. I think that the sudden impact of the concept of “The Hobbit Trilogy” may have had a part in the many faults of the first film in the series. That being said, did The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug have the same fate as it’s predecessor?

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug starts out with a flashback just like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Return of The King. In the first one, the motive of the quest seems like a bunch of soldiers trying to take back their fort. In the first scene of this film Peter Jackson sets the tone that will make the motive of the Dwarves’ quest a dire action of but a few to reclaim a homeland and a fallen Prince’s journey to claim the throne and lead his people back into glory. Through the whole film we feel like we’re with the dwarves and we are truly rooting for them. That may also be because of the likability of the Dwarves. Again I must compare the two films by saying that the first film introduced them well, but this film, despite it being only the second film of the series, made us see the Dwarves as characters that we have already seen multiple times and already have a fancy for them. Throughout the film, while inspecting the delivery of the characters I was constantly reminded of how Peter Jackson filmed the trilogy (as he did with the Lord of The Rings) as one whole film, back to back. This is evident in the performance of the actors who portrayed Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Thorin Oakenshield, Dwalin, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, and Ori. That isn't the main booster of their performance though. The dwarves are very well played and maybe even a tad bit better than they were in the previous film. Why am I spending so much ink of the Dwarves and not Bilbo? Well my good sir, that is because Bilbo doesn't get the screen time that I (and probably a lot of other fans) feel he deserved. It’s nothing as bad as Alfred in The Dark Knight Rises but it does feel a lot like the other characters are more important. That is going to be alright with a lot of people because the supporting cast of this film may be the best we've ever seen in a Middle Earth film.

Let’s start with Richard Armitage's Thorin Oakenshield. Thorin is pretty much the same as he was last time, only this time we see some of his desperateness. He is truly an heir to a throne that has driven both his father and his father before into madness. By the end of the film we question his nobility as we have questioned many others’ in the Middle Earth Saga. Ian McKellen’s Gandalf is still good old bad-A Gandalf The Grey. He plays a great part in the Necromancer story line of the film and the whole trilogy. The story line is the one in the first two films that most connects with the Lord of The Rings Trilogy and the ultimate reincarnation of – Sorry I forgot about the “no spoilers” rule of my reviewing. Anyway Mr.McKellen does great and it does kinda get me to wonder which 2014 Ian McKellen character people will like better: Gandalf or Magneto? The more interesting characters are the Elves. Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly do very well together on screen and their moral standpoint is evolved with the help of one another. All of these returning actors give flawless deliveries, but it is one particular new character that gives what I think is the best performance in the film. Luke Evans’s Bard the Bowman is not only a people’s patriot that cares for his townsfolk and his own children, he is also one bad-ass with a bow. It disappointed me that the film came to a screeching halt before his story line was complete. Out of all the minor characters from the book that we've seen play out in a larger scale on screen (and even one completely made up one) Luke Evans’s Bard The Bowman is undoubtedly the best.

The plot of The Desolation of Smaug is exhilarating and well structured. This was the part that I was expecting to bring the most faults. The entire plot brings countless twists and turns while still staying on track of the main journey. I remember that when asked about how hard it was to deliver a film that was caught (quite unexpectedly) in between two others Peter Jackson said that, just like in The Two Towers, the story lines of this film split up into several different ones. The main plot of The dos is filled with people telling the Dwarves that there is no way that they will be able to slay Smaug and reclaim their fallen kingdom. In the end the Dwarves’ determination nearly fails them but eventually leads them into the presumable end of their journey, but this ending is Smaug/Benedict Cumberbatch has in mind.

So how was the big Dragon anyway? Well I’ll tell you – he was awesome. Out of all the special effects creations in the Middle Earth Saga (spiders, Nazgul, and of course hedgehogs) Smaug sets the fire of shame to them all. The big dragon is also the best special effects creation of this year, topping the Elysium robots and the last thirty minutes of Man of Steel. Peter Jackson said that he set out to make Smaug feel like the Hannibal Letcher of the dragon world. Smaug is so evil and powerful in this film that it makes you wonder if he and Sauron should have an Destroy Middle Earth-Off. Without Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice over the dragon would not be half as scary as he is with it. Smaug definitely lands my favorite Benedict Cumberbatch character this year, beating Khan with the mere fact that not only did they put his name in the title, but they didn't call him John Harrison and try to make it so we have to go see it so we can know who the villain is. I’m sorry I’m going overboard about this.

Smaug, the character performances, and the infamous barrel sequence are all enhanced by the 48 frames per second filming. Last year a lot of critics did what they are paid to do and criticized the choice. Well those critics can go suck on one of Peter Jackson’s cameo carrots because the 48 fps is great. One of the greatest examples of the clearness of the format is the infamous barrel sequence and the many shots on the plains of New Zealand that shows the company of Thorin hiking farther on.

There are many other things like Howard Shore’s mysterious score and Peter Jackson’s usage of men that boosted the film’s darker tone that I chose not to talk about but overall The Hobbit: The dos was a near flawless movie and one of the best films of 2013.