The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Movie Review

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Movie Review

by Brian Wezowicz

Before I begin my review, I want to get something off of my chest.  I enjoy crappy movies when I probably shouldn't.  I am a staunch defender of the Star Wars prequels (even though I know that, artistically, they kind of suck).  Not so coincidentally, I enjoyed the first movie in the Hobbit (last year's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) series.  I can't help it.  I like being in the world of Middle Earth.  If you tell me I can escape to it for almost 3 hours, then sign me up immediately.  I found it to be an enjoyable movie, even though it couldn't hold a candle to the Lord Of The Rings series.  It was still a fun, albeit somewhat bloated and boring trip to Middle Earth.  That being said, I realize that to many it was minor disappointment.  It took wayyy too long to get going.  Do we really need to see the dwarves singing and cleaning dishes?  Does a 200 page book really need to be split into over 8 hours and 3 movies?  I'm still not convinced. However, after the first hour of Journey, when our troupe of dwarves, a wizard, and a Hobbit get going, the movie really picks up.  The trip through the goblin infested mountain was a genuine thrill ride.  The game of riddles between Bilbo (the title Hobbit) and Gollum (played brilliantly by the master of motion capture, Andy Serkis) had me at the edge of my seat.  And the final climactic scene (SPOILER ALERT!), where our heroes narrowly escape their pursuers, really got me excited for the next movie in the series.  My excitement pays off in a major way in this much improved sequel.

This is where we pick up when The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug picks up.  Our heroes are on the run, having gained a brief reprieve from their would be assassins.  They are still in search of the dwarf kingdom of Erabor and its current landlord, the merciless dragon Smaug (voiced by the king of deep voices, Benedict Cumberbatch).  Before they get there, Bilbo, Gandalf, and about 75* dwarves must seek refuge with a skin changer, and make their way through haunted elven woods.  In these woods, they encounter a pack of the meanest spiders in Middle Earth, who believe that they have found a tasty dinner.  The heroes manage to escape only to be captured and jailed by the prickly elf king Thranduil and his son (look kids, it's Legolas!).  Director Peter Jackson takes some major creative licenses with the original source material.  He creates an entirely new female elf, named Tauriel (played by Lost's Evangeline Lilly), which will surely piss some Tolkien nerds off.  I have to say, though, that she completely works.  She brings a much needed female presence to a story almost entirely devoid of it.  She also kicks major Orc butt alongside her love interest, Legolas.  And, let's be honest, if you are stretching the limits of what you can squeeze out of a small book (as this trilogy certainly is), then you need to add new elements to keep the story moving.  The escape from the elf kingdom is both funny and thrilling.  Had they gone straight to the climax inside the mountain, then this movie would have been even better.  But, alas, they didn't.

The only complaint I have about this movie is that it stalls a little bit once our characters get to the human enclave, called Lake Town.  They really dragged these scenes out longer than they had to be.  I understand that you need a bit of a break between action sequences, but parts of Lake Town could have been cut to keep the pacing up a bit.  The costumes and set design of Lake Town feel out of place in the world of Middle Earth.  These characters looked like they escaped from a Pirates Of The Caribbean movie.  I kept waiting for Captain Jack Sparrow to show up.  My complaints are only minor and, on the whole, this movie is better than the first.  The movie truly excels during the epic final scenes inside the dwarf stronghold.  Smaug is a sight to be seen.  Peter Jackson really knows how to create epic CGI characters.  He did it with King Kong and he scores again with the monstrous dragon.  The confrontation between Bilbo (who is trying to steal an ancient dwarf gem) and Smaug really heighten the anxiety level in this movie.  It's a delightful game of cat and mouse (er, dragon and Hobbit?) that allows the dwarves to get in place to make a run at reclaiming their homeland.  I won't spoil anything here, but there is a third movie on the way and not everything is resolved (shocker!).  BUT, the final battle is highly enjoyable and the ending already has me pre-ordering tickets to next year's Hobbit conclusion.

I am giving this movie 3 out of 4 stars.  It is a major improvement over the first film.  I saw it in 3D, which was enjoyable, since the film was actually shot and conceived in 3D.  If you can't see it in 3D, it's not the end of the world either.  I think you can have an equally enjoyable movie experience seeing it in standard 2D.  I did not see it in the 48 frames per second frame rate.  If you want to read about that, check out my buddy Chris' recap.

*All numbers estimated.