Summary
Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarves of Erebor continue their journey.
My Thoughts:
“The Desolation of Smaug” is the second installment of The Hobbit trilogy from director Peter Jackson. Coming hot of the tails of “The Unexpected Journey”, Smaug takes no time in getting into the action; unlike the first film, which takes nearly an hour to establish everything, this one starts with a bang and ends with one. It's a much larger and quicker film that delivers on the action, but narratively it falters by cramming way too much into a simple story, adding new characters for pointless romance, and an uneven story arch involving Laketown and it's politics. While it's not an inherently bad film, it's overlong and very messy.
This second film feels just like that: a second entry into an already too long adaptation of a 250 page children's book. It doesn't really have a solid beginning or ending, there's a pointless intro that reassess what happened in the first film, then it gets right into the dwarves and Bilbo being chased down by orcs, and while this is a welcomed change of pace from the previous film, it's a jarring way to start this one off, and while the action is fun, it’s also a little too silly at times (such as the barrel racing scene), but it also takes away some of the magic of the book. Like when Gandalf (Ian McKellan, “Gods and Monsters”) and Radaghast (Sylvester McCoy) go to investigate the necromancer (Benedict Cumberbatch, “1917”) are such obvious filler to extend these already lengthy films, as we the audience already know what happens after these series of events, there's nothing new to create tension so the stakes are lowered too much for me to really care about what happens.
The white orc, or Azog the Defiler (Manu Bennett, “30 Days of Night”) bothered me the first time that I watched this trilogy, but this time around I've come to warm up to this new villain, it feels a tad copy and paste from the original trilogy's Uruk-Hai Lurtz, but he adds some depth to Thoron Oakenshield’s (Richard Armitage, “The Lodge”) shallow character arch, it gives him something else for the audience to relate to, or form a further connection, there's certain times where the film flashes back to the battle that killed Thorin's father, and it shows it from different perspectives from the other dwarves, it really solidifies Azog as a foe and now just some shoe-in character for added confusion. Which brings me to Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly, “Ant-Man and the Wasp”), the completely made up addition to Middle Earth courtesy of Peter Jackson and his wanting for another perfect trilogy, so naturally he needed a love story that matched the passion of Arwen and Aragorn. However, instead we are re-introduced to Legolas (Orlando Bloom, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” ) (whom is never supposed to be in this story, but I'm guessing Orlando Bloom needed a paycheck), who is the first love interest of Tauriel, but her heart is set on the dwarf Kili (Aidan Turner, “The Man who Killed Hitler and then Bigfoot”), so there is this strange love triangle so doesn't make a lick of sense nor does it at all tie in with any Lord of the Rings lore, it was a sloppy decision to add her character, and write in Legolas just for the purpose of romance, it was forced and it shows.
Now Peter Jackson didn't completely sell his soul here to make a buck, it's clear enough by the cinematography that he wanted to back here in Middle Earth as long as possible again, and I don't blame him, these films are gorgeous to look at, and it's met by another rousing score from Howard Shore, who seems to always know the perfect accompanying tune to match the scenery. However The Hobbit trilogy does suffer from way too much CGI, where as the original trilogy had the perfect blend, and using real people as orcs, these movies heavily rely on the use of computer graphics, which at times can greatly take away from the magic. That's not to say that the battle sequences aren't epic or awesome, they just lack that connection of sword on real flesh, there's a fakeness to it, even during the more impressive sequences like the Mirkwood scene which is done near perfectly, it's intense and fun, but those spiders just don't hold a light up to Shelob.
One of my favorite parts of the book is Laketown, Tolkien's writing is so vibrant and full of description, and while I believe that get the look of this village on the water, Peter Jackson once again takes far too many liberties with the characters and narrative, bringing a very unnecessary political side story that is both boring and unwanted, it only serves to provide some sort of drama before the battle begins, and again it really just feels like filler, even the head magestrate of Laketown played by Stephen Fry (“Gosford Park”) is over the top and silly, and his right hand man is just a copy of Grima Wormtongue from the original trilogy. For whatever reason other than to have dwarves present for the battle, two of them are left to take care of an injured Kili while the others head towards the mountain, it's a silly choice and is only there to split the group up to give the audience more action, which we certainly do get.
Another one of my favorite parts of the book is the confrontation between Bilbo (Martin Freeman, “Ghost Stories”) and Smaug, the dialogue Tolkien writes is bitingly intense and often funny, and while I understand why there's a final battle between the dragon and the dwarves, I would have liked more time with these two going back and forth. That being said the battle is done well, and despite being just for the sake of needing a climax at the end of this second installment, it's well done and exciting, the CGI is actually done really well for Smaug, so I commend the team for that, he's both fiery and terrifying and an excellent voice cast in Benedict Cumberbatch who brings the flying lizard fully to life. Although Jackson and crew really didn't know how to end the battle in a smooth way, the golden dwarf is entirely too silly and serves no purpose in stopping the beast. I do however really enjoy the final moment of Smaug flying towards Laketown proclaiming "I am death" and Bilbo only able to ask "what have we done?" Before the final credits roll, and that question is what Jackson should have asked himself when he decided to split this story into three parts.
Overall The Desolation of Smaug is an entertaining and welcome addition to the Lord of the Rings saga, even if it pales in comparison to the original trilogy, or in this selective case, The Two Towers. The practical effects are mostly replaced with glossy CGI, taking a lot of the magic out of battles, and the narrative is just too convoluted for its own good, trying to cram every bit of information into the bloated runtime, and most of the information lacks the stakes it needs to create any impact. The addition of Tauriel and Legolas still baffles me as to why Peter Jackson made that decision in the name of romance, when I'm sure there were plenty different options. But the good does outway the bad, the action is fun and abundant, with gorgeous cinematography. The main triage of characters, while already established from the first film, are growing in their own right, especially Bilbo and Thorin, and there's enough humor and development to keep the viewer around until the end. Some parts of the book are done with justification like Mirkwood and Smaug, but it gets muddled down by its own ambition like with the necromancer and Laketown to truly make a magical experience, that being said though, any excuse to go back to Middle Earth is a good one.
I give The Desolation of Smaug 3.5 stars out of 5
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