The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was a tediously long and underwhelming film to say the least and it is the main reason why so many people are skeptical of the second film in an unnecessarily long trilogy of the one book written by J.R.R. Tolkien. That being said, this weekend sees the release of Peter Jackson and Co’s middle segment, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and it is a wild improvement over the first film and significantly more fun.
Picking up where the first film ends, we find ourselves with Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf the Gray (Ian McKellen) and the 13 dwarves as they continue their journey to the Lonely Mountain and to reclaim the Kingdom of Erebor. Throughout their journey they encounter giant spiders in the forest of Mirkwood as well as some Elves where we are introduced to the great archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom) for the first time. Eventually, as one would expect, the adventurers reach the Lonely Mountain and Bilbo is asked to go inside to do the job he came along to do and that is where we meet the greatest enemy of the Kingdoms, the dragon known as Smaug.
Right from the get-go you could tell this was The Hobbit film everyone was waiting for. Within the first 30 minutes it feels like the fantasy adventure film which everyone craves and what everyone loved about The Lord of the Rings films. Not only that, the pacing is fast and we move quickly through the lands with Jackson making a 161 minute film feel more like 115 minutes. Further to that, up until we reach the Lonely Mountain there is plenty of good laughs to be had.
There are a lot of great moments in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug but two scenes stand out to me in particular. The first is when the dwarves try to escape from the elves’ kingdom in wine barrels but are then chased by both orcs and dwarves with the dwarves and elves eventually battling the Orcs together while they float and run down the river filled with rapids. It’s a very fun, jubilant and action packed scene that shows why the elves are such bad-ass warriors and why the dwarves are collectively a force to be reckoned with as well.
The second scene, which turns into scenes, is when Smaug is awakened by Bilbo and we see the size and ferociousness of the gold loving character. The initial conversing between the two characters is fascinating and completely opposite what you’d expect if he were a dwarf, but once the jig is up and the dwarves come into the picture that’s when all hell breaks loose and Smaug’s hunt for them initiates and his fire begins to heat things up. It’s a crazy, edge of your seat 30-40 minutes that engulf you as Smaug hunts for our leads with cuts from Gandalf’s interaction with the orcs’ master as well as scenes from other side plots as well. SPOILER It’s also during these scenes with Smaug that some issues are exposed, namely how Smaug’s sense of smell for his intruders disappears and how he can’t seem to kill any of these characters despite his size and ability to destroy anything in his path. END SPOILER. If you look past that, everything about these scenes is nail-biting and thrilling.
Voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, Smaug is probably 
the most intimidating voice I’ve heard on screen in quite some time and when it comes to looks is most likely the scariest dragon I’ve seen in a film. In fact, WETA did such a good job you eventually forget that the beast is animated and let its powerful voice and greedy personality take over your thoughts. I was actually scared for Bilbo. He also has the last line in the film and when it is spoken, not only will it give you chills but it’ll make you yell “oh come on!” in both excitement and frustration.
Lastly, much like its predecessor the film looks terrific and sounds terrific. The performances, the costumes, the visual effects, sounds effects and music are all wonderful. I had seen the film in 3D and don’t think it’s necessary at all to see it in that format. This film is more suitable for 2D and since the colors are so bright in the film it might actually make the film visually more appealing. As for the music, Howard Shore has composed another wonderful score that could earn him an Oscar nomination.
I’d rather leave some elements of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug as a surprise but I do believe the film speaks for itself and can honestly say it’s worth every penny you spend on it in the theater even if it’s actually pretty light on story. While I’ve never read The Hobbit and can’t comment on the feel of the book versus that of the film, I am a big fan of Peter Jackson’s original trilogy and from this film lover’s perspective this is a great film that audiences should and will eat up. It is the fantasy adventure that we’ve been waiting to see all year and it definitely pays off by providing a lot of action, taking us on a wild adventure and including a lot of cool fantastical elements that LotR fans and fantasy fanatics will rejoice over. Oh, and it has a giant dragon and a bad-ass she-elf named Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), if anything just go for that.
Rating: An exciting action/adventure that’s much better than the first, will encourage repeat viewings and will get you pumped up for the third and final film (8/10)
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