The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Directed by Peter Jackson.

Written by Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Guillermo Del Toro.

Based on the novel "The Hobbit". Written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Review #238

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.

Run Time: 161 min

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Cast

Ian McKellen...Gandalf

Martin Freeman...Bilbo

Richard Armitage...Thorin

Ken Stott...Balin

Graham McTavish...Dwalin

William Kircher...Bifur

James Nesbitt...Bofur

Stephen Hunter...Bombur

Dean O'Gorman...Fili

Aidan Turner...Kili

John Callen...Oin

Peter Hambleton...Gloin

Jed Brophy...Nori

Mark Hadlow...Dori

Adam Brown...Ori

Orlando Bloom...Legolas

Evangeline Lilly...Tauriel

Lee Pace...Thranduil

Cate Blanchett...Galadriel

Benedict Cumberbatch...Smaug / Necromancer

Mikael Persbrandt...Beorn

Sylvester McCoy...Radagast

Luke Evans...Bard / Girion

When the announcement of The Hobbit coming to theaters was made. My first thought was DUH! With the billions The Rings Trilogy made, I was surprised it took so long to adapt Tolkein's first adventure in Middle Earth. Then when it was announced that Guillermo Del Toro was taking the directing reigns from Peter Jackson for this adaptation, the geek world was aflutter. I for one was excited. I love Del Toro's work and thought he would do the material justice. Depending on what you believe, scheduling conflicts, budget concerns or conflicting visions, Del Toro stepped down and Jackson was "convinced" to take over and bring The Hobbit back to life.

What is the point of this back story you ask? Many felt that nobody but Peter Jackson could or should do a Tolkien adaptation after what he accomplished with The Rings Trilogy. That opinion would have been shared by me.

And then I saw this film.

Plot

The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring.

Before I dive into this review. I'm going to lead by saying this. I really, really enjoyed this movie. It was leaps and bounds better than the first one. In almost every way, the story, expansion of characters and action were all ramped up and given the life the first film so sorely lacked. The problem this film has and it's a BIG one stems from two sources.

New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson.

Now I know you're wondering how can I bash the mastermind behind LOTR. I don't intend to bash him at all. I'm merely stating an obvious fact. Jackson is an admitted mega fan of Tolkein's work. His love and admiration for these books and their subsequent adaptations of them have become his strength and weakness. Del Toro's original plan was to make two Hobbit films. New Line clearly had a problem with that and with Jackson behind the scenes as a producer found a way to stretch The Hobbit into another trilogy.

Bad, Bad, BAD IDEA! 

The ill effects of expanding this very small book was felt immediately after watching An Unexpected Journey. It was over saturated with scenes that brought no merit to the core story or development of characters that no one knew about. The first film did an horrendous job introducing the dwarves. Only the core geeks would know exactly who they were. The film only focused on a couple of them and it wasn't enough. There was plenty of other issues with the first film that drag it down. The point of the dwarves rings especially important because as The Desloation of Smaug takes off there's no time to acclimate ourselves with our heroes. We're supposed to remember who they are. If you were able to remember them after seeing the first film in the first place.

So what does Jackson do to fix this problem? Nothing. He makes it worse by creating brand new characters to the story. Pictured above is Tauriel played by Evangeline Lilly. Who is Tauriel? NOBODY! She's not a Tolkien character. Why does Jackson and crew add her to the story line? Beats me. Was she fun to watch? Yes but once again it takes away from what this film and trilogy is really supposed to be about. Jackson makes an effort to give us some time to breathe from the dwarves by bringing Legolas into the fold and introducing this new elf. A valiant idea but poorly executed because while the first film dragged due to lack of depth. This one suffers from bloating. There's way too much going on within the core story that adding new characters and bringing back old ones should never have been thrown into the mix.

Source material inaccuracies aside. Jackson is still a fan and when he does tell the story from the text he gets it right. The Desolation of Smaug does do a good job of furthering the adventure towards it's inevitable conclusion. It also brings forth several characters that will play a MAJOR role in the battle with the dragon under the mountain.

Speaking of the dragon. Let's get into what was unquestionably the best part of this film.

After teasing us with glimpses of Smaug in the first film. We finally get to see him in all his glory and let me tell you, he looked GREAT! Smaug's design matched up with the stellar voice acting of Benedict Cumberbatch gave Hobbit and fantasy fans one of the best if not the best dragons ever seen on screen. The scene he has with Bilbo was just tremendous. The playful banter Smaug employs with the hobbit was so much fun to watch. I always found it funny why a dragon would be so cavalier with someone mulling around in his lair as I read the book. You could make the argument that in a fantasy book or film you can get away with anything. That to me is a cheap excuse. I prefer to think that since Smaug is a dragon and with exception to maybe Sauron there aren't any beings in Middle Earth able to match a dragon's power or ferocity.

So when Bilbo invaded Smaug's "home" he knew that a hobbit from the shire was no match for him. He chose to have his fun and the scene played just like that. Smaug spent most of the scene being satirical and methodical with Bilbo while maintaining his threatening manner. On the other side, Bilbo does a great job keeping his cool around the dragon. Never buckling under the immense pressure of potential certain death if the wrong word is said or move is made. Smaug knows his true enemies are the dwarves so he plays verbal tag with Bilbo and it plays so much better in this film than it ever did in the book. Then unfortunately Jackson goes too far and fabricates a ridiculous chase between Smaug and the dwarves which was supposed to lead the dragon's demise.

This by and large is the main problem with this film and it's predecessor. Jackson doesn't know when to quit. He adds more ingredients to an already scrumptious meal. This then leads to the actual climax of the film leading into the third and final chapter of this trilogy. I am going on record saying that I absolutely HATED the closure point of this film. I really wished I could say why but after seeing the film you'll know why and maybe agree with me. The choice made to end the film where it does just leaves a lot of questions that I look forward to seeing the answers to. And I don't mean that in a good way. It was reported prior to this film's release that Guillermo Del Toro had planned to kill Smaug at the end of the first film. I would have loved to have seen how that would have turned out. The one thing I know for sure is that there would have been no time for the meandering and overdone scenes that drag these films down to a crawl.

The overdrawn plot and addition of unnecessary characters have created a major divide with me and this series of films. On the whole they are both well done but there was way too much nothing just for the sake of having nothing. Which was obviously designed to increase the length thereby increasing the wallets of the powers that be. One can only hope that the final film paces better and does a good job seaming itself together with the Rings Trilogy. I have no doubt that part will be the case. I have many doubts that we will finally get a less bloated Hobbit film.

Only time will tell. Until then enjoy this one. It was well worth my time and will be for you if you enjoyed An Unexpected Journey.

On the 5 star scale. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug gets 3.5 stars with a "Go See It!" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"