The Desolation of Smaug
At the end of An Unexpected Journey Bilbo and the dwarves could see the lonely mountain from where they were dropped off, by the eagles. We continue here with the dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf trying to evade the orcs.
The new film starts out with a way simpler prologue. We are taken to Bree (another location not seen since the first Lord of the rings movie) where Thorin is looking for his father. He bumps into Gandalf, who tells him to round up his kin and take back the lonely mountain. There is also a great cameo of Peter Jackson with him eating a carrot (likely a reference to his diet on the making of King Kong).
With this new instalment the journey finally gets going. After a quick stop at Beorn's house ( a skin changer known to Gandalf and a hater of goblins and orcs alike). While not too favourable to dwarves Beorn gives them horses to take them to Mirkwood where they will follow the path to the lonely mountain. It is not told in the film but originally Thorin had intended to go down a different path but with Beorn's persuasion he takes the new path. This was left out of the film, from what I can remember and it might of made the scene more important knowing that if the group did not go to Beorn for aid they would have fallen on the path Thorin was taking them on.
The adventure really kicks in after this with the story threads spreading. We finally get to see more of Gandalf's journey, as Radagast the Brown and Galadriel give fine cameos. Gandalf's story is essentially the prequel stuff leading to Lord of the Rings involving the return of Sauron The Dark Lord. I loved seeing more of Gandalf going on his own quest and I got so excited to see a more figure like form of Sauron make an appearance, if only for a brief moment.
Once the dwarves enter Mirkwood they are eventually confronted by a familiar elf, Legolas. Now here is where some of the problems really start. With the inclusion of Legolas they saw fit to add a partner to him, Legolas is only in the story cause his father is the elven king of Mirkwood. Now, the love triangle that is in the movie, not that I noticed. So let's talk about this love triangle shall we.
The new elf Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) is put in the film not only to be a companion for Legolas it seems but to be his love interest. I did not find this in the movie, well I guess I'll be eating my words. Cause if you love someone you would be willing enough to let them go, and he does. So maybe he does love her, but I found that the love triangle between him, Tauriel, and Kili (Aidan Turner) yes the dwarf is not in your face. Peter Jackson and Fran made this to add padding to the film and I found that it has been blown out of proportion, even by the Eva. It's nothing great, hell its nothing even that noticeable. If you just ignore it, you won't even notice it. But if you let it bug you than yah you are going to have a bad time.
As for trimming the fat, one major part I would have excluded is the whole chase with the dragon in the mountain. A chase sequence which took way to long and was pointless in the end. I guess if you really start to think about it if it was not in the film people would wonder, why didn't the dwarves try to kill the dragon. I would have thought they were still afraid.
New cast members Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ryan Gage are all terrific. Luke does a great job at brining Bard to life, and the struggles he goes with in Lake town, you can feel his burden. His father was unable to kill the dragon so he caries that with him. Stephen Fry is so fabulous as the lazy master of Lake town. Ryan plays his right hand man, and he is creepy, I love it! Lee Pace, who cameoed in the last film, is fierce in the role of Thranduil (Legolas' father). Evangaline is perfect as the new elf, and the way the character changes throughout the story is relevant still to our times in where a person falls in love with someone that others consider wrong. It is cliche but isn't life cliche? And last Ben, he is so so amazing as Smaug. He did the same work that Andy did with Smeagol, motion capture performance. He's just simply put, fabulous!
Howard Shore, composer of this series, again crafts a terrific score with hints to the original trilogy. Not much to say about the score just that Howard can never do no wrong and he has done an amazing job here. As for the visual effects, they are as good as they were in part one. I find the reason the effects may be so noticeable is maybe because of how Jackson is shooting these films. He's gained a lot of back lash over his use of a higher frame rate. It's either that or maybe we have just become accustomed to noticing visual effects.
With still minor issues with its excessive length Part 2 of The Hobbit movie adaptations progresses in the thrills department as the pacing is more upbeat and the story is less dragged out. Some say that they don't mind long movies but consider the added elements in The Hobbit movies to be pointless.
I guess if I were to truly trim the fat it would be as follows:
The new elf Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) is put in the film not only to be a companion for Legolas it seems but to be his love interest. I did not find this in the movie, well I guess I'll be eating my words. Cause if you love someone you would be willing enough to let them go, and he does. So maybe he does love her, but I found that the love triangle between him, Tauriel, and Kili (Aidan Turner) yes the dwarf is not in your face. Peter Jackson and Fran made this to add padding to the film and I found that it has been blown out of proportion, even by the Eva. It's nothing great, hell its nothing even that noticeable. If you just ignore it, you won't even notice it. But if you let it bug you than yah you are going to have a bad time.
As for trimming the fat, one major part I would have excluded is the whole chase with the dragon in the mountain. A chase sequence which took way to long and was pointless in the end. I guess if you really start to think about it if it was not in the film people would wonder, why didn't the dwarves try to kill the dragon. I would have thought they were still afraid.
New cast members Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lilly, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ryan Gage are all terrific. Luke does a great job at brining Bard to life, and the struggles he goes with in Lake town, you can feel his burden. His father was unable to kill the dragon so he caries that with him. Stephen Fry is so fabulous as the lazy master of Lake town. Ryan plays his right hand man, and he is creepy, I love it! Lee Pace, who cameoed in the last film, is fierce in the role of Thranduil (Legolas' father). Evangaline is perfect as the new elf, and the way the character changes throughout the story is relevant still to our times in where a person falls in love with someone that others consider wrong. It is cliche but isn't life cliche? And last Ben, he is so so amazing as Smaug. He did the same work that Andy did with Smeagol, motion capture performance. He's just simply put, fabulous!
Howard Shore, composer of this series, again crafts a terrific score with hints to the original trilogy. Not much to say about the score just that Howard can never do no wrong and he has done an amazing job here. As for the visual effects, they are as good as they were in part one. I find the reason the effects may be so noticeable is maybe because of how Jackson is shooting these films. He's gained a lot of back lash over his use of a higher frame rate. It's either that or maybe we have just become accustomed to noticing visual effects.
With still minor issues with its excessive length Part 2 of The Hobbit movie adaptations progresses in the thrills department as the pacing is more upbeat and the story is less dragged out. Some say that they don't mind long movies but consider the added elements in The Hobbit movies to be pointless.
I guess if I were to truly trim the fat it would be as follows:
- The scene at Beorn's house
- The chase with the dragon
- The love triangle
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens up the world of Middle earth, providing more thrills and interesting characters to invest in, and with a cliffhanger of an ending I cannot wait to see the epic battle in the last movie (and this will truly be the last ever Tolkien film).
Rating: -A
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