This $225 million dollar adventure fantasy epic from Peter Jackson unsurprisingly broke
even just a week after its December 13th release. The middle-installment of the trilogy adaptation
of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 children's novel, "The Hobbit", and also a prequel to the hugely
successful "The Lord Of The Rings" film series, this 161-minute feature is certainly an ambitious
one. Leisurely paced, and opening immediately with a shameless cameo from Jackson during
an unnecessary flashback sequence, the action picks up where the previous film left off:
with Ian McKellen leading a group of 13 dwarves, plus Martin Freeman as the plucky hobbit deep
into middle-earth in search of yet another MacGuffin. Everyone does a fine job in their
roles, many caked under layers of make-up, battle-axes, wigs, beards, and earthly garments...
but Freeman is particularly brilliant as the title character, exhibiting the perfect amount
of nervousness or trepidation with just a roll of his fingers, or a raise of his eye-brow.
Richard Armitage and Aidan Turner return as gruff, but sometimes sensitive dwarves, Luke
Evans is featured as a suspicious, but helpful human archer, while Orlando Bloom is shoe-horned
into the script if for no other reason than fan-service, but it's always enjoyable watching
him dispatch monsters with his long bow. Introduced here, and absent in the original novels is
Evangeline Lilly as a elf, who develops romantic feelings for Turner; her strong female presence
is a wonderful additional to the pictures, and she commendably contributes some great
emotional conflict as well. Benedict Cumberbatch provides his voice and motion-capture likeness
to the picture's primary antagonist, as massive, fire breathing dragon: and does an incredible
job bringing the imposing and frightening character to life, to which Evans warns earlier;
"If you awake that beast, you'll destroy us all!". While the story is inherently stepped
in fictional mythology, it's almost annoying how many proper nouns litter this script...
you've got Oakenshield, Dol Guldur, Arkenstone, Radagast, Esgaroth, Galadriel, Thranduil,
Tauriel... without subtitles, or a prior working knowledge of Tolkien's universe, it can be
decently confusing at times. That said however, the attention to detail does provide for an
extremely realistic and believable environment, aided by expertly done special effects by
the talented individuals at Jackson's "Wingnut Films". There's almost nothing here in the
form of a story though... we just watch the heroes journey from one violent monster battle
to the next, in sweeping wide shots that play out like an advertisement for New Zealand's
lush countryside. The individual action sequences however are truly second-to-none, especially
a terrific scene that has the dwarves killing orcs, and carefully tossing weapons back and
forth while escaping down river in floating barrels. Or when the boys from Sherlock go
head-to-snout in an awesomely fun, amusing, but also terrifying game of cat and mouse...
or, perhaps more appropriately, dragon and hobbit. The PG-13 story is once again supported
by a brilliant original score from composer Howard Shore, who underlines every dramatic
moment with exactly the right sound. Like it's predecessors, this movie is simply too
drawn-out for its own good: with a majority comprised entirely of shallow action and thrills:
enjoyable to watch... but empty just the same. There's really no other way to say it... stretching
a 300-page book into nearly eight hours of cinema is an egregious, unforgivable, and
selfish mistake - and the entire trilogy has suffered as a result. "The Hobbit: The Desolation
Of Smaug" is an, "Undeniably fun spectacle, but lengthy." Now let's read some of your
reviews, to see what you had to say about this film.
Our scores for "The Hobbit 2"... a NINE and a SEVEN. Although you held off on the top-score,
you all thought this picture was AWESOME, with unanimous praise going to the action
sequences. A slight improvement over "An Unexpected Journey", this picture still suffers from
all of the same issues - leaving me partially unsatisfied, but excited to see the third
installment. I thought it was COOL.