One short book turned into 3 long movies.
The first one was OK, but a little bit disappointing.
Can the second installment redeem the series?
*intro* Warning: Spoiler Alert.
So, the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the second film in the Hobbit trilogy.
It continues the story of Bilbo, the Dwarves, and Gandalf on their quest to kill the dragon
Smaug and reclaim the dwarf mountain and treasure.
I won't go too into the story because there are a lot of small details, but basically:
Bilbo and his buddies, the dwarves and a wizard are running from orcs, so they take refuge
at a shape-shifting man-bear's house.
They then travel through a dark evil forest, before which Gandalf goes away to learn more
about the mysterious Necromancer.
The gang are attacked by giant spiders and meet elves, including Tauriel and the awesome
Legolas.
The elves take the dwarves captive, but Bilbo escapes using the Ring.
He helps them escape with barrels, in which they are attacked by both elves and orcs.
Oh, and by the way, Tauriel falls in love with the dwarf Kili.
Keep it in mind, it'll be important later.
Kili is hit by a poisoned arrow and starts feeling weak.
The dwarves get a ride from a human called Bard to the town near the Lonely Mountain.
After a bit of a hussel, the dwarves go into the mountain to find the dragon.
Except they only send Bilbo, all by himself, pretty much defenseless.
Bilbo awakens the dragon looking for the legendary Arkenstone, which, let's be honest, that can
only end well.
*clip* Yeah...The dwarves manage to survive, but Smaug (the dragon) goes out to destroy
the town that Bard lead them to.
The end.
Oh, and also, while this was happening, Gandalf found out that the Necromancer was Sauron,
who captured him, orcs attacked the small town, Kili was magically healed by Tauriel,
and Legolas beat up a giant orc.
And, scene.
This film was much better than the first one.
It still had the issue that it was a bit too long, and I still stand against the fact that
the one short book was turned into 3 long movies, but besides that, it was really good.
Let's talk about the pros first.
The action was great, especially the barrell fight scene and Legolas's fight with the orc.
And let's just get to the best part of the movie: the dragon.
This was what everyone who went to see this movie wanted.
And it was amazing.
When the dragon is on screen, you get goosebumps.
It's nerve wracking, mainly because you're seeing it from Bilbo's perspective.
And his perspective is that he is in a giant cavern filled with gold, and there's an enormous
dragon in there with him.
Besides looking amazing, what made Smaug the Dragon for me was the voice-acting.
I cannot stress how fantastic Benedict Cumberbatch was in this role.
And no, I'm not at all biased because we share the same first name.
The articulate and rumbling way the dragon spoke just was the icing on the cake.
The incredible, incredible icing.
*clip* And now, the cons.
Like the other film, the movie is too long.
Some scenes didn't need to be in it, and they just felt like they were in there for the
sake of making 3 movies.
Which leads me into my biggest gripes: the subplots.
There were too many in this movie.
Most notably here is the love story between Tauriel the elf and Kili, which they could
have just cut altogether.
Then there was the Gandalf and Necromancer thing happening, and there was also the whole
thing about Bard and the Black Arrow that can kill the dragon.
(By the way, I'm going to put it out there now, I'm guessing that Bard ends up killing
the dragon in The Battle of Five Armies movie.)
As you can tell, the pacing in this movie is completely off.
Also, I want to add something about the ending being a cliffhanger, but I've already said
what I could say about this one book being three movies.
And anyway, setting aside that, I thought the ending was pretty cool.
However, in the end, the pros outway the cons for this movie, and it is a much better film
than the first.
Here's hoping The Battle of Five Armies will complete the trilogy on an even higher note.
I give The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 8 out of 10.
Thank you for watching, and be sure to subscribe.