The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug [Movie Review]

 The fire was red, it flaming spread;
The trees like torches blazed with light.

Last night, for the first time in a long while I saw a movie at the midnight early release. I went with a friend who had invited me, and I had not seen for some time. They were good enough reasons to move forward the time I was planning on seeing the movie. I tend to watch things during matinee hours. But this once I would see the movie at night. Steeling myself, I bought my tickets through fandango and headed out into the cold night. Others came with me. The journey was not perilous when we set off.

Now I really want to play Dragon Age again...

It had been my intention to watch the first movie again the night before, so The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was sitting beside my blu-ray player ready to go. However I did not have time to watch it before setting off to see the sequel.

I do not think it mattered, I saw the first movie two or three times in theaters. It has not faded from memory.

I had been anticipating The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug since March. My only hope was that I would not be disappointed. I was not, I got much of what I was prepared for.

4.0 Stars

Beautiful scenery, even the ruins are gorgeous.

No, seriously. I need to play a dwarf in DA again.

What little this movie suffers, that actually makes me rate it only a 4 out of 5 stars, is what many middle films in trilogies are suffering from now days. They are middle films, they are neither the beginning nor are they the denouement. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers suffered much the same fate. It's the middle arc, extremely important, and yet always suffering the fate of the middle child. Now admittedly, that small reduction from five stars is not much, nor does the movie deserve much of a reduction from the tops marks. I sat through the whole movie, not wanting to move. For three straight hours I was utterly enthralled. 

Now before we go much further I should point out that I've never actually read The Hobbit. Yes, yes, quite the nerd sin, but I never have. So I have no idea what has been added or subtracted from the original text.

Azh Nazg Gimbatul.

I can only imagine that some, if not a lot, of the stuff with the Mirkwood Elves, particularly Tauriel, was added in. I do believe the entire inclusion of Raddagast the Brown, I mean the seventh Doctor, was added in. So are many of the scenes with Gandalf at Gol Dulgur (Hill of Sorcery) interacting with the Necromancer.

It appears that some, but not all, of the additions Peter Jackson has woven into the story came from the appendices to the Hobbit. These appendices are the details of the story filled in by Tolkien himself. So for purists, hopefully that is a strong seal of approval.  

Right lower corner: the seventh Doctor assists Gandalf.

I can only inform you of what I've discovered, since I have said that I myself have never read the books, nor the appendices. I am watching these movies knowing but a touch of detail. I have read the Silmarillion, and that is it - the far background of Middle Earth.   

Now down to the film itself.

Steven Fry!

The pacing is much more spry than the first film. You never settle in one place too terribly long before the company journeys on. This is a travel film, an old style, where the progression from location to location is central to the plot, as the plot is the journey. You know there is a final destination, but in many ways reaching it is not as important as the path taken. Well, perhaps not this time, since the destination is the ancient kingdom of the Dwarves, Erebor, that lies under the Lonely Mountain. It's quite a destination, and we know that once we reach that mountain, everything will change.

Legolas, he still surfs.

Tauriel, kicks as much if not more ass than Legolas.

The first movie introduced us to 13 new protagonist characters, all the Dwarves, and it introduces several villains, the Necromancer and Azog. The second movie introduces us to several more characters from Bard to Tauriel. We even get a few returning characters that show up in the first movie as very minor roles, returning for much larger parts, like Thranduil. He appears very very briefly in An Unexpected Journey, not even a speaking role. He has a big part in The Desolation of Smaug. 

That is an impressive beard.

Some noteworthy characters; The Master of Lake-town, Bard, and Smaug. Yes, yes, Smaug was in the the first movie, but he was more of a force of nature and less of a character. He is a character in his desolation. And he is given life by none other than Benedict Cumberbatch. Benedict Cumberbatch does an amazing job, there were very very few times I could hear his voice in Smaug, but I could see his expressions in the face of the dragon. 

I do not know much about Bard apart from what was in the movie, however it is obvious to me that he will be a quite important character. How important, I do not know. He has just been built up as important, well, at least that is how it seems to me.

But let us not forget the small, but utterly amusing, character of The Master of Lake-town as portrayed by none other than Steven Fry himself. I will admit that in this instance I had a great deal of trouble separating Steven Fry from the Master of Lake-town. I think this is because I've watched far too many programs that star Steven Fry as Steven Fry, not to mention I have seen every episode of QI (Quite Interesting) several times. Still I was quite amused.

I really did enjoy the movie, and am looking forward to the third and final part next December. In the meantime I'll probably catch The Desolation of Smaug once or twice more in the theater.

Elementary my dear Watson.