Director : Peter Jackson
Cast Headliners: Martin Freeman, Ian McKlellan , Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly
Original Release Date: December 13th, 2013
The Lord of the Rings trilogy of films was a
stellar adaption of quintessential fantasy novels. It worked then since each of the epic three
novels were translated into a single movie each, with some things being
shuffled around or included into the extended director home video cuts. Now with these Hobbit prequels, it’s all been
made screwy. Originally meant to just be a two part straight up conversion, the
singular Hobbit book is now an intricate trilogy of films. I did enjoy the first part An Unexpected
Journey from last year very, very much but that was more of a traditional
movie. Because it is pretty obvious that this film was cut from material not
meant to standalone, though it has worked out quite well, I will not review it
in a normal way. Instead, here are the thoughts of a hardcore Tolkein fan on
this crazy creation Peter Jackon has made, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug:
LOVED/LIKED:
LOVED/LIKED:
- Beorn, woah cool
fellow!
- Gorgeous Peter
Jackson scenery and aesthetic
- Amazing visual
effects during action sequences
- Darker vibe than the
previous film
- THAT FRICKING BARREL
SEQUENCE, amazing.
- Legolas, ludicrously
awesome
- Tauriel, an
interesting and cool character
- Gandalf’s entire
plotline, fan dream to see the Necromancer stuff on screen and makes sense
- The Wood Elves in
general, and King Thrainduil
- Oh out of order, but
an great spider battle very reminiscent of the bug scene from King Kong, which
is a good thing
- When Bilbo has a
chance to take, great as always thanks to Martin Freeman
- Lake-town’s vibe and
its new characters of Bard(the underrated Luke Evans) and the Master(the
wonderful Stephen Fry)
- SMAUG, wow. Amazing choice
to use Benedict Cumberbatch who has followed up his performance as Khan with
another great villain role. And also the most awe inspiring dragon ive ever
seen on film.
- The ending Smaug
action sequences, wow
- The Legolas/Tauriel
vs Orcs, well done finale
DIDN’T LIKE/HATED:
-
The very fact it exists in the first
place as assembled from other footage, in this case over a third of the film
was meant for AUJ
- Not enough Beorn, very rushed and seems much was rushed
- Not enough Beorn, very rushed and seems much was rushed
-
Less humor/small moments for the
characters aka telling the dwarves apart.
Some are still very mysterious, show us more!
-
The darker vibe makes it feel odd,
neither hobbit nor LOTR at times and thus nebulous
-
Bilbo needed more dialogue and
focus this time
-
The Kili/Tauriel/Legolas love
triangle, eugh total fan fictionish on Peter Jackson’s part and largely uneeded
-
Cliffhangers actually being
slightly lame, making it feel tense but unfinished!
-
Perhaps at times the final action
set pieces ran a bit long
-
Evidence of the stretch to three
films
Overall, I had a great
time seeing it. One can’t deny Peter Jackson’s ability to craft an epic
blockbuster. This film contains some of the novel’s best moments, and it comes
through to a largely great though not perfect effect. It feels a bit hodge podge at times, but it
really is bursting with a lot of happenings.
It’s one of those middle parts that needs to happen for the final part
of the story to work. This is the “build
up” film, and so I take that into consideration when critiquing it. Because of how LOTR’s final film turned out,
I am incredibly excited for the film of next December. If you’re a fan, you’ll most definitely love
it. If you’re not, don’t see it too much
ruckus. 9.05 out of 10
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