The Hobbit:
The Desolation of Smaug
Let down by last year’s bloated The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey? You can breathe a sigh of relief – this sequel is better.
It’s more streamlined and less meandering and has some dazzling action. But it still doesn’t tell us too much about its titular character. Maybe that’ll come next year, when the third and final film comes out. It’s possible though, that like The Two Towers from Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, this thrilling and enjoyable installment could be the best of The Hobbit films.
The Desolation of Smaug reunites us with the comedic Company of Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), accompanied by our lone Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), and occasionally guided by wizard, Gandalf (Ian McKellan).
They are still walking and running, coming closer to the Lonely Mountain, where the dwarves hope to reclaim Erebor from the greedy dragon Smaug (voiced by a wonderfully preening Benedict Cumberbatch).
 Gandalf is drawn away from the sojourn to investigate the mysterious presence of a Necromancer (also voiced by Cumberbatch), leaving Bilbo and friends to deal with the giant spiders in the Mirkwood forest and the arrogant Elvenking Thranduil (Lee Pace). They eventually arrive at the humble Lake-town, overseen by its scrupulous Master (a welcome Stephen Fry). At times, a certain ring comes in handy for Bilbo, something he becomes increasingly protective of.
Along the way, the group encounter several allies who vary in their level of committed helpfulness. The moody shapeshifter Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt) helps them elude savage Orcs by offering shelter. Two acrobatic elves, the compassionate Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and a reluctant Legolas (Orlando Bloom), use their archery skills to take out Orcs, allowing the gang to escape Elven captivity.
 There is also a moody boatman named Bard (Luke Evans) of Lake-town, who provides safe travel and unconventional weapons for the group. At one point, wizard Radagast (Sylvester McCoy) returns to offer assistance and exposition to Gandalf.
Fueled by the Necromancer and employed by Orc leader, Azog (Manu Bennett) and Orc enforcer, Bolg (Lawrence Makoare), rumblings of a Middle-Earth war increase. It becomes clear how crucial Bilbo's methods factor in. Chosen by Gandalf because Hobbits are "known" for their thievery, Bilbo must steal the Arkenstone – a powerful gem that will give our heroes the upper hand – from Smaug, as he slumbers in his mounds of gold.
Like the last film, this sequel has its share of deviations from the source material, but that’s to be expected when adapting a 310-page novel into three 3-hour movies. Most of the ancillary fluff in Unexpected Journey, culled from Tolkien appendages and inserted by fanatical fanboy Jackson, just didn’t work for me. It all felt quite cumbersome and unnecessary, even though many embraced it.
Thankfully, this doesn’t feel that way for me. It cruises along at an entertaining clip with some of the best choreographed action I’ve seen all year and has one the coolest cinematic fire-breathing dragons since 1981’s Dragonslayer, which kept me from leaving the theater in a catatonic state the way I did last December.
 As long as these movies are, though, you’d think we’d actually get a chance to know the characters a little better, especially Bilbo. Although it would appear to be about the curious Hobbit, the story is more focused on Thorin. There’s just too many characters to keep track of and I’m hesitant to get invested in any of them, since they probably won’t be around very long. Expectedly, Jackson does what he can to link this film to his Lord of the Rings trilogy – and why not?
This is specifically noticeable with the inclusion of Legolas, who wasn’t even in the Tolkien novel. It’s nice to have Bloom back, as we meet Legolas’s father and learn who the intense archer has the hots for.
Which brings us to the character of Tauriel, a Sylvan Elf who wasn’t in any of the Tolkien books, co-created purposefully by Jackson and Fran Walsh to inject a female presence into his male-dominated movies. I’m glad they did. As Tauriel, Lilly is a natural and easily likeable; showing both a reckless and ruthless side as well as romantic flirty side, as she falls for the imprisoned dwarf, Kíli (Aiden Turner), nephew of Thorin. .
 The cameos in Smaug are aplenty and often quite indulgent. There’s a winking Peter Jackson, walking in the rain during the film’s opening in the human town of Bree. There’s literally a screenshot of Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, so I don’t know if that counts. And there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him appearance by Stephen Colbert, credited as: Laketown Spy. That’s right.
As usual with Jackson’s Tolkien films, Smaug excels on a technical level, offering some great sound design, detailed art production and, once again, a captivating score from composer Howard Shore. Regardless of the flaws The Hobbit movies have had so far, with this kind of artistry going into an epic fantasy endeavor, I’m still on board. I’m glad a movie in this genre is being made, but I have my reservations.
I witnessed something funny occur several rows in front of me at an advance screening. A gentleman slapped his hand on his arm rest in frustration immediately after the abrupt ending. I was baffled. For his sake, I’m hoping this reaction was because he enjoyed the movie so much and couldn’t stand seeing it end. I hope it wasn’t because he forgot there’s another three-hour opus, There and Back Again, coming to theaters next December.
(This
review also appears on David's own website,
Keeping It Reel.)
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