THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Although stretching out a trilogy for one novel is exhausting, The Hobbit still continued to be an entertaining era to witness with its second film, The Desolation of Smaug.
PLOT
The film continues in showing the company of Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), Bilbo Baggins and 12 dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield are still chased by Azog the Defiler's orc pack. The chase is on hold when encountering the skin changer Beorn. After staying the night at his farm, he escorts them to the borders of Mirkwood. Gandalf leaves to investigate Dol Guldur while the others go through the woods. However, they quickly get lost and are ensnared by giant spiders. Bilbo breaks free first and helps free the dwarves but after fending off against the arachnids, they are captured by Elves of the Woodland Realm, led by Legolas and Tauriel. While Thranduil offers help with the exception of returning gems to him, Thorin confronts the Elven king on how he neglected the dwarves when the dragon attacked the mountain. After that confrontation, Bilbo sneaks in with the use of the Ring to break the dwarves from captivity and avoid capture by escaping with empty barrels. The elves attempt to catch up but an orc pack led by Azog's son Bolg halts them from going further. The dwarves and Bilbo are able to escape from both groups but Kíli gets injured. Thranduil seals off his kingdom when an orc reveals that a dark entity is returning, but Legolas & Tauriel leave to aid the dwarves. The company encounter the human Bard and he sneaks them into Laketown. When they try to steal weapons at night, they're taken before the town's master. Despite Bard being against their quest, the master allows them to go after Thorin promises to share the gold. Bofur (James Nesbitt) oversleeps the following morning and misses the boat trip to the mountain. But due to Kíli's injury, Fíli and Óin stay behind to look after him. They all go to Bard again, hoping to help the injured dwarf recover. At Dol Guldur, Gandalf tells Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy) to message Lady Galadriel to force the enemy's hand, going into the abandoned area alone. He calls out the darkness, only to be attacked by Azog. He runs from him but is captured by the Necromancer, revealed to be Sauron. At Erebor, the remaining company make it to the mountain. Bilbo finds the hidden door as it reflected on moonlight, revealing its keyhole. Thorin uses the key Gandalf had given to him and the door opens. Everyone sees the mural in the hallway and Bilbo discovers the Arkenstone, which is what he must steal as their official burglar. Before going, Balin (Ken Stott) tells him that the stone is one of a kind, meaning he'll know it when he sees it; He also advises him not to wake up the dragon. At Laketown, Bolg's pack attacks again but thankfully, Legolas & Tauriel save the dwarves and Bard's children from death. While Tauriel heals Kili, Legolas chases Bolg away and Bard is arrested by the town's master, as he was attempting to place the only black arrow at the town's launcher, to prepare for the dragon. He had one this whole time as his ancestor Girion of Dale had it prior, but failed to kill the beast when it first attacked. Back at the mountain, Bilbo does find the stone but Smaug awakens. The hobbit talks to the beast to buy time in order to get to the stone, but the dragon is aware of the dwarves' plot and the return of Sauron. When the dwarves discover that it's awake, they enter the mountain to aid Bilbo. They trick the dragon to rekindle the mountain forge in order for them to bury it under molten gold. It backfires as Smaug breaks from it and the finds as it leaves the mountain to attack Laketown.
THOUGHTS
When seeing this film in 2014, I believe that this is one of the only films where I literally dropped my jaw as a teenager because that was how surprised of how things played out and it still has that effect years later. The film succeeds again blending elements from the novel and the appendices from The Return of the King, which included Gandalf’s perspective and Bard’s backstory. Even though I enjoy the film for what it was, I was highly surprised of what was taken out and shown for the extended edition. First, we see Beorn's reaction to the company of the dwarves before offering his aid. That should've been kept because it makes sense rather than immediately accepting that Dwarves stayed the night, due to his dislike of their race. In Laketown, the dwarves were not able to get the master's help when Kíli was injured, which is why Bofur says to Bard that no one will help them. The big one that definitely should've stayed is the Dol Guldur scenes. Gandalf encounters Thrain (Antony Sher) who had been entrapped for a long time. His ring finger was cut off by Azog during the Battle of Moria, implying that Sauron was attempting to use the seven dwarf rings to gain new power. As he attempts to run away with the wizard, he is then killed by Sauron. Of all scenes, that should've stayed because it makes sense as it is weird for Thorin's father to be written off. Getting into the theatrical elements, I had some peeves that give a wrong itch. The first is pretty stupid where the dwarves don’t see the lock where the open the door to Beorn’s barn. I get that they’re scared but there is no way 12 dwarves didn’t notice it and it’s cringeworthy that it took Thorin to do it. During the spider sequence, I get confused on how Bilbo was able to pull out his dagger ‘Sting’ when wrapped in webs. You look at how he was wrapped, it looks unlikely that he would move his body enough to do so. And at the Laketown scene, guards were dumping the fish out of the same barrels the dwarves were hiding. One shot looks like they’re about to be made, leading to another shot where it doesn’t look like it was dumped at all. Also, Kili was given way too many weapons during their stealing attempt. He was still injured and it was pointless for him to be there. I know that was kind of the point of the scene for them to get caught but if they didn’t want to, Kili should’ve stayed behind for that too. Getting that out of the way, this is still a step up for this trilogy. This was honestly the best portion of the novel and Peter Jackson did not disappoint crafting this part of the story. The action scenes such as the spiders, the river chase and of course Smaug, were great action sequences due to its fair use of visuals, arguably the best of the trilogy. The only thing that felt like a drag was Laketown. I liked Luke Evans as Bard because he is someone who is a people person but has to stay out of trouble for his family's sake. Seeing that he is against Thorin's quest is proof that he cares of the town because he does not want history to repeat itself. What I didn't like were the villains, the master and Alfrid. While Stephen Fry displays an over the top selfish vibe that makes the Master of Laketown cartoonish, Ryan Gage makes Alfrid appear as a discount Grimmel Wormtongue from The Two Towers. Every time I remember that realization, I'm pulled from this movie. Other than that, I still enjoy the rest of the movie. When it came to the returning cast, it was both Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage that impressed me the most due to how their characters Bilbo and Thorin are dealing with their own obsessions that are making them much different people. It's a dead on lesson to teach us viewers to not become overpowered with such a feeling, otherwise life will go downhill for us the way it did for Gollum. It's also great foreshadow for both of them as the series would progress. Legolas was not in the novel of The Hobbit but since the character truly did originate from the Woodland Realm as Lord of the Rings implied, it made sense for him to be here. Having said that, it was great to see Orlando Bloom return for this character. Seeing him with a chip on his shoulder is not what many expected but it definitely keeps it investing. Going into new characters, Bolg was a great addition to the array of villains. John Tui is pretty good with his own motion capture performance, arguably almost as good Manu Bennett for Azog because from the look alone, he's just as intimidating and his line deliveries of speaking the orc language backs it up. Having both Azog & Bolg is the biggest change from the novel as the Defiler had already died and Bolg took full command. This change is a nice addition because it does raise suspense due to how tough they are in combat. I don't think it matters whether or not you like Thranduil but Lee Pace is on point making the character self centered, more focused on keeping himself and his kin alive. He's been through the pain of dragon fire, so he has good reason to avoid conflict the way he did with Erebor's attack. Tauriel is the only character I know of to be made for this movie and Evangeline Lilly succeeds in making her as badass as she's written to be. Her scenes with Aidan Turner's Kili that spark their sudden romance are interesting here but they sadly fall flat in The Battle of the Five Armies, as those scenes felt rushed. It also felt unnecessary to imply Legolas was into her as well because it was so clear she never was. I also enjoyed Mikael Persbrandt as the temperamental Beorn because mainly due to his height and great makeuo, he does become this character in his given time. Every glare we get from him, you truly believe he is about to turn into a bear. Last but not least, Benedict Cumberbatch makes the movie with the surprise voice acting for Sauron/Necromancer, while also providing motion capture for the greedy dragon. Because it’s a prequel, it was predictable to see the Dark Lord return, but it was a clever build up to witness either way. His voice is unrecognizable in both roles and that is what makes it pay off. The entire Smaug scene is the definitive highlight of the film that makes the entire trilogy worthwhile. The buildup as it awakens, the destruction it makes and the words it speaks are all that make the dragon intimidating, and there is due credit to Howard Shore's great score throughout. Seeing it fly to Laketown saying 'I am fire. I am death' is god damn bone chilling and it makes a great cliffhanger in the process. Ed Sheeran's song 'I See Fire' also accurately describes the horror that would come, the destruction the dragon would cause in the follow up The Battle of the Five Armies. To wrap up, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is arguably the best of this prequel trilogy to Lord of the Rings for truly recapturing the epic-ness this franchise is all about. So if you enjoyed An Unexpected Journey, then this one will blow you away.
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