Let me preface this with the statement that I actually enjoyed the first Hobbit film, An Unexpected Journey. Sure, it was bloated and slightly monotonous, but I thought it was mostly a good, fun time. That being said...I REALLY wish I would have revisited that film before checking out the next film in line, The Desolation of Smaug, which begins at the exact moment we left off with our dwarf, hobbit, and wizard friends.
All that being said, too, The Desolation of Smaug is better than its predecessor, perhaps marginally though. While still bloated with a somewhat monotonous pace (how many times can these dwarves really get captured and then escape?), the film does offer a truly spectacular action sequence involving barrels, orcs, a raging river, and elvish archers that is possibly one of the most exciting action sequences I’ve seen in a looooooong time and definitely elevates the movie on a whole.
But I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself. In case you have forgotten The Hobbit trilogy is the story of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a solitary hobbit who enjoys his quiet life until the great wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) urges him to go on a quest with a dozen dwarves to reclaim their Misty Mountain home that was stolen from them by a greedy and scary dragon. All Biblo has to do is sneak into the mountain undetected and steal some glowing stone that will allow Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to ascend to his rightful throne.
Well, the last film ended on the dwarves escaping some goblin hole thing (I’m going off of memory here just to again urge you to go revisit the first film) and being chased by some scary orcs, who are doing the bidding of some Necromancer, who NO ONE knows the true identity of (hint hint). Biblo has tricked Gollum out of the One True Ring, and they’re all forging ahead towards the mountain.
I appreciate Peter Jackson trying to fuse The Hobbit trilogy together with The Lord of the Rings, but, for me, it creates some slight plot holes (as someone who just battled the fires of Mount Doom on a 12-hour extended edition LOTR movie marathon). That I can overlook. It’s fine. Whatever. I can appreciate him writing in Evangeline Lilly to be a badass elvish warrior, and I definitely welcome the return of Legolas (Orlando Bloom), but it just sometimes feels too slightly pieced together in the hopes of making one giant cohesive world. And why did they have to make the lady elvish warrior have to fall in love? Bah humbug.
What I don’t appreciate? That you have a movie called The Hobbit, and there is actually very little Bilbo action. You have Martin Freeman! Use him.
The main issue with The Hobbit trilogy is that it’s largely a “heist” film broken into three bloated parts. The LOTR trilogy was a HUGE quest. Every scene mattered, whether we were following Frodo and Sam and their journey to Mordor or focusing on Aragorn and his rise to the throne or even all that jazz about Helm’s Deep. The Hobbit’s storyline just stops and starts so drastically and follows the exact same plot again and again, that you can’t just help but wish it was quicker-paced.
All that aside, the scenes between Bilbo and the stupendous Smaug (voiced by the one and only Benedict Cumberbatch) are visually incredible and fun to watch. And did I mention that, OH MAN, the barrel scene is pretty awesome?
Go into The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug knowing it’s a “good” movie but just not as GREAT as The Lord of the Rings, and that’s okay.
-- Darcie Duttweiler
All that being said, too, The Desolation of Smaug is better than its predecessor, perhaps marginally though. While still bloated with a somewhat monotonous pace (how many times can these dwarves really get captured and then escape?), the film does offer a truly spectacular action sequence involving barrels, orcs, a raging river, and elvish archers that is possibly one of the most exciting action sequences I’ve seen in a looooooong time and definitely elevates the movie on a whole.
But I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself. In case you have forgotten The Hobbit trilogy is the story of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a solitary hobbit who enjoys his quiet life until the great wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) urges him to go on a quest with a dozen dwarves to reclaim their Misty Mountain home that was stolen from them by a greedy and scary dragon. All Biblo has to do is sneak into the mountain undetected and steal some glowing stone that will allow Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to ascend to his rightful throne.
Well, the last film ended on the dwarves escaping some goblin hole thing (I’m going off of memory here just to again urge you to go revisit the first film) and being chased by some scary orcs, who are doing the bidding of some Necromancer, who NO ONE knows the true identity of (hint hint). Biblo has tricked Gollum out of the One True Ring, and they’re all forging ahead towards the mountain.
I appreciate Peter Jackson trying to fuse The Hobbit trilogy together with The Lord of the Rings, but, for me, it creates some slight plot holes (as someone who just battled the fires of Mount Doom on a 12-hour extended edition LOTR movie marathon). That I can overlook. It’s fine. Whatever. I can appreciate him writing in Evangeline Lilly to be a badass elvish warrior, and I definitely welcome the return of Legolas (Orlando Bloom), but it just sometimes feels too slightly pieced together in the hopes of making one giant cohesive world. And why did they have to make the lady elvish warrior have to fall in love? Bah humbug.
What I don’t appreciate? That you have a movie called The Hobbit, and there is actually very little Bilbo action. You have Martin Freeman! Use him.
The main issue with The Hobbit trilogy is that it’s largely a “heist” film broken into three bloated parts. The LOTR trilogy was a HUGE quest. Every scene mattered, whether we were following Frodo and Sam and their journey to Mordor or focusing on Aragorn and his rise to the throne or even all that jazz about Helm’s Deep. The Hobbit’s storyline just stops and starts so drastically and follows the exact same plot again and again, that you can’t just help but wish it was quicker-paced.
All that aside, the scenes between Bilbo and the stupendous Smaug (voiced by the one and only Benedict Cumberbatch) are visually incredible and fun to watch. And did I mention that, OH MAN, the barrel scene is pretty awesome?
Go into The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug knowing it’s a “good” movie but just not as GREAT as The Lord of the Rings, and that’s okay.
-- Darcie Duttweiler
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