The hype around The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is pretty intense, most seeming to focus on how it is a great film because it is faster and shorter than the first Hobbit movie. That is not to say the first is bad and, I have to admit, it does not mean the second movie is that great.
Yeah, unfortunately, the hype made me a little disappointed with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. I was expecting too much I think. And that was probably just my fault.
The film follows Bilbo and co from where we left them in the last film over to the Lonely Mountain and their first encounter with the terrible dragon, Smaug, who has taken the Dwarf’s home as his own. The voyage takes them through Mirkwood forest, a battle with large spiders, an encounter with a bunch of completely arrogant Elves (apart from Evangeline Lilly’s Tauriel, who I really liked), another battle but this time with Orcs, a visit to a city on a lake, and finally the encounter with Smaug.
So there is really quite a lot going on, and it all proceeds at a fair clip. There is also a back story about Gandalf (Ian McKellan) and his adventures in a castle elsewhere in Middle Earth, the back story which will eventually lead to that other series of movies, the Lord of the Rings – that story is quite exciting if, ultimately, it will be played out at another time.
Characterwise, there is very little to say about the Dwarves. They don’t really interact a lot though they get into a lot of action. Bilbo is kind of the same. Of the new characters, Tauriel is by far my favourite (even if she is an elf), having an actual bit of backstory and some emotion – so of course, she has to be one of the characters that is not actually in the book. Even Legolas (Orlando Bloom), who was quite nice in the other set of films, seems a bit older and less pleasant even though this is meant to be set 80 years before. His arrogance (and that of most elves) is a complete turn off, though perhaps that actually is in keeping with the thrust of the books which is very pro-Dwarf.
Even Stephen Fry, master of the English language, has a bit of a tepid character, as do most of the citizens of Laketown. When tragedy is about to befall them, I kind of wanted it to come quickly and put an end to them all.
But the dragon is cool. I could not hear Benedict Cumberbatch at all in Smaug, but he is there, and the dragon is menacing. Pity then that their conflict is a bit drawn out and so ultimately a bit boring.
Actually, most of the action sequences do tend to be on the long side, and like in the first film, play out a bit like video games – exciting and frenetic, but a bit forced and convoluted. And its also a little disconcerting when the special effects, mostly excellent, look a bit terrible, like when Legolas rides off into the night on his horse across a bridge. Partly it might be the high frame rate projection, which has been internationally been panned and still seems to make some things look quite fake (as to them being fake but looking real). Nonetheless, with the amazing 3D bee and the incredible Atmos sound system, it was definitely worth seeing the film at my beloved Embassy even if, from time to time, the extreme sharpness and clarity and high techery of the image was to the films detriment.
Verdict: The audience laughed and loved it and I was interested throughout, but on leaving the cinema, I realised I felt a little bored through some of the bigger action sequences of the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, and almost everyone is a bit irritating. Thank heaven for Gandalf, Tauriel and to some extent Bilbo – though to be honest, I am not yet completely convinced by Martin Freeman as the hero just yet. But there is still one more film to go. 8 arkenstones out of 10.
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