Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug *Spoilers Alert Do NOT forget to rate this post when you finish.
Official 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Poster.
The second movie of
the most anticipated trilogy of this time really kicks off the story of the
whole 'Hobbit' trilogy and manages to pleases and improve upon the 'mistakes'
of the first one.
"Ian McKellen".
"Martin Freeman".
After the events of
'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey', we continue on with 'Bilbo Baggins'(Martin
Freeman), 'Gandalf'(Ian McKellen), 'Thorin Oakenshield'(Richard Armitage) and
the remaining dwarves and their journey towards the 'Lonely Mountain'. But this
journey will not be an easy one, where they will continue on facing troubles and
hardship whether it comes from other people such as the Orcs commanded by the
ruthless 'Azog'(Manu Bennett), the elves led by 'Thranduil'(Lee Pace), or even
amongst themselves. However, halfway through their journey 'Gandalf' is forced to leave
them in order to investigate the growing threat of the 'Necromancer' (Benedict
Cumberbatch) in 'Dol Guldur'. Other characters include the return of fan
favorite Elven prince 'Legolas'(Orlando Bloom), chief guard of the Elvenking
'Tauriel'(Evangeline Lilly), 'Bard' the Bowman(Luke Evans), the dwarves:
'Dwalin'(Graham McTavish), 'Balin'(Ken Scott), 'Kili'(Aiden Turner),
'Fili'(Dean O'Gorman), 'Dori'(Mark Hadlow), 'Nori'(Jed Brophy), 'Ori'(Adam
Brown), 'Oin'(John Callen), 'Gloin'(Peter Hambleton), 'Bifur'(William Kircher),
'Bofur'(James Nesbitt) and 'Bombur'(Stephen Hunter). We also have skin-changer
'Beorn'(Mikael Persbrandt), 'Radagast' the brown (Sylvester McCoy), and
'Blog'(Lawrence Maloare) 'Azog''s son, and the infamous dragon 'Smaug'(Benedict
Cumberbatch).
"Richard Armitage".
"Lee Pace".
After the criticism
that 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' got from fans and critics that it
failed to meet the high expectations, which for me were a bit biased, this second
movie of the trilogy really steps it up and improves in all the places the
first one fell a bit short on. As many recalled, just before the release of the
first 'Hobbit' movie, "Peter Jackson" and the producers decided to
make a three-movie trilogy due to the extra footage they got and the ability to
do so. And as you can surely recall people jumped to criticize this move, but
'The Desolation of Smaug' proved everyone wrong. Much as 'Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers', 'The Desolation of Smaug' act as a successful link
between the first and last movie. And in my opinion, it was able to develop the
tone and 'darken' it from the previous one while still having an overall lighter tone.Still we will have to wait and
see if this tone development will continue on in the third one. To be honest,
compared to all of "Peter Jackson"'s middle-earth movie, 'The
Desolation of Smaug' isn't a huge step up towards combining and balancing story
telling with action, comedy, character and heart. But what impresses are the
unique elements that help elevate it into becoming an enjoyable cinematic
experience within a larger world.
"Orlando Bloom".
"Evangeline Lilly".
Nothing can be said
about "Peter Jackson" other than him being a genius. Daring to have
story-telling freedom and changing many aspects of the book is what makes
"Jackson" one of the best directors in Hollywood. What also amazes me
is his ability to link all of the 'Hobbit' movies as well as 'Lord of the Rings' movies into a huge cinematic universe in a very fashionable and intelligent way that no
other man can do. Die Hard fans will surely enjoy the references he throws in
the movie ('Gimli' and ‘Sauron’). Seeing the added material in this movie and
the previous one, one wonders whether it will be worth waiting to see these elements be reaped in the end. But one thing
is sure that the story in this one takes a much faster pace and the stakes in
this part seems much higher and engaging that the first one. "Peter
Jackson" as well as writers "Fran Walsh" and "Phillipa
Boyens"('Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King') did an excellent job
keeping the main plot moving forward, whilst still focusing on the supporting characters
and keeping subplots moving forward. Composer "Howard Shore", who
scored 'An Unexpected Journey' as well as the 'Lord of the Rings'
trilogy, once more delivered a spectacular score that heightens the exceptional
quality of the movie. The effects are splendidly done and executed especially that of 'Samug'.
"Luke Evans".
"Benedict Cumberbatch".
Compared to the first
movie and in reference to the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, this movie seems to
share many similarities with 'The Two Towers'. It acts as a middle movie of a
trilogy where it seemingly has no real beginning or ending due to its linkage
aim, but it successfully enable itself to have a narrative structure that make
it a successful entry. Furthermore, the ability to explore the supporting cast,
to include new characters, and at the same time successfully not reducing them
to one dimensional characters make the movie that much more interesting. My
favorite scene of the whole movie was the escape of the dwarves and 'Bilbo'
from 'Mirkwood' through the river. The whole scene , as well as the fighting
scene , which 'Tauriel' and 'Legolas' took part in, was a phenomenal scene and I don't think I have ever seen such a thing being done this way before. Other
memorable scenes were 'Smaug' and 'Bilbo''s conversation, 'Gandalf''s fight
with 'Azog' and the 'Necromancer', where a stupendously amazing reference to
'Sauron' is sure to make diehard fans swoon. The pace was overall really great
and events were spread out evenly to all the stories, still the time frame could have been
trimmed a little bit.
'Mirkwood'.
'Esgaroth'.
Same as 'The Lord of
the Rings', 'The Hobbit' trilogy includes an amazing cast that includes many
new faces, as well as known returning ones. "Martin Freeman" really
impressed me in the way he handled the portrayal of 'Bilbo' shying away from
the repetitive portrayal of such characters and putting his own unique stamp.
"Ian McKellen" is always going to give us his best when portraying
'Gandalf', whose story line was pretty impressive and done to perfection.
"Richard Armitage" also does a great job bringing some sort of freshness
in portraying the inner conflict of his character and handling emotional
moments perfectly. The remaining dwarfs were reduced to supporting characters
in the first part; however, here they were brought forward and developing
them was appreciated. It showed "Peter Jackson"'s philosophy and effort
in presenting the supporting characters to be more than sidekicks. Those who
stood out for me were "Aidan Turner", who played 'Kili', and "Ken
Scott", who portrayed 'Balin', who became an important character for the
development of 'Thorin'. The return of "Orlando Bloom" as fan
favorite 'Legolas' was very exciting, who had formidable and one of the best
action-fighting scenes. Still we fans are still awaiting more important
development to the young Elven prince. And I must say the reference of 'Gimli'
was awesome.
The inclusion of a
newly and entirely invented character 'Tauriel', the Chief of the Guards of the
Elvenking, was a standout. "Evangeline Lilly" played her in an
exceptional way stealing many scenes that included her and "Orlando
Bloom" together. It certainly brought a feminine flair to the story and was one
of the good narrative additions of this trilogy. The love triangle that included
'Tauriel', 'Legolas' and 'Kili' is a very interesting storyline that hopefully
will be put to even better use later on. "Luke Evans" does a good job
playing 'Bard', though his character will play a more important role in the
third and final movie. "Lee Pace", "Sylvester McCoy",
"Manu Bennett", "Mikael Persbrandt" and "Lawrence
Maloare" all did a phenomenal job in their respective
characters. "Benedict Cumberbatch" no doubt kills it, voicing
one of the most believable fantasy creatures ever put on the big screen. The
sheer scale of the character 'Smaug', while mixing it with that snarly voice of "Benedict",
brings a character that is fun to watch. And those who waited for
'Bilbo'/'Smaug''s meeting are sure to be impressed, and the time they
were given to interplay was more than enough. Also "Benedict" lends his body and voice for the 'Necromancer'. Giving both distinct voices yet still
finding similarities enforces the whole idea of darkness tied together.
In the end, fans who
were not pleased with 'An Unexpected Journey' are sure to see this part as an
improvement. Ending with this cliffhanger solidifies to me that 'The Hobbit:
There and Back Again' will hopefully tie up an accomplished trilogy and prove that all
the doubts were misplaced.
Official 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Poster.
-'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Info: -Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Graham McTavish, Ken Scott, Aiden Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter
Hambleton, William Kircher, James Nesbitt,
Stephen Hunter, Manu Bennett , Mikael Persbrandt, Lawrence Maloare and
Stephen Fry. -Based on: 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R Tolkien. -Studio(s): New Line Cinema, MGM and Warner Bros. Pictures. -Director: Peter Jackson. -Screenplay by: Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro. -Music by: Howard Shore. -Running Time: 161 minutes. -Budget: $ 225,000,000. -Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 258,102,656. -Foreign: $ 691,000,000. -Ratings: -IMdb: 8.2/10. -Rotten Tomatoes: 75%. -Metacritic: 66%. -PERSONAL RATING: 9.3/10. -'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Trailer:
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