THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

GRADE: A
Ian McKellan, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lily, Orlando Bloom 
Screenplay by Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh & Phillipa Boyens & Guillermo Del Toro
Directed by Peter Jackson

Previously on The Hobbit: Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) a charming, if soft spoken, resident of the shire found a wizard named Gandalf the Gray (Ian McKellan) at his door, only to have a troupe of dwarves invade his house later that day and whisk him away on An Unexpected Journey to regain the gold stolen from them by the terrible Smaug the dragon. Along the way, they met trolls, elves, and goblins, not to mention a hobo wizard and mysterious white orc named Azog who shared the dual purpose of trying the stretch the film out to nearly three hours in length despite it covering slightly less than a third of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy adventure novel. The film was a mixed bag, with a lot of fun effects and likable performances, but a slow and plodding pace that did not quite befit a great adventure, and a mixture of cheese and C.G.I. that recalled Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace. And the less said about the High Frame Rate presentation, the better. To be clear, I liked The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was a fun movie that brought a lot of my visions of Tolkien's novel to life. It was not, however, in the same league as Peter Jackson's previous foray into Middle Earth in The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, and it didn't make my ten best of the year list. It was good, but it was far from great.

Now, in part two, The Hobbit: The Desloation of Smaug, our story begins with Bilbo, Thorin and company on the way to Erebor, running away from the white orc, when they learn that they are being tracked by a giant bear. They take refuge in the home of an acquaintance of Gandalf's, and only then does the venerable old wizard drop the bombshell that his old friend who's place they are crashing is in fact the giant bear. Specifically, he is a "skin changer" named Beorn, who is sometimes a man, and sometimes a bear, but almost always surly. Still, Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt) agrees to help them because he hates orcs even more than he hates dwarves (Beorn could run for President of The United States with that strong sense of judgement.). No sooner do they leave Beorn's company then they are set upon by giant spiders. Bilbo manages to fight off many of them with his elvish blade, which he names Sting, after his favorite rock star, and the company is rescued by wood elves, led by Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Tauriel (Evangaline Lily.). They are then taken prisoner in the forest of Mirkwood, while Bilbo slips away thanks to his "precious" discovery in part one, a ring that turns him invisible.

From here, it's up to Bilbo to get the dwarves out of Mirkwood and on their way to Lake Town, which he does in a wildly entertaining (and surprisingly violent) extended sequence involving floating through rapid in beer barrels and a seemingly endless number of marauding orcs being skewered, beheaded, and otherwise eviscerated. Soon after they meet up with a bargeman named Bard (Luke Evans), whom they bribe to get them into Lake Town, which lies at the foot of the Lonely Mountain, where they must face the dragon if they want to reclaim their gold.

Truth be told, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is actually filled with a great deal more gratuitous padding than it's predecessor, and the movie is really more Jackson than Tolkien in terms of story content. Added subplots abound, including the addition of Legolas and Tauriel and the subsequent romantic triangle between the two of them and Killi (Aidan Turner), the youngest of the dwarves, who stood out like a sore thumb in the first film for being a lot less bulbous in the face and ears than his companions and sporting Bradley Cooper brand designer stubble instead of an actual beard. Now we see why that choice was made, and though it's undeniably silly, it plays, in no small part because of the chemistry between Lilly and Turner. There is also plenty of additional material with Gandalf and Radagast (Sylvestor McCoy) investigating the mysterious Necromancer, and Stephen Fry appears as the Master of Lake Town, a corrupt government official who is desperate to hold on to power and distrusts the bargeman, Bard. All of this really just there to kill time until we get to the mountain and the dragon, but it is surprisingly well paced, and packed with so much action it feels like far less time is being taken up than is actually the case. And when we finally get to the dragon (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness and so memorably portrays Sherlock on the BBC), it is not only well worth the wait, it's probably the coolest thing we've seen on the big screen since Sam Neil spoke those immortals words "it's a dinosaur."

This is a movie that would be easy to pick apart for straying so far from the classic source material and taking up so much time, except for the inescapable fact that it's an absolute blast. Freeman commands the screen with comic charm and a sense of quiet dignity, and by the end of the movie every man woman and child in the audience just wants to take him home and snuggle him. Armitage and Ken Stott, who plays Balin, the dwarf whom Thorin trusts most, have some gear dramatic moments as the older dwarf begins the fear that the obsession with this quest is destroying Thorin, and Ian McKellan's Gandalf would frankly be entertaining reading out of the phone book.  

In the end, there is so much excitement and fun to be had that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug more than makes up for it's overlong run time and superfluous subplots, and turns out to be a grand epic adventure that can be thoroughly enjoyed on multiple viewings. The biggest complaint coming from most audience members will be the abruptness of the ending, as they walk out of the theater salivating for part three.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is rated PG-13 for a great deal of fantasy violence, and some mild vulgarity.