Note: I saw this film at a high frame rate in
3D, and while the 3D is well done I still do not like the high frame rate.
Few worlds have encapsulated the human
imagination as J.R.R Tolkien's Middle Earth has, and few ever will. In 1999,
director Peter Jackson took on the daunting task of translating Tolkien's
"Lord of the Rings" trilogy into film. The result would turn out to
be one of the greatest film trilogies of all time; but after the series ended
it left many fans wanting more, so Jackson ultimately decided on turning
"The Hobbit" (a prequel book to TLOTR) into a trilogy itself. The
first installment entitled "An Unexpected Journey" was released, and
while it was a major box office success it was met with negative reviews from
many critics and fans of the Middle Earth universe; many questioned Jackson's
decision on turning the book into a trilogy as compared to a single
installment, a trilogy made sense for TLOTR because it already was a trilogy
but the Hobbit was only a single volume. Many weren't sure if there was even
enough content to turn into three movies. So with the second installment in the
new trilogy, Jackson obviously looked to silence many of the critics by
addressing the almost many of the problems people had with the first one. And fortunately,
he manages to improve upon the last movie in almost every way. "The
Desolation of Smaug" starts off what seems to be a few months after the
events of the previous movie. Our marry band of misfits consisting of Bilbo
Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, Thorin Oakenshield and a dozen other dwarves are
still trying to reach the Lonely Mountain in order to retrieve the Arkenstone
so Thorin can be named the king under the mountain. At this same time they are
all being hunted by a group of orcs, and they barely escape with their lives on
more than one occasion. The group needs to be at the mountain within a few
days, and they are running out of time fast. They are required to go through a
now sick forest inhabited by giant spiders, but once their almost out they get
captured by a group of elves. While in their custody, Thorin is summoned by the
clan’s leader who is the same man who refused to help the dwarves when their
homeland was originally attacked; the king offers to make a deal but Thorin
refuses. After being imprisoned for a short time they manage to escape and make
it to a nearby trading town; but with the orcs right on their tail and time
almost up the group is on the brink of defeat, but they refuse to give up.
While I had problems with the previous film, I still really enjoyed it; but I
did feel a little let down. The Lord of the Rings trilogy are some of my all
time favorite movies, but An Unexpected Journey didn't have the same magic as
the previous films; The Desolation of Smaug manages to recapture that magic,
and has turned into one of my favorite films of the year. One of the biggest
problems with the previous movie was that a lot of people just thought it was
kind of boring, but TDOS is much more exciting and also has the more serious
tone of TLOTR films while maintaining several humorous moments. One of the
standout features of TLOTR films was that they were gorgeous and Peter Jackson
continues that tradition with this film, while it doesn't have the huge
landscapes like the other films the cinematography is still top notch. Also
like all the other films, Jackson employs some really amazing special effects people.
While most of the CGI looks great overall, there are a few times where the CGI
isn't on par with the rest of the film. Ever actor in the film was cast
perfectly and does a great job in their parts. Although one of my biggest
problems with the film is that there are too many characters doing too many
things at once. In the previous film, the entire movie revolved around Bilbo,
Gandalf, and Thorin, everyone else were just supporting characters. In this
one, you have like ten important characters all doing their own thing; it takes
away from the continuity of the main story line. There are also a few
characters that were put into the movie that weren't in the book, most notably
Legolas and Tauriel. It was really awesome to see Legolas again and Tauriel is
a really cool and badass character, but I'm not entirely sure if they were
really necessary. But now that we have all that out of the way, let's get to
the important stuff; we all have the same question about this film, "how's
Smaug." The answer? He's as awesome as we all hoped. Smaug is voiced by
Benedict Cumberbatch, and he was the absolute the perfect choice. His voice fit
Smaug perfectly, and they add the right amount of distortion to his voice. The
design of Smaug is fantastic; he is massive and looks just how I imagined him.
Smaug is some of the best CGI you'll see in a movie all year and is worth the
price of admission alone. The Desolation of Smaug acts as a huge improvement
over An Unexpected Journey in almost every aspect, his movie reminded me what I
loved about the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you've loved any of the Middle
Earth movies you'll love this one, but it certainly won't bring any new fans of
the series. If you're planning on going to the theater any time soon, you can't
go wrong with The Desolation of Smaug.
Pros: Every actor plays their character
perfectly, more exciting and serious than previous film, beautiful
cinematography and CGI, funny but not forced comedic moments, Smaug is f*cking
awesome.
Cons: Too many characters doing too many things,
some CGI not up to snuff, some characters shoehorned in, still don't like high
frame rate.
4.5/5 Stars
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