Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Aidan Turner, Evangeline Lilly, Ian McKellen, Ken Stott Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace, Graham McTavish, Stephen Fry, Manu Bennett, Lawrence Makoare, Ryan Gage, John Bell, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Stephen Hunter, Sylvester McCoy, Mikael Persbrandt
Love or or hate it, An Unexpected Journey was not to the standard of The Lord of the Rings, the trilogy that The Hobbit was a prequel to. Now, The Desolation of Smaug has arrived and it’s not faultless but I’d happily class this as a return to Rings’ form for Peter Jackson.
The worst is not behind the company as former fish Hobbit-out-of-water Shire Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) once thought. The wizard Gandalf (McKellen) convinces himself to investigate the medlings of the dark Necromancer (Cumberbatch) in Dol Goldur and so leaves the group to face giant spiders and much worse, ie the merciless elf king Thranduil (Pace) and his son Legolas (Bloom), in the forests of Mirkwood. Meanwhile, new Orc on the block Bolg (Makoare) is on the track of the dwarves and Thorin’s (Armitage) desperation leads to a risky deal with a crooked mayor (Fry) and sending Bilbo into an uncertain meeting with the “dormant” dragon Smaug (Cumberbatch…again).
The Desolation of Smaug contains some of the grimmest moments that there’s been in Lord of the Rings/Hobbit franchise. Jackson really is honouring his horror roots with the terrifying spider sequence (it isn’t ripping off the one in Return of the King so don’t worry) but perhaps one to many decapitations. Some oppose it but the lighter moments, however ridiculous, are necessary to balance the terror for what’s essentially a kids movie.
The key advantage of Desolation is the fact that it can just get going into the action after a shady and brief entrance unlike the sluggish opening of An Unexpected Journey. We can get invested into the action almost immediately. The barrel chase is certainly the best set piece of the year but this time around the characters seem to be in no short supply of charm. This second instalment has built a palette of lovable characters; I can easily see Bard (Evans) and Kili (Aidan Turner) quickly becoming fan favourites!
There are quite a few setbacks. Both Lee Pace and Orlando Bloom failed to be engaging in any way, I think all of their lines are in the trailers. Despite still being billed as the lead star, Ian McKellen’s Gandalf has barely any screen time in this film and so his apparent chemistry with Freeman’s Bilbo is therefore non existent. Both Bard and Thorin are owed more lines and there’s a couple of scenes with fairly taccy CG.
All can be forgiven with the sheer terror of Smaug however. Cumberbatch voice work here surpasses his own “John Harrison” to become the villain of the year and possibly the highest quality CG there’s been in an on screen monster. In a way, his immense scale multiplies Bilbo’s courage as Martin Freeman once again delivers a spot on, and fresh, ordinary-guy-turned-hero character performance we’ve seen done wrong too many times.
The Desolation of Smaug has some of the most exciting action there’s been in a fantasy film for a few years. Generally, the performances of those who actually get decently sized roles are brilliant and it’s got some of the great oddball comedy moments of this year. There’s about ten minutes of footage I’d rather see in the extended editions but, as soon as you can except some of the ridiculous elements, you can enjoy the best adventure film there’s been in a while. This trilogy was never going to be quite as good as The Lord of the Rings but, as long as There and Back Again gets back into the action instantly, it will still be a huge fantasy spectacle.
9/10
“Truly the songs and tales fall utterly short of your enormity, oh Smaug the stupendous!”
tuorhothmovies 