The
Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: ****/*****, or 8/10
The
middle part of a trilogy is always said to be the hardest part to
finish successfully to everybody's approval and acclaim, since it it
cursed with the absence of both beginning and end, while it must feel
like a coherent piece on its own. In the case of Peter Jackson's
Hobbit trilogy, this adage is once again proven fact. Whereas
The Two Towers established itself as a perfect bridge between
both other Lord of the Rings movies while remaining equally
convincing and enjoyable on its own merits, the same cannot wholly be
said of The Desolation of Smaug. Though a thrill ride of a
movie, in many ways it feels simply too much like a set-up for a
conclusion, ending in a frustratingly grave cliffhanger which leaves
every story line unresolved. At the same time, its tone and style are
much darker and more serious than its predecessor's, the wonderfully
lighter themed An Unexpected Journey. And I'm positive the
Tolkien fanatics amongst the audience have a thing or two to comment
about the loose manner in which Jackson and his co-writers have
adapted both the Hobbit novel proper and material from
Tolkiens' various other works for their own narrative advantage,
since, especially in the second half of this film, many creative
licenses have been permitted, some of them dubious to say the least.
The first half of The Desolation of Smaug however follows the
novel more closely, admittingly racing through the original source
material with more speed than feels appropriate or desirable.
Picking
up where the previous movie left us, we find 'the Hobbit' Bilbo
(Martin Freeman) and Thorin Oakenshield's (a brooding, increasingly
torn Richard Armitage) company of Dwarves still on the run from Azog
the Defiler's murderous band of Orcs-on-Wargs. Fortunately, shelter
is found at the house of Beorn, an enigmatic, hairy giant of a man,
who is said to be a skinchanger specializing in bears. Little is done
with both this notion and this persona as he insists the band moves
on swiftly, allowing the intriguing character only a mere few minutes
of screen time (undoubtedly more to follow in the third installment).
Soon after the sickly forest of Mirkwood is crossed, giant spiders
(creepy ones too!) are combatted and angry Elves are confronted, the
latter scene re-introducing another LotR character not present
in the novel but added for the sake of convenience and pleasing the
(female) audience, in this case Orlando Bloom's Legolas. Still an
angry Elf skilled with a bow and looking gorgeous, Bloom's look and
traits remain the same as his lack of notable acting skills when
first we met his character. Nevertheless, his personality is fleshed
out in regards to his forest home (another impressive design feat)
and his fellow Elves, including his stern father Thranduil (Lee Pace
overacting a bit) and his socially adventurous female
captain-of-guard Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), a character as
completely made up for this film as her soon developing romantic
interspecies relation with Kili (Aidan Turner), echoing the
Arwen/Aragorn affair of the former trilogy, no doubt convincing
certain demographics to stay tuned to see where this is going
exactly. Not very hospitable, Bilbo is forced to save his friends
from the Elves' jail, unleashing a memorable escape scene via barrel
and river, with foes on all sides as the Orcs return to plague both
Elf and Dwarf, effectively giving Bombur a chance to prove you
shouldn't mock comic relief centered around fat people, which also
provides us with one of the few grand moments of comedy (Jackson
style) this film features, as it is a grittier movie as a whole. Said
chase leads to the company meeting Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) of
Laketown, a reluctant smuggler and rebel against his city's corrupt
regime under the command of the ragged Master (Stephen Fry!). Now
also getting mixed up in the politics of Men – and already
intertwined in the affairs of several clans of Elves, Orcs, Goblins,
Eagles, skinchangers, Wizards and other Dwarves, for those keeping
track – matters are complicated even further for Thorin and his
companions, making the story both more substantial and increasingly
convoluted. Basically it comes down to this: everyone wants dragon
gold, but all fear dragon fire. Someone has to start the ball
rolling, and of course that sorry job falls to the titular Hobbit.
And
where is Gandalf (the great Sir Ian McKellen), you may wonder? He
leaves Bilbo and the Dwarves at the start of the movie, setting on
his own adventure in search of the identity of the rumoured
Necromancer. As was the case with The Two Towers, The
Desolation of Smaug incorporates multiple story lines that won't
come full circle until the final film. Gandalf and Radagast travel to
the ruined fortress of Dol Guldur in search of much needed answers, a
quest which feels like getting in the way of the main plot more than
is comfortable, but which still follows the novel, except this time
also showing Gandalf's voyage, which was only briefly mentioned in
the literate version of the story. Gandalf's journey proves a
narrative element which will greatly enhance the feeling of cohesion
between both Tolkien trilogies, but forms an uncomfortable plot
obstacle in this movie, only enlarging the bleakness of the overall
film and adding more characters and plot to the piece, which was
already bursting in that regard.
Simply
said, a lot is going on in The Desolation of Smaug, as
many characters and their various motivations are introduced into the
story, while those of others from An Unexpected Journey are
pushed to the back a little (no White Council politics in this one,
but undoubtedly more to follow in the third installment). Naturally,
not everything is given equal opportunity to shine and we would liked
to have seen more of many elements, getting to know these characters
a little better, which we will next year. Until that time we have to
make do with the set-up for said scenes to follow, while an extended
cut of this second part is indubitably also to be expected (and
definitely called for!), considering we are treated to the bare
necessities of all these characters without delving too deeply in
their motivations and aspirations, often making us wonder whether
additional material was cut to keep up with the fast pace of this
film, which still runs a whopping 161 minutes. However, desolation is
far from our mind when we finally encounter the big lizard himself,
the dragon mentioned on countless occasions so far, even in Jackson's
previous trilogy. It cannot be denied Smaug is an astonishing
creation, an erudite, intelligent and charming, but naturally
ruthless and temperamental dragon of fabulous size and strength,
everything we expected him to be if not more so. Credit has to be
given to both Benedict Cumberbatch's vocal and mo-cap performance and
the Weta design team reponsible for bringing the mighty beast to life
so utterly compellingly, resulting in one of the most fantastic and
impressive computer generated characters in the history of film. A
good thing too, since the reliance on computers over more traditional
FX methods is overtly evident in this film's case, giving many scenes
a bit too much of a green-screen vibe. Like his golden hoard
similarly is the focal point of the entire story, the dragon is the
big pay-off for the audience, and Jackson and co. triumph in this
department, also succeeding in forging a cliffhanger that is sure to
vex spectators to such extent they will return next year in even more
record-breaking numbers. In the dragon's case, this may give cause to
disappointment though, as those who have read the book will soon come
to realize as they remember Smaug's ultimate fate. Fortunately that
portion of the audience still has the conclusion of the Kili/Tauriel
relationship to look forward to and guess over all year long. Yes,
that is a bit of sarcasm there.
The
Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a flawed middle part of what
may still end up to be another masterpiece trilogy. While there's many a plot element that leaves much to be desired, in terms of good fun, spectacular vistas, grandiose action scenes and fabulous dragons it still proves a great blockbuster movie which leaves us craving more. Unfortunately not
holding up on its own so solidly as An Unexpected Journey, it
may prove to be a fine piece of work when the trilogy is completed as
a whole and everything that is set up in this film is resolved to our
satisfaction in the upcoming There and Back Again. One cannot
help but keep wondering whether splitting up The Hobbit in
three pieces as opposed to two was a good idea. Forging the last two
films into one may have resulted in a more agreeable second movie,
albeit a very, very long one.
