Movie Review # 702: The Hobbit: Part 2 (2013)

And now, onto The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug!

Plot: After Bilbo (Martin Sheen), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), and the dwarves have faced perilous battles with Orcs, including the Orc leader, Azog the Defiler (Manu Bennett), in the first film, along with other dangerous creatures, they now continue to face threats not only from Orcs, but also encounters with other creatures, and an overall perilous journey, as they continue their journey to the dwarf kingdom of the Lonely Mountain. Did they make it, and reclaim it back from Smaug the dragon (Benedict Cumberbatch)?

So, did this second film improve from the first movie? Well, in quite a few ways, yes, it did. There may have been one, or two issues. Aside from that, this film was really, really good. First of all, the filmmakers raised the stakes for things such as suspense, more depth to the characters, and more. Even Howard Shore improved vastly with his musical score for this second Hobbit installment. Also, nearly every single character was fleshed out lore this time around, especially ones like Gandalf, Thorin, Bilbo, villains like Azog the defiler, and even newer characters that we get introduced to this time like Tauriel, or even characters like Legolas (yes, we get to see him in this film, just as we saw the elf leader, Elrond or Rivendell in Rhe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey). Oh, and it was also great to see Bard, who is played by Luke Evans, in this film as well. But probably one of the most notable characters is Smaug the dragon, who is well voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. I mean even though he doesn’t show up until near the end of this movie, every moment that he’s in makes The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug much more memorable. In fact, if you liked villains from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy like the Orcs, Sméagol, or Sauron, you’re most definitely bound to like, and love to hate Smaug the dragon as well. He’s menacing, cunning, persistent in his greed for treasure, and will not hesitate to stop anyone that might try to get in his way. In addition to all of this, there were scenes that were surprisingly really well choreographed, most notably a scene that involves Bilbo, and the dwarves each floating in a barrel downstream. I won’t spoil how that happens, or how that whole sequence plays out. However, I will say that that sequence, along with scenes like the dwarves, and Bilbo dealing with Smaug in the Lonely Mountain, were very well played out, and well crafted. Truthfully, in this film, and even the first, and maybe even third films, you can tell that Peter Jackson was trying to remain as faithful to the source material as possible. Did he take some liberties? Most likely! But still, he did well with trying to depict scenes from the Hobbit book as much as possible. And yeah, it shows. Additionally, both this movie, and the first film have seemed to serve as reminders of why preventing evil from rising, and running amok is important. One other thing to mention is that there were a couple interesting twists in this film as well.

Honestly, if there was one thing that could have maybe been taken out of this film, it might have e been the love relationship between Kili the dwarf, and Tauriel the elf. Don’t get me wrong! It’s nice to add things from time to time. And yeah, it was great to have a relationship between a male, and female incorporated this time around. At the same time, one can’t help but wonder if maybe this time around, that might have bogged this movie from moving it’s story along a little more, and maybe even just having this film get divided into just two parts (again a problem that the first film seemed to have more so), you know? 

And that’s my review for The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug. It is most definitely a vast improvement from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The characters are fleshed out more, twists are great, and lessons from this film are great. Honestly, after seeing this film, you’ll most likely find yourself more excited to see how things wrap up in the third, and final Hobbit film. Even if you might not have been a fan of the first Hobbit film, still give this one a chance anyway since, the first one was still very good, and, two, you’ll likely be surprised by how much better The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is. Again, see this film, and see what you think!