Review: The Hobbit and the Desolation of Smaug

Fans return to Middle Earth once again to see the second installment in the newest JRR Tolkien series, The Hobbit. Does The Hobbit stand strong or does it fall short? Are hobbit's all over the world going to cry out of disappointment? Let's find out!

Director: Peter Jackson

Writer(s): Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, & Guillermo del Toro

Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloon & Benedict Cumberbatch

RATING: 8/10

Being as disappointed as I was in the first Hobbit film, I didn't really know what to expect going into "The Hobbit and the Desolation of Smaug." I was excited yet not excited because I couldn't stand the use of non practical effects in the first movie. To me surprise and delight, I am happy to say that I really enjoyed The Desolation of Smaug. It was a fun, action packed, adventure movie that will keep fans on the edge of their seat for two and half hours. Though the film had some big disappointments, for the most part it was pretty well done and attributed the beloved, Lord of the Rings trilogy from the early 2000's. 

Some of the things to praise about the new installment is the return to practical effects! Though it was not throughout the whole film (unfortunately) some of the Ork's were finally actors again! The biggest issue I had with the first Hobbit film was the absolutely ridiculous, ugly, and video gamey CGI'd Orks. I was really pleased and happy to see that Peter Jackson busted out some of the old Ork gear for this film, even though I would much rather have all the Ork's be practical instead of computer generated. Something I think will get criticism from fans who read the book, but will get praise from people who appreciate film makers going off a little bit from the source material will appreciate greatly, and that is the involvement of Legolas. I feel like the character of Legolas was really fun to see on the big screen again, and feel like his involvement with this film helped move it along incredibly and helped tie the original LOTR trilogy to the new films. I know I am always knocking on CG when you could do it practical instead, but I am actually going to praise CG right here. Smaug looked absolutely gorgeous! I thought that scene's that featured Smaug were great, and thought the design for him was perfect. He is so massive compared to everything else and that came across, more than enough when seeing him on the screen. The editing in this film, along with the score was good and fit the series and fit the "middle earth" feel perfectly. The directing was really good when it came to scene choices, and how the scenes were directed but feel short with other things such as post production choices. The acting performances in this film were great as well. Ian McKellen was perfect as always and portrayed everyone's favorite Wizard just as beautifully as he did before. Benedict Cumberbatch's voice fit Smaug great as well and thought there wasn't much more he could have done. A side note, he also lends his voice for The Necromancer/Sauron. The final acting performance I'm going to point out is Orlando Bloom. A full decade after finishing up his role as Legolas, Orlando Bloom comes back and kicks ass once again as the Woodland Elf, Legolas. He was just as believable as he was when we first saw him way back in the day(2001-2003.) Some other notables are Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel), Martin Freeman (Bilbo), and Aidan Turner (Kili). There were a few other things I enjoyed in this film but I do not want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, so you can read what else I liked in the spoiler section!

Now onto the things that I believe were the downfall to the film. The biggest issue I had with this new installment is the same issue I had with the previous. The use of CGI in this film was absolutely horrendous, with the exception of Smaug. It looked very very video gamey. And not good video gamey, we're talking like PS2 status graphics. I'll get into detail about the scene that really pissed me off in the spoiler section. The CGI'd Ork's looked really fake as well. I will never understand Peter Jackson's decision to CG in Ork's instead of hiring actors for it like he did in the first trilogy. Another issue I had was with the pacing. Not really a big issue but just a small one. Throughout the entire film it was incredibly fast and felt like a really good adventure/action film, but during the big ending, it felt soooooooo slooooooow. I didn't really understand how the big payoff and big ending could feel slow, but they sure as hell did a good job of drawing it out. That does it for the non-spoiler section so if you haven't seen the newest installment of The Hobbit and don't want to get spoiled, don't read the last section. But if you do not care, or if you've already seen it, read onward! Let me know what you thought of the film down below and whether or not you agree with me!

SPOILER SECTION 

Okay so this spoiler section isn't going to be too long but there are two things I want to talk about. The first being the one scene that made me want to walk out of the theater and that is the barrel scene when the Dwarfs and Bilbo are floating down the river and fighting the Orks. Did anybody elese notice how the graphics(CGI) looked like really crappy PS2 graphics? When your film has such a big budget why the hell does your final product look like shit? I know that people going down a river killing an insane amount of Ork's is really hard to do practically and is a lot safer to do with CG (I support the use of CG in this scene) but come on! At least be sure it looks real and good! The one thing I really liked that I want to talk about is Gandalf's scenes. The way they had him find out about Sauron was really great, and insanely entertaining! 

Overall "The Hobbit and the Desolation of Smaug" was a fun ride and a film that I will definitely watch again if it's on the TV or makes it onto Netflix. 

article by Matt Skajem