Review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) by Cc B — 12 Aug 2014

Back to another three-hour trip to Middle Earth. While the second Hobbit film is an improvement in just about every way, it's still a clear example of a franchise stretching to the breaking point. Peter Jackson gets the second installment moving a lot quicker, and there are several standout action sequences that are glorious on the big screen.

Unfortunately it still takes almost two full hours to get to the dragon of the title, but when it does, oh does the movie become that much grander. Benedict Cumberbatch gives frightful life to Smaug (pronounced, for whatever reason, as "Smaa-oog"), and the special effects are top-notch.

The last forty minutes of the movie are solid gold, as Bilbo and the dwarves work together to battle Smaug in a virtuoso development of imaginative action, it's wonderful how many moving parts are involved in this action set piece.