Review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) by Bradley W — 11 Sep 2014

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the second installment of Peter Jackson's epic trilogy based off the book by J. R. R. Tolkien, and it improves upon the first film in nearly every aspect. I did thoroughly enjoy An Unexpected Journey while pointing out a few flaws that kept it from perfection, but this film has addressed that and given us an adventure film for the ages.

This is the middle of the story, which means we pick up where we left off with Bilbo and his companions continuing their journey to take back the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. The name Smaug is in the title so I was excited to finally see the dragon, and all I can say is well done Peter Jackson.

He and the performance from Benedict Cumberbatch in motion capture have delivered to us the best dragon ever to grace the big screen. To say this movie fulfilled my expectations is an understatement; it surpassed its predecessor with flying colors.

It's a thrill ride from start to finish and adds some much needed development for its story and characters. With The Lord of the Rings trilogy being my favorite film, I had big expectations for this new trilogy.

But only now do I realize that Peter Jackson is not trying to recreate his masterpiece, but instead he is attempting to simply try and make a fun and breathtaking adventure and at that he succeeded here.

All I can say is that now that I have seen The Desolation of Smaug I couldn't be more excited to see the third and final installment. Despite the arguments everyone is having about this film being a trilogy, I assume many people will change their views on the matter when they see this fantastic film.

The cast is great once again, with the stand out being Benedict Cumberbatch who gives a chilling and brilliant motion-capture performance as Smaug. The film was not without its issues however, with some choppy editing and overuse of CGI still keeping it from perfection.

But this was only small issues to an otherwise brilliant film. Peter Jackson has outdone himself with this sequel that is exciting fun from start to finish, but its greatest achievement was bringing back that old warm Middle-Earth feeling we love so much.

Bring on The Battle of the Five Armies!