Review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) by Luke M — 05 Sep 2014
It becomes hard to defend Jackson's choice to split the Hobbit into three films after enduring this overly long middle chapter. The decision to leave nearly all of Tolkein's actual story to the final instalment is abundantly clear, yet the film manages to shaft the little of Tolkein's actual work it contains in favour of nonsensical secondary conflicts and characters which I struggled to follow or care about. The non-Tolkein dialogue is absolutely cringeworthy in places.
The production deprives its live action sequences of any real emotion through an oversaturation of CGI. Elf archery going from impressive in Lord of the Rings to ludicrous in Desolation of Smaug, and when every shot is a magic trick shot then its hard to enjoy any of them.
The film's single redeeming quality is Smaug, who through motion capture and Benedict Cumberbatch's superb voice work, exceeds all expectations. However, it is not enough to salvage this unsatisfyingly weak installment of Tolkein's Middle Earth.
This review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) was written by Luke M on 05 Sep 2014.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
