The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Running Time – 2hrs, 41min

Genre – Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Director – Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy)

Writer(s):

Screenplay –

Fran Walsh (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy)

Philippa Boyens (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy)

Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy)

Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Pacific Rim and the Hobbit)

Novel –

J R. R Tolkien

Critics review ratings: metascore: 66/100. Rotten Tomatoes: 73%

Box Office:  www.boxofficemojo.com (as of 12/15/13)

Domestic: $73,675,000

Foreign: $131,200,000

“Middle-earth’s got its mojo back. A huge improvement on the previous installment, this takes our adventurers into uncharted territory and delivers spectacle by a ton.” – Empire

“Smaug is different: a really good movie, superior to the first in that it brings its characters to rambunctious life.” – Richard Corliss, Time

                The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a monumental achievement, greatly improving on the first film of the Hobbit cinematic trilogy. The movie supplies us with Oscar-worthy CGI and voice acting throughout the movie. The acting was right on target and the plot was not too crowded like we saw in the last installment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Return of the King (2003). The film deserves nothing less than 4.7 out of 5 stars and a permanent role of Best Blockbuster Film of 2013 in my mind, and I’m hoping in yours as well.

I think the most dramatic improvement over the first would be the tone. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had a playful, yet serious feel throughout the movie’s long length. In the DOS, we start to see a more dark and grave version of Tolkien’s book adaption’s again. It pulls you in more to what is really on the line if the dwarves and young master Bilbo do not succeed in their quest. I suppose I was lucky to be able to witness the movie before it hit the theaters, and in IMAX 3D (Thank you Warner Bros). The experience was incredible in 3D, every fight and every loss felt as if it were your own. The visuals were also much more spectacular than the first, including the treacherous and enticing dragon Smaug. I have never seen such a beautiful CGI masterpiece in all my experiences of movies, and that my friends is a lot. Whether Smaug was drifting through the sky above Middle-earth or breathing fire from his terrifying life-like jaws (can a dragon be life-like?), he seemed to be alive. His voice actor, Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek, War Horse) helped a lot in that aspect, perfectly matching my wild imagination’s view on Smaug’s voice in the book.

Overall the acting was just what it needed to be. I didn’t expect anything flawless or award-worthy(although Cumberbatch came close) . The actors of the dwarves fit the characters they played and the elves were as they should be, elves. Ian Mckellen, or by many Lord of the Rings fans, Gandalf, was not as brilliant as he was in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. We saw just a little bit of that in the first but in the DOS he seems to reinforce it. Not that the acting was bad, in my mind it was borderline extraordinary, though he still could of done a better job.

I’d say if you haven’t seen it, see it. Go watch it in 3D, because otherwise you are missing out. Thanks for reading, Joel Freecheck.