As this is Peter Jackson’s fifth film foray into the world of Tolkien, everyone should know the drill by now. If you haven’t seen The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy or the first Hobbit film yet, then stop reading and go watch those now. All right, all caught up? Good, you may continue.
Smaug picks up where the first film left off. Bilbo, Gandalf and the dwarves continue their journey to their homeland to face off against the dragon and reclaim the dwarfs’ glory. As well as continuing to stay one step ahead of the orcs, the group also face off against some giant spiders, some testy elves and some untrusting humans. The dwarves continue to get themselves into trouble and Bilbo proves time and time again that he is an integral member of the team. Gandalf also conveniently disappears again to deal with a new danger.
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is about as straightforward as they come and true to form; Jackson jam packs these 161 minutes with wall-to-wall action. The highlight of these easily being the wine barrel river chase wherein two elves join up with the group to help them fend off the orcs and get one giant leap closer to their goal.
The other set piece of this film is the end where Bilbo comes face to face with Smaug, the dragon. This is a wonderfully tense scene where Bilbo is forced to spare with the mighty beast intellectually as he knows he would stand no chance physically. Jackson knew how important this scene was and put all he had into to it and he succeeded admirably.
The biggest problem with this film is one that has befallen all books that have been split into multiple films in recent years; it doesn’t have a proper ending. It seems Jackson couldn’t decide on a good place to pause the action like he did at the end of the first film and instead just cuts to credits when we expect the film to keep playing. When all three films are available on Blu-ray and you can watch them all in one sitting, this won’t prove to be as big a deal, but for now, it’s a very jarring unfulfilling ending. We all know this is the second part of a trilogy and that there is much more to come, but the film still needs to stand on it’s own two legs and with such an abrupt ending, it’s like one of the films legs has been cut out from under it. It doesn’t ruin the film, but it does leave you thinking “what the hell was that!?” which is annoying following such a fun, entertaining movie.
Despite the abrupt ending, Smaug is a fine addition to the ever growing cinematic world of Tolkien. If you’ve enjoyed what Jackson has done with these stories so far, you’ll easily love this one as well.
The film is presented in 2.4:1 widescreen and DTS – HD Master Audio 7.1 Surround sound. This is yet another amazing looking and sounding film. Not sure what else to say about that.
Peter Jackson invites you to the set: (43 min.) Some very immersive behind the scenes videos. Live Event: In The Cutting Room (38 min.) Where Jackson gave fans a tour of his production facilities on March 2013. Production Videos: (36 min.). New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth, part 2: (7 min.) and trailers.
This is not the extended edition of The Desolation Of Smaug which is surely coming soon, so if you know you’re going to want to own that one, then you know not to buy this one. If you don’t care about the extended editions then you might as well pick this one up.
MGM and Warner Bros. present The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug. Directed by: Peter Jackson. Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro. Based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom. Running time: 161 minutes. Rating: PG-13. Released: April 8, 2014.
