The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Review

“The King Under the Mountain is dead!” – A review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. 

Having watched the first of the trilogy, my hopes weren’t overly high for the second. In my review of An Unexpected Journey, I explained that whilst I certainly didn’t hate the film, I didn’t love it either, and that’s exactly what I was prepared for in the second instalment.

The film picks up where we left off, following Bilbo, Gandalf and the company of dwarves as they continue their journey to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon. Whatever I am to say of this film, it is certainly not dull. The adventure continues with dramatic, high stakes moments, including (to my arachnophobic horror) giant spiders, Beorn the skin-changer, Gandalf’s investigation into a necromancer and of course a confrontation with Smaug the dragon himself. The pacing is pretty good, and there’s plenty of action to keep an audience engaged.

A highlight of this film for me is Smaug himself. Voiced brilliantly by Benedict Cumberbatch, Smaug is sleek, sly and foreboding, his huge stature terrifying and intimidating against the little dwarves and our hobbit. Cumberbatch’s voice acting is impeccable, and Smaug is genuinely one of the best dragons I’ve ever seen on screen.

Another moment I really enjoyed in this film involves the dwarves floating down a river. As they shoot through rapids, they are also dodging the attacks of orcs and arrows from elves. This high-octane water chase is genuinely fun and entertaining, and this film does have a lot of moments which can be described similarly.

Unfortunately though, I have issues with this film which I’ve found it really difficult to overcome. I am completely open to new characters and ideas to be added to universe’s I love, and I was not in theory against The Hobbit not being a completely canonical retelling. With this said, I found the presence of Legolas slightly jarring. Whilst I love the character, and I am a big fan of Orlando Bloom; I saw no reason other than fan service to include him in a story he was simply never meant to be a part of.

What I found worse though was the inclusion of Tauriel. Now, to her credit, Tauriel is an interesting and strong character. Captain of the Mirkwood Elven Guard, she is slightly reckless, at times aggressive and very confident and sure of herself, making her a genuinely decent protagonist. However, the thing I couldn’t stand about the introduction of her character was her involvement in a love triangle.

Tauriel, played by Evangeline Lilly, could have been a truly great character for all the reasons mentioned above. Had her and Legolas had smaller parts to play in the films, I think I would have enjoyed them more. The thing that bothers me the most though, is that Tauriel couldn’t just be a strong character in her own right. Instead, she is used as a plot device as a love triangle is formed between herself, Legolas and the dwarf, Kili. I don’t expect every adaption to be completely faithful and canonical to Tolkien’s work, but I was so frustrated that we were given a new, strong female character who ended up being a part of a romantic sub plot. Indeed, I am not alone in this way of thinking, as Lilly reportedly said to herself that she did not want to take the role if there was a love triangle involved. It felt like such a forced subplot, and one I can only assume was added to justify there being three films for such a short book.

All in all, I am not a huge fan of this film. Of course, Freeman is still an endearing and brilliant Bilbo, the dwarves are still likeable, New Zealand is still stunning, and the music is still instantly recognizable and brilliant. There’s lots of action and I do think that the cinematography was vastly improved from the first film. Sadly though, this one just wasn’t for me. If only there had been more of the book and less filler, this film had the potential to be great.

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

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