The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Luke Evans, Sir Ian McKellen.
I haven't been a fan of anything related to Lord of the Rings films since The Fellowship. Two Towers was fine, Return of the King was an overlong CGI mess and The Hobbit was just bad. I therefore wasn't expecting too much from Smaug, I was pleasantly surprised then that I actually enjoyed Smaug, although it still has quite a few faults.
Let's get the good out of the way though. Smaug is a much, much improved take on The Hobbit than The Unexpected Journey. It's more involving, it's fun and it doesn't feel entirely self-masturbatory from Peter Jackson. The first film was a film made by Jackson for Jackson whereas Smaug is made for normal people who want to watch something good.
It features way less shots of Jackson longingly starring at the mountains and poking us telling us to love it, LOVE IT. Instead there is much more action and fun to be had in Smaug. Speaking of Smaug the dragon is definitely the highlight of the film. Incredibly well designed and realised. I'm not Cumberbatches biggest fan but he plays a mean dragon! Probably better than he plays Sherlock.
Despite the improvements, Smaug still has problems with pacing and length. It's about 30 minutes too long and at times feels incredibly stop and start, it never quite flows properly and gets kind of boring to watch at times. Also, Orlando Bloom is pants.
For me, the biggest problem with The Hobbit is the director. He is too in love with the source material to consider anything worthy of cutting out. Most of the stuff that I hated would have made for great extras in the extended cut, but in the cinema, it just doesn't work.
Seriously, why couldn't have Del Toro stayed on board?
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