The Desolation of Smaug

This had to have been a hard movie to make.

That's by no means saying its a bad movie or they did a bad job at it, I'm just saying, given the source material and the feature length film The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies have usually been, there was a lot of embellishment in this film.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug picks up where An Unexpected Journey ended.

Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Dwarves are on the run from a pack of Orcs looking to destroy them and keep them from reaching the Lonely Mountain.

On the way, the team encounters a half-man half-bear named Beorn, a forest full of spiders, the captivity of Elves, a river they have to maneuver through in barrels, a run down Laketown run by a corrupt Stephen Fry and finally make their way up the Lonely Mountain and find a way into the den of Smaug and find a way to kill this dragon that is keeping Thorin Oakenshield from his rightful throne under the mountain.

What I just described was an incredibly abbreviated version of the 2nd act of The Hobbit original story. While there is a lot that needs to happen in this movie, obviously there is only so much time you can waste in Mirkwood or in Laketown.

An Unexpected Journey for the most part followed the book very closely. There were a couple parts that were added, like the council of Gandalf, Saruman, and Galadriel but for the most part the movie really did stick to the Dwarves.

While the main focus of this movie is on the dwarves, they did add a couple expansion packs if you will to the story.

The first is the Gandalf storyline. In the book, Gandalf leaves the company of the Dwarves. It is revealed that he went to fight the Necromancer and that's really what he does in the movie, its just never described in the book. In the movie, Gandalf travels to Dol Goldur where Sauron is massing an orc army to fight with Smaug and destroy everyone and begin his rise to power. Not exactly what happened in the book but it works for this film.

On the other end, the movie also focuses on Orland Bloom returning in his role as Legolas and Evangeline Lilly playing Tauriel, a member of the Elvish guard of Mirkwood. The both of them go off to hunt the orcs that enter Mirkwood forest in search of Thorin Oakenshield and his company of dwarves.

The two are kind of looking to find the dwarves again after they escape the captivity of the elves, but also kind of to help them.

Now don't get me wrong, these two were fun because they brought a lot of cool action scenes to the movie and Orlando Bloom does Legolas really well.

The problem I had with this plot line was the relationship between Evangeline Lilly's character and one of the dwarves Kili.

Oh you don't remember which one Kili is?

 It was this one.

While the Dwarves in the custody of the elves, him and Evangeline Lilly have a weird conversation about keeping promises, and the light of the elves, I don't know it was a really boring conversation. But they're trying to pull off some weird relationship/ love triangle between Evangeline Lilly, this dwarf who people kind remember kind of forgot who he was from the first movie, and Legolas.

To me, this plot line was really strange and kind of out of no where. I understand if they wanted to give a storyline to other members of the fellowship of dwarves, similarly to how they gave story lines to Pippin and Merry in the Lord of the Rings. The thing about those story lines is that they were in the book. This whole thing with Kili and Evangeline Lily never happened and therefore becomes a little strange when they're trying to make me enjoy a relationship they just kind of decided to shoe horn in there.

And then there's Evangeline Lily as an elf.

I didn't really like her.

Maybe its because I've been watching Lost but all I saw was Kate with a wig and some elf ears on. The really dramatic lines looked and sounded awkward coming from her and it just didn't really convince me.

Maybe I just didn't like the shoehorned romance with her and Kili cause it felt really rushed but whatever it was, her role in the movie was very convoluted for me and not my favorite performance of hers.

I think a lot of that can be forgiven by this character.

Oh my god, I loved Luke Evans as Bard. The entirety of Laketown was just fun and an interesting take. But I just loved Bard as a character. Looking to the future, he plays a large role in events to come and knowing they need to shove maybe five or six chapters into a two in a half long movie next year, he's going to have an even bigger role to play.

Now I've done a lot of comparison to the book and if you're asking me what I prefer, the book of the movie, I'm going to say the book. Obviously. I don't know if I've ever seen someone who is an avid reader of a series actually say the movie was better... ever.

The only reason I have been comparing things to the book is to give a point of context for where in the story the movie takes place and why its a tough spot to begin and end.

They could have made this into a two part movie but it would have rushed a lot of great parts in this movie.

Some of these great parts include the barrels.

When this movie came out, everyone was talking about the barrel scene and I get it now. Its brilliantly done and is just a down right fun scene to watch.

A lot of these parts would have been cut short if the movie had been put into a two part movie because there's a giant war that cannot be short changed. Jackson is going to make it epic, there is no doubt about it. Even though its only really a chapter or two in the book. (Last comparison to the book)

There were just too many scenes of the movie that were not only beautiful visually but really great adaptations of what happen in the book. The side plot lines that were more embellishments and not actual parts of the book were good with the exception of Evangeline Lily and Kili's romance (in my opinion).

But by far the best part of the movie...

Without a doubt, Smaug was the best part. If you haven't seen the movie and thing the picture to the right is giving away Smaug, its not. I thought that too but you just have to see the movie to actually see how brilliantly done Smaug is in this movie. Voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, he is really a stunning visual masterpiece. There's so much I can say about Smaug and it would still not do it justice.

If you are doubting the story, the plot lines whatever, if for no other reason to see this movie, go see it for Smaug.

And then there are the little things they do in this movie that really give it a clever and poignant edge.

The Hobbit realizes that its part of a bigger series. Its a prequel to the Lord of the Rings series that is totally focused on the One Ring to Rule them all that Bilbo just happens to be carrying around. While the book didn't really focus on the corrupting power of the ring, the movie does and I thought that was a brilliant choice.

There's a couple parts where Bilbo is already being legitimately affected by the Ring. He's barely had it at all and he's already getting a little obsessed with it.

Furthermore the movie is showing the slight decay of Thorin Oakenshield. Don't get me wrong, he's still the leader of the Dwarves and still very competent and concerned for the wellbeing of the members of the group but as they draw closer to the Lonely Mountain there are still moments that you know, something is going to go wrong soon.

Up till now, Thorin has been pretty reserved and his goals have always run parallel with Bilbo's, but there's a slightly feeling that the movie gives, that shows Thorin Oakenshield's goals may be changing soon and it may not be able to coexist with Bilbo's. Which will be hard because both this movie and the one before it have really started developing relationships with Thorin and Bilbo, Balin, and the other dwarves. Something is going to happen, I know what it is but I won't spoil it.

As always, Richard Armitage is awesome in this movie. (I still wish he was Batman) I don't know if there's anybody better to play Thorin or anybody better than Martin Freeman to play Bilbo.

The movie ends with a perfect cliff hanger to the next movie and the events to come. I've heard different things about this ending but I loved it.

Now how does this movie compare with The Unexpected Journey?

Well... its hard.

I freaking loved An Unexpected Journey. I was crying at the end cause this was a phenomenal adaptation of my childhood. While everyone else in my generation loved Harry Potter and cried at the ending cause it was their childhood being represented phenomenally on the big screen, An Unexpected Journey was like watching my childhood. It was my Harry Potter.

Sure it wasn't as action packed as the Lord of the Rings trilogy but it was just so full of heart and kept so true to the books that I just loved it so much.

This movie, while keeping to the source material as best as they can, did a lot of embellishing and added a lot. So much that I didn't really know what to expect. So much that I was itching for them to return to the Dwarves so I could return to that point of nostalgia. The extra plot lines were good, they were just a lot more Lord of the Rings rather than The Hobbit. I felt I was in a little bit of a different movie and it was no longer the whimsical tale of a Hobbit burglarizing a dragon, it was more fantasy epic trying to be Lord of the Rings. Again, it wasn't bad as I loved Lord of the Rings, it just had a different feel to it than An Unexpected Journey.

Of course I still loved the movie, I just don't think it had as much of that fairy tale feeling that I had gotten used to from An Unexpected Journey.

Overall, the movie was visually stunning. Just incredibly awe inspiring. The story was great and did a great job adapting the source material and was tasteful with most of the additional story lines.

The only problem I had with the movie was Kili and Evangeline Lily and the over sensitization of the Lord of the Rings action and violence compared with that of An Unexpected Journey.

It was still a great chapter to The Hobbit trilogy and kept me in the faith of the franchise to do good things in the future.

So have you seen Desolation of Smaug? What did you think? Did it overdue the extra acting or was it a good addition? Let me know what you thought and discuss in the comments below.

I'll leave you with this. How it Should have Ended always gets to points that really make sense but I don't often cover in these reviews. The video is pretty fun if you've seen it. Just don't bring up the fact that they should have brought the Eagles. NO MORE EAGLES!