The Desolation of Smaug-Are the Critics Right? (Review: Warning, spoilers ahead!)

As many of you are I'm sure aware, last night was opening night for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in the U.S.  I have to confess, because of the year long wait, I had kind of lost my excitement over the film, especially in light of Catching Fire coming out a mere three weeks before DoS.  But, I was determined to see it in theaters anyway, especially since I didn't get the chance to see LotR in theaters.  And since it's a love of the films my dad and I share, it made seeing the film in theaters worth it.  So, what follows is my review.  Take it with a grain of salt, as I am NOT a Tolkien purist (though I did think the book was rather good as it is written).  And, there are lots of spoilers ahead, so if you haven't seen it yet and you want to go into it cold, better click on something else to read. :)

Here goes.

Let me just begin this by saying that the last hour of the film was so far off of the book, it surprises me that more people aren't upset by it.  However, before I go into the negative aspects of the movie, I'll talk about the things I really liked in it (in no particular order, just as it comes to mind).  I might be a little biased, but I LOVED the appearance of Legolas in this movie.  It was the same character, but also so different.  His introduction in the film was genius and so well done. Who didn't love that little nod to Gimli when Legolas saw the picture of a young Gimli and his mother?  I giggled over that scene if only because of its irony!  I also couldn't help but like how very agile Legolas was in the movie.  The sequence of Legolas literally tiptoeing on the dwarves' heads as he shot orcs was nothing short of hysterical.  No wonder Leggy was a little snobby in Fellowship; he could do that and not lose his balance OR his aim!   Lee Pace was phenomenal as Thranduil.  I always disliked Thranduil in the book, if only because he came across as very arrogant and self righteous; Pace delivered on that very well.  And while we're discussing Elves, what about Tauriel?  I was kind of expecting to hate her, but I really liked her.  I know she wasn't in the books, and like Evangeline Lilly, I agree that there should not have been any sort of romantic angle in the film.  It's sad that the studio was pushing for that, even after Lilly signed the contract on the condition that she NOT get into a love triangle!  She did a great job of delivering her Elvish lines, as did Orlando.  I might even go so far as to say that Orlando's Elvish was better in this film than in LotR; maybe he was studying in the 10 years since?

And Smaug.  Holy dragons.  He was everything I imagined and more.  I really did like Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as both the Necromancer and as Smaug.  Smaug's design was terrifying, if only because he seemed to me to resemble a snake at times more than a dragon.  I can't believe the scale on him either; I thought he was massive when the camera first hinted at his size, but I was way off base!  Oh, and by mention of baddies, I would just like to say it was nice to see Lawrence Makoare's name in the credits this time around.  He played the Witch King in Return of the King, so it was just really neat to see his name in the credits again!  Bard.  Oh Bard.  I have mixed feelings about you!  I liked Bard; he was a likable character, even for his flaws.  But, could the filmmakers have made him look anything MORE like Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) from Pirates of the Caribbean?   If you don't believe me, look here:

See?  What'd I tell you?  When I first saw the first trailer, I had to do a double take to be sure that it WASN'T Bloom who was playing Bard.  But aside from me having to remind myself it wasn't Will Turner, Bard was a cool character.  Can't wait to see him in the next film!  I also really liked all the backstory bits.  I know some people criticize that, however, as someone who is not into all of the canon of Tolkien's works, I'd rather just see it on screen.  Peter Jackson has the opportunity to explore that backstory; he needs to take full advantage of it.  I don't berate him for that because I'm sure other fans are curious about some of these things as well (just where did the Ringwraiths come from exactly? is one question I can think of off the top of my head that has always puzzled me).
I might be leaving something out of this section, but I'm writing this review in parts so I can't remember where I wanted to go next. Haha.  Moving on.


What I didn't like:
Beorn.  Ugh.  Just ugh.  So underwhelmed by this character.  I thought he was kinda cool in the books; and he had a terrible look in the movie.  He looked like a cheesy costumed character from the 70s or something.  Or, like I originally thought when I saw the first image of him, he looks like a version of the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. Was that the best they could do at Beorn?  I mean really?  Sad, sad makeup there.  And I'm kind of like some others; I wish he'd had more screen time.

The Tauriel/Legolas/Kili triangle was completely unnecessary, and at times, incredibly awkward.  I'm mainly talking about that whole hinting-back-at-the-FotR-scene-where-Arwen-appeared-to-Frodo sequence.  Seriously.  They made a very bad move by making that scene resemble Arwen's first scene from Fellowship of the Ring.  I know Elves are ethereal, and they're other-worldly, but seeing as how Tauriel is a tough chick, that didn't match her character.  Although I did like the inclusion of athelas.  And the fact that Bard referenced it as a weed.  Okay, Samwise. ;)  I could maybe see Legolas and Tauriel, but the triangle?  Not a fan of it, and neither was Lilly, especially when she signed her contract on the condition there wouldn't be a triangle!  Which I said before.  In which case, I'll move on.  I didn't like Smaug getting covered in molten gold.  That part of the film was WAY too long, and WAY out of step with the book.  Jackson could literally have trimmed off about 20 minutes of footage, and ended it with Bilbo asking, "what have we done?" as Smaug flew towards Laketown...and it would've been perfectly suitable for an ending.  Instead, we get an overextended action sequence with Smaug hunting Bilbo and the Dwarves through Erebor.  I'd like to know what made Jackson extend that entire sequence with Smaug, because I felt like it was very unnecessary and superfluous.

Overall: this movie was a vast improvement over An Unexpected Journey, if only because it was more interesting.  It plodded on, yes, but everything was pretty fast paced and it was nice to the Mirkwood elves kind of fleshed out.  I will applaud Jackson yet again for the rendering of Smaug.  It was well done and I think Tolkien would have been pleased with how they brought his dragon to life.

My rating: 8.5/10.  Now we just have to wait a  year to see the conclusion!