More of the same.

Rating: 8/10 (18 December 2012)

If you've seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you'll find this film very familiar. Like the previous three, this film follows a similar plot: to overcome a series of random obstacles to reach a goal. I suppose the same can be said of most films but nowhere is it more clear than in these. And in this film, the simple-minded goal is to reclaim property that was stolen from these new adventurers.
Overall this film is enjoyable to watch and better than most pieces of garbage out there. The graphics is pretty, the action is big and characters are likable. Of course, there is a 'but'. And the 'but' here is that this film suffers from the same two problems the previous Lord of the Rings films had: a disregard for logic and a lack of suspense.
I suppose these two problems go hand in hand. Because if logic was used more I'd be more convinced that the characters truly are in danger and feel greater suspense. But unfortunately there are just too many times I find myself wondering, "Now that he has this weapon/powerful ally, why isn't he using it/him more?" Or, "Why didn't they do this before? It sure would've saved them a lot of time." Perhaps the book explains the lapses in judgment, but this film doesn't.
Like in the previous Lord of the Rings films, I never get the sense these characters are in any real danger, especially when they always seem to have an ace up their sleeves to bail them out. It seems characters just move from one obstacle to the next. And after witnessing this same ace bail them out time and again, one can't help but wonder, where was he when their home was attacked in the first place? Also, if thousands can't protect their home, how can just 13 reclaim it?
This film, like the previous Lord of the Rings films (and the Harry Potter films for that matter), has a habit of doing something I hate. It does what lousy mystery novels do when they bring out a never-before-seen character at the end and say he did it. Whenever our heroes get in trouble, this film conveniently pulls stuff out of thin air to get them out of it, without any foreshadowing or any hint for us to see it coming. And I hate that. Because no rules have been set. And when there are no rules, anything can happen. It can be an escape tunnel appearing out of thin air or creatures magically appearing to come to the rescue. It's just lazy writing. And I hate that.
Good films set viewers up for what might happen later. For example, in Aliens, we are introduced to a giant robotic machine being used as a cargo loader, so when we see it later, we are not completely surprised. In fact, we are pleasantly surprised and we appreciate its use in a clever way. It's not something that was conveniently conjured up out of thin air because the writer got lazy.
I won't say if anything happens to these characters but I'd be nice and more suspenseful if more characters were hurt or killed. Anyway, despite the flaws in logic and lack of suspense, I still liked it much better than the Harry Potter movies.