Thorin becomes Smaug vs. Galadriel, the Action Hero

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2015)

This entry of the Jackson Tolkien Films is the most difficult to get a handle on. Mostly because the events depicted only filled a few chapters in "The Hobbit". But what most people forget, is that these events are meticulously revisited in the Appendices of "Lord of the Rings" and there are more to these events than in JRR's first Middle Earth novel.
For one thing, Gandalf joins a "Council of White Wizards" mentioned in the last chapters of The Hobbit, which confronted "The Necromancer" and drove him out of Dol Guldur. Saruman is not named as one of these, but those events are also in the Appendices of Lord of The Rings. Which is where it speaks of Saruman telling Gandalf the lie that The One Ring had rolled down the River Anduin into the Ocean, Saruman in fact had been looking for it for a while, but Bilbo's unexpected possession of it put a kink in his plans for it.
This "Council of White Wizards" is shown early on in the Film, and in this treatment, includes Gandalf, Radagast, Galadriel, Elron and Saruman- Who had all come to the aid of Gandalf. This is where Galadriel "Adamanty" drives "The Necromancer" from Mirkwood- At first I thought using only "Nenya", the "Ring of Adamant", but after repeated viewings, she is definitely also holding the Light of Earendil, which as you remember, she gave to Frodo in "The Fellowship of the Ring". Here, she is shown with all of the potential dark power needed to perform an ejection of Sauron, protected by that light just as Frodo and Sam were in Shelob's Lair. I wonder if Galadriel's Wrath can be viewed as the same as Burt Lancaster, armed with a Machine Gun, shooting down Japanese planes in "From Here to Eterenity"? Both show each character digging into their inner selves, pulling out power from deep within. Whether this power comes from a Machine Gun or "Nenya", one of the Three Elven Rings, is inconsequential. Both have the power, but it is the person who must choose to use these as weapons. Both scenes show each character differently than they normally are.
In the extended version of "Desolation of Smaug" it is shown that Gandalf has found Thorin's Father Thrain in Dol Guldur. This also is recollected in The Appendices, with the fact that he had the last Dwarf Ring.
So the question is, how do you tell a good story out of the few remaining chapters of the book? You do it by mining all of the facts out of the Lord of the Rings Appendices that relate to this time and side-load them into your story. The actual "Battle of the Five Armies" is not experienced from the reader's POV in The Hobbit, it is told after the fact. But here, all of the things that led up to it can be shown.
The only real added thing was Jackson's Addition of the She-Elf "Tauriel" (Evangeline Lilly), who I had already said was pleasant to look at, especially when she lights up like Arwen while healing Fili, the whole thing with the added character and a kind of romantic thing with Fili does not deter me from enjoying this one bit. We know that Legolas and Gimli found an unbreakable connexion, not just in the Lord of the Rings Films but in the books as well, in fact they take the very last Ship into the West. Would JRR Roll in his grave? Maybe, maybe not, if he understood how movies are made. I have to question, would a treatment of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, done page by page and scene by scene from the books, be any better? Consider that in Lord of The Rings, one story is told, then it backs up and tells another story that happened at the same time. In a book, that might make those events easier to follow, but in a film, to show them all happening at once is better.
So Legolas and Tauriel take a side trip to Gundabag? Maybe the book does not have those characters doing that, but we do know that Gundabag and Angmar were part of this story and with Lord of the Rings years later.
But the part of this film I love is the depiction of The Madness of Thorin, who, after Smaug is killed, takes on his personality, even repeating phrases Smaug used. What will it take to break through that madness? Thorin has to do it himself, but he has always had the Loyalty of the other 12 Dwarfs and Bilbo.
The Highlight of course is Billy Connolly as Dain, asking very politely if a an army of Men and Elves would Sod Off, Before being attacked by Creatures that seemed to have come from "Arrakis" in Frank Herbert's Universe.
The Blending of CGI with Live Action and Miniatures is mind boggling. THIS is where Jackson Excels.
If "The Silmarillon" could be made into a film or set of films, would Jackson do it? Moreover should he do it? I think so, if only to create a continuity of look and feel of Middle earth. New Zealand really is Middle Earth on Earth. Of course, I may add more when the Extended cut comes out. This film was in fact much too short. Finally, I want to add a hearty middle earth "finger" to all of the trolls who are downvoting every positive review.