Not a bad movie by any means, just not as good as it could have been

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2014)

Before going in to The Desolation of Smaug, I had been given the impression it was quite simply one of the best films this year. Apparently improving over the original in every single way and being just as entertaining as Peter Jackson's previous trilogy, it seemed almost a little too good to be true. Unfortunately, it was.
The film begins almost exactly where An Unexpected Journey left off, with Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the group of 13 accompanying dwarfs heading towards the Lonely Mountain to reclaim it from the terrifying dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). The ring Bilbo finds in the first movie however, is having a clear impact on his mental well- being, which is comparable to that of Frodo's in The Two Towers. The group soon make their way through the insidious Mirkwood Forest, unaccompanied by the great Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), and eventually seek brief refuge in Lake-Town before heading to the mountain itself to confront Smaug.
Strangely, the first third of the movie is noticeably slow, which is odd because it would be expected all of the build-up would take place in the first movie. Yes, there are some action sequences early on, but they weren't as engaging as they probably should have been. That's not to say they were boring, but when compared to the expansive fights in The Lord of the Rings, they weren't really anything special. Also, certain scenes seemed to lack very much musical score, which may have been an issue with the cinema I went to but it detracted hugely from the on-screen events. Returning characters such as Bilbo and Gandalf were just as enjoyable to watch as in the first movie, it's just a shame that they weren't in The Desolation of Smaug quite as much as I would have liked.
Before it sounds like I hated the movie though, I want to make a point of saying when things went well, they went very, very well. Despite the lacklustre action at parts, there were specific scenes (such as one involving white-water barrel rafting) which were not only exciting, but they redeemed many of the slower moments of the film. Couple this with the inclusion of characters such as Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and a genuinely intimidating dragon towards the closing scenes of the movie, and it's easy to see how there were several things which worked in The Desolation of Smaug's favour, it's just a shame that the negatives often overshadowed the positives.
Smaug himself was easily the highlight of the film for me. Although he is shown briefly in the trailers, you haven't seen him properly until you watch the movie for yourself. If Peter Jackson does one thing correctly, it's scale. The combination of the vast environments with clever camera-work and exceptional CGI meant that Smaug appeared incredibly sinister throughout all of the scenes he appeared in, and the choice of Benedict Cumberbatch to voice him could not have been made better. If there was a single reason to see the film that I could think of, it would be for this infamous dragon.
The Desolation of Smaug definitely isn't a let-down, it's just not quite as good as I had hoped it would be. The CGI was consistently breath- taking and the majority of the film was entertaining, but that doesn't save some segments from being boring and drawn-out. Also, it ends on a cliff-hanger which has scale rivalling The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Fans of Tolkien and Peter Jackson will definitely love this second Hobbit instalment, but it's difficult to recommend it to an average movie fan.