Best CGI in film, yet poor dialogue and script.

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2013)

"You have nice manners for a thief and a liar!"
Peter Jackson's latest journey to Middle Earth was to explore Smaug and introduce the audience to the battle of the five armies that will ensue in the final film. We find Thorin Oakenshield being thrusted into leading his merry gang of dwarf's to the Lonely Mountain as Gandalf intends to inspect the happenings of Dol Gulder. This film more notably than other Jackson/Tolkien films is incredibly bloated and overindulgent, filled with multiple sub plots that create a relatively exhausting feeling. The new script for the penultimate movie was comprised with various new characters not mentioned in the original novel; this in my opinion created an unnecessary diversion to the traditional tale and therefore disrupted the enjoyment and naturalistic fluency of the story.
'The Desolation of Smaug' once again possesses amazing scenery of New Zealand intertwined with the story accompanied with an immersive soundtrack composed by Howard Shore, the direction of these films never seizes to amaze as the primary story line is perfectly encapsulated and terrific casting options provide a sentimental and emotional substance to this fantasy epic. The film has a thoroughly tedious opening act but as the film establishes the antagonists and setting, it propels into an intensified ambiance unparalleled by many other films. The riddle in the dark sequence with Gollum and Bilbo was commendably the most memorable scene in the entire unexpected journey film, yet unfortunately Martin Freeman was arguably underused in this film. Bilbo shared another memorably extended scene with his encounter with Smaug which was a beautiful use of CGI and fantastically voiced over by Benedict Cumberbatch, the scarily deep and loud tone sends shivers down your spine whilst Bilbo's witty flattery to survive against this beast is a terrifically entertaining combination.
The film tends to become host to some moronic and inane action sequences and experiences the occasional tasteless dialogue especially with the Elves and sub par delivery of key lines,it was rather disappointing from my perspective how the the characters had to continually rely on Legolas and Tauriel saving just in time and how these particular elves repetitively showed their skills monotonously. However the intended creative expansion on Bard the Bowman was impressive and Gollum not featuring in this movie was a somewhat substantial restraint given that Peter Jackson likes to connect and link all of his characters from his Middle Earth films. To witness the phenomenal spectacle Smaug makes up for the seemingly very long wait, despite his arguably disproportionate size in different shots it still compensates for the redundant sub- plots; for instance the love triangle between Kili, Tauriel and Legolas. I firmly believe that this tale would have been better as two, three hour movies rather than three, two and half movies. Problematic narrative flaws and raw characters wither the deep and passionate story of the dwarf's quest to Erebor.