It took a deep breath and then blew me away

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2013)

The Beorn scene: I see it as taking a deep breath. Insecure one, for sure, but deep enough to blow me away after wards. In that scene I kind of had a felling that Jackson intention was to "correct the mistake" from the previous one, on which critics had pointed out. He rushed into really serious tone, being "afraid" that he will be criticized for silly humor again. I think, that the Beorn scene, in the book, belongs to that silly and childish part of the story, and then, slowly, gets serious. Maybe then Tolkien realized he could write a story for everyone. But, thanks to that deep breath, nevertheless Beorns segment was left out of the competition, the movie accomplishes to rise in speed of light to a level of a real spectacle. Using the "further reading" and his imagination, Jackson finally succeeds to place this trilogy very close to his old one, on the scale of epic adaptations of Tolkiens Middle-earth. Luke Evans in the role of Bard proved to be an excellent compensation of Beorns "shortcomings", and Orlando Bloom finally passed the exam. Evangeline Lilly took his title from LOTR trilogy, being the weakest link in the cast. This sequel cleverly and seriously maintains tension and brings new breathtaking scenes, it also leaves plenty of space for third to catch the momentum. I wouldn't recommend it to the youngest, unlike its predecessor, because it has completely lost children's atmosphere, as the book itself was developing in that manner, so that's commendable. Scenes with Smaug represent homework for any film maker out there. Highest level of cinematography. Brilliant!
9.7 out of 10.