A Worthy Successor to An Unexpected Journey

Rating: 7/10 (18 February 2019)

I have very conflicted emotions about this film, there are aspects I absolutely adore and others I couldn't really care less for and I'm going to try and tell you what those are and why. First off let's start with the bad, this film introduces the notorious Dwarf/Elf romance plot line and although not the worst I've seen these moments do feel like an incredibly forced attempt to make us care about characters who didn't really have a purpose and inject some love into the movie. The next thing I'd like to mention is the Skin Changer seen at the beginning of the film, it was cool to see him as a bear but I feel like his design as a human was somewhat half handed and cheap, I also feel like this character could have been completely cut and the film would be no better or worse for it. Other than those 2 things and a few irritating or useless side characters I don't have too much else negative to say. A lot of people have complained that Legolas was not in the book and was only put in this film to put bums in seats and that may be the case but his inclusion doesn't feel all that out of place so I am indifferent to the decision. Now the good stuff. I LOVE a good creature feature, seeing big mythical beasts and monsters is a guilty pleasure of mine and this film has plenty of that, from big spiders, giant bears, dragons and spectral beings this film probably has the most out of the middle-earth movies. I would have probably liked these scenes regardless of how well executed they were but it was a nice surprise to see them done so marvellously. The sequence in the forest is creatively shot and creepy and the scenes with Smaug are tense and jaw dropping with fantastic performances from Freeman and Cumberbatch. I was slightly disappointed with the lake town stuff but I must admit the sets are stunning. All said and done I think this is a pretty enjoyable entry in the series despite its shortcomings and I think like An Unexpected Journey before it and The Battle of the Five Armies after it this film if looked at on its own merit you will enjoy it, I'm going to give The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug a 7.7 (quick disclaimer for context I am watching the extended cuts of these films)