Return of the form...

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2014)

Have to say that I went into the cinema with a feeling of trepidation for this sequel, seeing as how weak and dull I found the first installment. It wouldn't have surprised me if it was as bad as the first one, which would have put in mind George Lucas' Star Wars prequels (where the final chapter was the only decent one of the lot) or The Matrix sequels, which diminished the legacy of the first one.
In any case, I'm happy to report that the trilogy is on track now, which is a good thing...I can't imagine being motivated to continue watching the trilogy if the first two were plain rubbish.
Even though I haven't refreshed my memory of the first one (why would you?), I sort of bluffed my way into the sequel, despite wondering on occasion whether this was the sequel to the great "Lord of the rings" trilogy or the prequel. So, for those of you playing at home, it might help to watch the movies in quick succession so you don't forget the narrative. The sequel doesn't make things easy for the absent viewer by jumping straight into the middle of things without a preamble along the "Previously on The Hobbit..." line.
The movie was pretty action packed but not in a bad way. It was all entertaining stuff in other words. Can't say that I was engrossed/entranced by the story, but I liked how it was on track as far as the major threads of the story go (the dwarfs quest to reclaim their kingdom and vanquish the dragon living there now). Speaking of the dragon, into this movie I was wondering what a "Smaug" was...one of the cons of only seeing these movies during their cinema runs. 'Interestingly', I 'learned' in the first movie that dragons "covet" gold. In this movie I learned that dragons can speak. I initially thought that this was an effect of the ring worn by Bilbo Baggins, but turns out not to be the case. It kind of made more sense if you attributed that power speech to the ring (...!).
One thing I liked about the movie included star of "Lost" Evangeline Lilly's turn as an Elf...she was quite nice as an Elf.
Managed to recognise some actors in this movie...picked Stephen Fry right away, despite all his makeup, as well as Sylvester McCoy, but that may have been due to having recently watched "Doctor Who: The ultimate guide"...because I'm pretty sure McCoy must have played the same character in the first movie. I also thought that perhaps Fry did the voice for Smaug in this movie, but I was mistaken on that front.
In my review of the first movie of this trilogy, I go into the things that bothered me about it. For this movie, I suppose the best that I can come up with is to question whether barrels really do have the floatative properties that they have in the movie. Hmm...actually, I forgot to mention how the Elves in this movie seem to knock the Orcs down like ninepins. Hell, one Elf would seem capable of taking out an entire Orc army!
Just a minor observation...I could have sworn I saw the infamous name "Alan Smithee" in the credits...around the bottom, right hand side of the credits...but now that I think about it, maybe it was in that section...I do remember reading somewhere that the director makes an appearance in this movie...so, perhaps he didn't use his real name? If this movie had turned out as bad as the first then it would have been fair enough for good ol' Smithee to take the credit for the directing in this movie too!
Hopefully the final chapter of this trilogy will really make up for the poor start...something which really captures the imagination more and engrosses you. Whilst this movie was entertaining, it felt more like it was joining the dots as far as action and narrative check points were concerned. I'd like to be absorbed by the next movie and not just entertained.
One last thing...I mentioned the Easter egg of the director's appearance in this movie...I also remember reading somewhere, I think, that Peter Jackson included a character from LOTR who doesn't feature in The Hobbit. Perhaps it was Legolas. Maybe that's a bit of a plot hole? As in, is it coherent that Legolas would be in that part of the world at that particular point in time? Since its been a while since I saw the LOTR trilogy and the first Hobbit movie, I have to say that at times I wondered "Is that Legolas? Or is it the other blonde guy?". They kind of looked similar.