A huge improvement on the previous installment, this takes our adventurers into uncharted territory and delivers spectacle by the ton

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2014)

If the first Hobbit film was hampered by a treacherously slow introduction as the dwarfs wooed Bilbo, here Jackson jumps right into the action — and make no mistake, this is an action movie above all else. The battles are visceral and physical, Jackson's horror roots shining through in the vie's fondness for decapitations, and while there's no mistaking the aid of computer-generated imagery, the polish is so high it all comes together in a delirious frenzy.
This film was always going to be subjected to high expectations, and while Smaug is certainly an improvement over An Unexpected Journey it never hits the heights of Jackson's first forays to Middle-earth. Unto itself, that's fine; this is a different story, after all, with a different kind of appeal and charm all its own. However, it's that decision to turn Tolkien's children's book into a grand trilogy that continues to define the new series.