This doesn't suffer from feeling drawn out, and is even better than the first part.

Rating: 8/10 (30 May 2014)

The second part of a trilogy can often be the hardest to get right. By this stage you've had your beginning, and you know your eventual outcome, so the second instalment is merely a task in setting each character up to be in the right place for the third. "Back to the Future: Part 2" and "The Empire Strikes Back" are both great examples of films which have this task, but do it well enough that the film could be watched as a standalone movie, since they are both exciting enough to keep the viewer interested. "The Two Towers", the second part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, slightly fails in this respect as it feels very drawn out and uninteresting, as if it is just setting up for "Return of the King". Luckily, "The Desolation of Smaug" does not suffer from this at all, and is even better than the first part of this trilogy.
We pick up right where "An Unexpected Journey" left off, with the group of dwarfs and Bilbo (Martin Freeman) escaping from the Orcs with whom they had fought at the very end. Over the course of the film, the group travel towards, and eventually into, the Lonely Mountain, where the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) is sleeping. This is no easy journey for them, however, and on the way they encounter spiders, Elves (which sees a return of Orlando Bloom's Legolas) and Men, each of whom is some kind of hindrance to their quest. When they eventually reach and enter the Mountain, they are tasked with trying to steal the Arkenstone from Smaug, which doesn't quite go as they expected.
These different encounters usually involve an escape, and it is here when the film is most exciting, as there is often a lot of chaotic action going on. the use of CGI in the film is extremely prominent, and works very well in continuing the magical image of Middle Earth from the first film. Much like how the greatest part of the first film was Bilbo talking to the CGI Gollum, this film's best scene is an exchange between Bilbo and Smaug. Martin Freeman's talent is clearly on show here, as he acts masterfully in trying to find and steal the Arkenstone without waking the dragon.
As is slightly traditional with the second parts of trilogies, this film is noticeably darker than its predecessor, with Gandalf's storyline at the tombs taking an extremely dark tone. The ensemble cast continues to work so well with each other, and the group dynamic is one of the things which makes the film more enjoyable as an audience. Again, the film suffers from its own length, but not as much as the first film, since there are more interesting things going on here and less exposition. And while the film ends with an annoying cliffhanger, it's really the only way it should - with everything headed for disaster, and the audience wondering how on earth they're going to get out of it. It's immensely enjoyable, and I really can't wait for the third part.