The Desolation of Peter Jackson

Rating: 5/10 (16 December 2013)

Watched it over the weekend in HFR 3D. My mini-review:
But first a note about HFR 3D - simply unreal experience. It was like watching a 3 hour demo of the most expensive 3DTV in a store. The HFR makes everything just pop out the screen. Very video game like. Though I'm not sure if I had an actual 'cinematic' experience. See it to believe for yourself if you can.
My grade: C+
Overly long. I love the Tolkein cinematic world more than most and like spending time in it but this movie was too much of a stretch. Definitely feel that Peter Jackson has lost what it means to tell a compelling story - more in love with his 'precious' CGI tech instead.
The plot ducks between two and half narratives: 1. Journey to Erebor 2. Gandalf's Necromancer quest 3. Love triangle (Kili-Tauriel-Legolas) / Legolas + Tauriel Orc hunt
The love triangle element was tiresome and seems forced. It wasn't compelling - as compared to that between Aragorn and Arwen. Completely unnecessary and distracting. However the Tauriel character was welcome and well portrayed by Evangeline Lilly.
Bilbo's and the dwarfs journey to Erebor was getting tiresome. Also Thorin is not a leader / hero you can root for. His motives seem suspect. Unfortunately the film spends more time on him instead of Bilbo who remains for me, more compelling a character showing most growth.
Gandalf's Necromancer quest to me was more interesting but we already know that the bulk of that is not the meat of this trilogy.
Jackson unnecessarily weaves in and out of these narratives stretching the patience of his audience. He seems more comfortable showcasing the setting of the quests rather than why the quests exist in the first place - and thus not propelling the plot faster.
Smaug - very well done. Cumberbatch's voice-work and the dragon animation were superb.
The movie itself suffers an even worse case of middle-movie syndrome than The Two Towers. At least in that film, the dread was palpable and victory sweet, setting the stage for an even bigger dread. This film on the other hand, failed to do so. It ended with a "is that all" kinda feeling. We already know how Smaug will die.
I really wanted to enjoy this movie and I did in parts. But overall, it was average at best.