Whatever happened to the hobbit himself ...

Rating: 6/10 (27 December 2013)

After the disappointment of 'An Unexpected Journey' last year, I went to 'The Desolation of Smaug' with seriously adjusted (= lower) expectations as compared to those I had for the first installment. Nevertheless, my experience of DOS was quite similar to – although probably slightly better than – that of AUJ: an entertaining, but flawed movie, with one excellent scene, but also too much unnecessary filler.
***THE PACING***
Many people complained about the Hobbiton sequence in AUJ being too long, but I certainly wasn't one of them, as I felt that the pacing of the first movie was done quite well. In DOS, however, the first half feels extremely rushed: Bree *blink* Beorn's house *blink* Mirkwood *blink* the Elves' realm *blink* etc. Not a single scene in the beginning of the movie gets the time to breathe and to build suspense (which is a pity for Mirkwood and its spiders ànd the imprisonment of the Dwarfs by the Elves). The pacing does improve significantly from the barrel escape onwards (a quite enjoyable action sequence), reaching its peak with the one excellent scene from the movie: Bilbo's encounter with Smaug. I assume it's no coincidence that, just like the Riddles in the Dark scene in AUJ, this was the only moment that stood out for me in a positive way, since finally a scene was allowed to develop in a both calm and suspenseful way (probably no coincidence either that the scene that works best is the one that stays closest to the book ).
***CHANGES FROM/ADDITIONS TO THE BOOK***
I have no problem with changes from or additions to source material as long as they work within the adaptation. I liked the way the character of Bard was expanded and I didn't mind Tauriel, who is charmingly interpreted by Evangeline Lilly. However, the "thing" between Tauriel, Legolas and Kili feels extremely forced and clearly only serves the purpose of setting up something dramatic in 'There And Back Again'. Also, the cat-and-mouse game between Smaug and the dwarfs suffered severely from too many improbable actions (Thorin on Smaug's snout, really  ?), with everything falling too neatly in place to even have the slightest notion of tension. I understand the need to give Smaug more screen-time (he is after all brilliantly realised by WETA and wonderfully voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), but was there really no other solution than this tedious action sequence in the vein of Spielberg and Lucas at their weakest? I couldn't believe my eyes when that grotesque golden Dwarf statue appeared
***ENOUGH ALREADY WITH THE SELF-REFERENCING ***
Obscure figures in the corner of the Prancing Pony, Gandalf involved in a fight that mixes his encounters with the Balrog and Saruman, a Morgul shaft instead of a Morgul blade, Tauriel glowing just like Arwen, the use of Kingsfoil all over again  As was the case in AUJ, all of these eye-rolling echoes to the Lord of the Rings trilogy are plain irritating and deprive the 'original' sequences.
***WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BILBO?***
I suggest the film makers to change the title of the third film to 'The Hobbit: (Oh) There (He Is!) And (What Do You Know, Bilbo Does Appear) Back Again (After All)'. While we witness every event in the book through the eyes of Bilbo, which creates a strong connection between the main character and the reader and which is the strength of the book (we care for Bilbo!), Martin Freeman seems to be degraded to play a supporting role: often, Bilbo just disappears from the screen (the forest river, most of the time in Esgaroth). Therefore, we hardly see any development in his character, which makes him look equally brave throughout the entire movie.
More than anything else, I think this is the biggest issue with the Hobbit movies: they cut off the emotional core of the story by focusing on everything related to LOTR but Bilbo. While you have many (more) characters and story lines in the Lord of the Rings, it was clear at every moment that Frodo was the real main character and the emotional centre of the story. Instead of investing in Bilbo's character, we now have action scenes that are "AWESOME!!!", "COOL!!!" and "EPIC!!!". I have no problem with the latter as such, but if that's the only thing a movie has to offer (especially a Middle-Earth movie), then you know this is an incredibly missed opportunity.
I'm sure Howard Shore will deliver another musical masterpiece for 'There And Back Again', as he has done for AUJ and now DOS (listen to it on CD to discover its full richness!). As for the third movie itself, I guess it will get stuck in mediocrity as well, just like the first two movies.