'Desolation' ups the stakes, while gearing us up for a epic finale

Rating: 9/10 (8 June 2015)

Once upon a time, there was a film series. It began with one film, that only covered a third of the novel it was based upon. Critics and fans alike were divided. Some enjoyed the film, while others loathed it. For better or for worse, a year later, the second film was released, covering another third of the book it was based upon. We started with An Unexpected Journey, now let us dive right into...
...The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The Desolation of Smaug continues the story of the 13 dwarfs led by Thorin Oakenshield, and Bilbo Baggins, as they get closer and closer to Erebor. Through their travels, they meet elvish kings, men of a lake town and finally come face to face with the formidable dragon, Smaug.
First things first. Let's talk about how good Smaug was in this film. Benedict Cumberbatch was phenomenal, doing great motion capture work and his voice sends chills down my spine each time I watch the film. The special effects used to create him looked amazing, I felt like he could have really been there. Smaug is definitely one of the biggest pluses towards the film.
Other things I enjoyed? Well, I enjoyed the music in the film, but that's a given. I did have one gripe with the music, and that was the non-return of Misty Mountains. That was the best song in the first film, and the fact that it wasn't continued as a theme of the dwarfs really bummed me out. The special effects were really good, for the most part. I can't remember exactly, but I know there's a few parts where the effects were a bit shoddy.
The acting in this film is as good as it was last time. Some newcomers to the party include Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman, and he does a really good job portraying the guy he's supposed to portray, Stephen Fry, who is a riot as the Master of Lake-town, and Lee Pace as Thranduil. Thranduil is probably my favorite out of the new characters, mainly because he's just so much fun. Pace overacts the character a bit, which is exactly what the character needed to make it more fun.
The cinematography is, again, great. I won't spoil, but in the forest scene, apparently they had to make everything they wanted to appear in color really bright so they could make the forest around them look as dark as possible. It's interesting how they went to that length to make it look so good.
Let's get to the negatives. Evangeline Lilly portrays Tauriel, a new character not in the book at all, and why Lilly does fine in her portrayal, it's her storyline that annoys me. I won't spoil it, but she gets into a relationship (sort-of, not really) with one of the dwarfs, and it feels so shoehorned in, I don't even feel anything good about their relationship. The difference between this relationship and one like Aragorn and Arwen, is that I actually bought that relationship and cared about if they were going to end up together and stay together. Tauriel and the dwarf seem so forced it's not even interesting.
I also didn't like how goofy the ending was. Sure, okay, I can accept running from the dragon and maybe even running around a lot because of that. But blocking fire using pillars? The whole scene where dragon fire lights up the room? MOLTEN GOLD? It's not all bad, it's actually kind of fun, but the logical side of me wonders how the hell that would work.
Overall, this is a step up from An Unexpected Journey. Although some of the ending is a bit goofy, and I dislike the love story, this is a solid entry to the Hobbit trilogy, and the last film is shaping up to be a very intriguing ending to this decent trilogy. The plot was good, the acting was good, the cinematography was on point, and the special effects were good. This is a great film to watch if you want some fun that doesn't take itself too seriously, while also taking itself seriously.
9/10 Grade: B+/A-