There And Triumph Again

Rating: 9/10 (16 December 2013)

The Desolation of Smaug is THE Hobbit film I have been waiting for. The film is a love song to the fans of Tolkien's book, and The Lord of the Rings films by Peter Jackson.
Pretty much everything has been improved from An Unexpected Journey: pacing, characters, settings, humor, the soundtrack etc. P. J. has implemented and tweaked some of the middle section of Tolkien's book, but was worthwhile for the sake of pacing and variations, and gives the fans of Tolkien's universe some interesting new perspectives.
The Desolation of Smaug is a wonderful bridge-film to the last installment of the Hobbit trilogy, and some of the best sequels of any blockbuster franchises in a long time. Not everybody will be equally satisfied with the new tweaks and twists in terms of the source material, but I think it was for the greater good of the film.
For any fan- boys and girls, this film gave me that "LOTR chills" when I went out of the cinema.