A good story ruined by failed attempts to create suspense when there isn't any

Rating: 3/10 (27 December 2013)

Ugh. This movie is painful to watch from beginning to end. First there is the atrocious editing. The beginning of the movie is simply difficult to follow. Then there is the fact that the plot unravels fairly quickly. Orcs are relentlessly pursuing the party for what reason exactly? Oh right, it's to give Orlando Bloom and elf-girl a reason to be in the movie. Gandalf's cut-away scenes make no sense. The scenes in the forest are just plain ridiculous. The final scene with Smaug is similarly ludicrous, poorly written, and overly dependent on CGI. Smaug the terrible comes across as pretty inept at killing for a creature that purportedly wiped out an entire army of hard ass, armored dwarfs and a city of humans.
There are a few places where the movie rolls well. The fighting on the barrels is very well done and the scenes with Bard and the town kingpin mesh well.
But ultimately the movie is ruined by too many big names demanding close-ups and screen time. It would have been better to sharply cut back on both Gandalf's and Legolas' appearances or at least connect them back to the central plot more cleverly.