Follow the Epic Journey...

Rating: 9/10 (26 December 2013)

If I had to choose the perfect movie...I wouldn't choose one, I would pick the entire trilogy of Lord Of The Rings (LOTR). What made me such a fan was the great story, the amazing acting skills displayed, the epic battles and the epic journey and its conclusion.
So...as a huge fan of Lord of the Rings, I wasn't disappointed with the first hobbit movie, and I enjoyed even more this second one. I know some people say LOTR was better because it felt much more epic. Well, people need to understand that "The Hobbit" trilogy is happening before the LOTR movies, the movie cant be as epic since the first movie or it would have lose its spark.
The first hobbit film was the start of a journey, this one, "the desolation of smaug" continues that journey adding more action scenes, a more obscure landscape and the sense of danger in all middle-earth. Peter Jackson is trying, and sucessfuly I might add, to link the events of "The Hobbit" with LOTR, and the more time we see the movie, the more we feel that something huge will happen. We feel that the quest for Erebor will be a much bigger thing that what already is.
The sense of a large group of dwarfs doesn't overwhelm me anymore, and I can say now that I really like the way they fight in group. Along with Thorin, the leader, we have much more focus on Kili (is nephew) and a unexpected bond between him and a new elf character (Tamriel)
The actions scenes are simply amazing. The spiders are so well made, the barrels scene will put you in the edge of your seat and many moments will be remembered.
We can see more of the Elf King in this movie, a very deep character that shows some dark side from the elfs, a race showed as only good creatures until now.
Legolas makes the return, and god... his fight scenes are masterpieces of choreography. We can also see a more deep Legolas in this movie. In Lotr, Orlando Bloom was one of the "muscle" of the fellowship, here we see an entirely different role.
Martin Freeman continues to give us a great performance as Bilbo, showing us that the ring is already affecting him.
We don't see much of Gandalf (Ian Mackellen) in this movie, but the scenes where he appears in this one will be remembered by the fans, I wont spoil it for you, but you will see an epic confrotation again!
We are introduced to a new array of characters in this movie and I am sure they will be more explored in the next one, but I was very pleased with them for now.
I wont speak much about Smaug, I will just say that I was astonished of how good he looks and behaves. The best dragon of the movie history for me without a doubt. See and prepare for being astonished as well.
One thing I think it didn't quite satisfied me was the soundtrack. I think since this one is more action driven, it makes sense. However, some of the best soundtracks of middle-earth were in the battles, and I don't think they are as good now.
If you didn't saw it yet, don't waste any time and continue to follow
this epic journey.