Slightly less of a mess than the first

Rating: 6/10 (13 December 2013)

The second installation of The Hobbit continues the journey of Bilbo and the dwarfs, taking us an underwhelmingly short distance from the arrival at Beorn's house (more on this later) to Smaug's departure toward Laketown. I think the redeeming quality of this film was that it wasn't as utterly ridiculous as the first, but it still lacks nearly all the magic of the LoTR trilogy.
One of the most striking realizations on reflecting about the film is that there are no cinematic dynamics. The second film, much like the first, is something like a ~3 hour trailer. Every scene is action-packed, every scene is rushed, even the camera motions are jarring, hurried, and uncomfortable. We get no opportunity to recognize the intense moments because there is no space to breathe. The day after seeing it (was actually able to see it in Oslo, Norway where it debuted 3 days before the U.S. premiere; go figure), I watched Fellowship again. I was struck by the simple scenes, like Gandalf and Saruman walking and discussing the finding of the Ring outside Orthanc. Scenes like this give stark contrast with more intense shots like the battle at Weathertop with Aaragorn and the Ringwraiths. What we get here is 161 minutes of blur that left me asking the question, "what did I just see and which part was supposed to be the exciting part?" We are force-fed mindless action and given no time to process and interpret it.
Aside from the general mental discomfort of the viewing experience and the impressively short chapter coverage, there were again several departures from the original storyline which I just wasn't able to let go of:
* The introduction to Beorn. Instead of a sneaky trick from Gandalf which provides character development for Beorn and the dwarfs and context for the surrounding scenes, we have them chased into the house by bear-Beorn with a Jurassic Park raptor-head-in-the-door ending. The perspective on Beorn's human character once we actually meet him took me by surprise, but I thought it was actually reasonably well-done.
* This Azog business. Now there is an orc battle on the rooftops of Laketown, which makes about as much sense as Radagast's bunny-driven jack-assery.
* The Tauriel side-story and Legolas's role. We were PROMISED that there would be no love story involving Tauriel and Legolas. Partial truth. What we got was some weird love triangle with Tauriel, Legolas, and KILI... The freaking adolescent dwarf! Legolas comes in as a major character here, prancing about on top of barrel-riding dwarfs fighting orcs that are somehow now involved in the river escape to Laketown...
* The progression of the Bilbo-Smaug encounter. Smaug actually sees Bilbo without the ring for most of the scene in the film, which he never did in the book. The text's approach lent an element of suspense and mystery that this adaptation forsakes. Bilbo's invisibility helped his courage, and made the whole situation more of a game for Smaug. Consistent with the rest of the movie, we are now simply thrown in headlong.
It's really a disappointment from the anticipation built up for the new trilogy. Much of the speculation was along the lines that Jackson would be untouchable after the success of the first trilogy. However, if he has exerted more directorial control than previously, then he is much less of an artist and much more of a high-budget CGI profit-panderer than any production company could hope to be. It's as if his preparation for the project included cutting out the entry for "subtlety" in his dictionary and replacing it with a photo of a clown throwing a pie.
I anticipate Jackson will be getting the phone call one day that I would dread as a director: George Lucas saying, "Dude, I know what you're going through..."