Great fun, if not exactly the same as the book

Rating: 7/10 (7 December 2014)

Last year Peter Jackson released the first part of his long anticipated Hobbit trilogy to large audiences and generally good reviews. It didn't match the sheer awesomeness of his Lord of the Rings films and was a bit slow in places, but it worked thanks to a talented cast, good action, and the director's love of- if not absolute faithfulness to- the source material. Starting where the last movie left off, Desolation of Smaug follows the formula and tone of its predecessor, but marks a general improvement in the direction of the trilogy.
Anyone who saw the first movie will already have a pretty good idea what to expect from part two; everything that was in the book, plus a whole lot that wasn't. Not that this is entirely a bad thing. It may not be as faithful an adaptation as his Lord of the Rings films and the tone often varies greatly from the children's book it's based on, but the additional material is quite entertaining in its own right and blends well into the rest of the story. Which it should, considering that it's based on later supplementary writings by Tolkien which flesh out events that are hinted at in the book. And even if the additional scenes do take the film away from the tone of the children's' novel, they do bring it closer to the feel of Jackson's Ring trilogy.
As with those films, there's a lot of epic combat here. Possibly more than was needed, but not so much that it becomes repetitive or impedes the story. The barrel riding sequence is one of the more unorthodox battles I've seen, and rather humorous at that. The encounter with the spiders of Mirkwood is fittingly creepy and makes a fine display of WETA's creature making skills, rather like the spider cave scene from Jackson's King Kong, but without the stomach churning gruesomeness. Most impressive are the fight scenes involving Legalos. Orlando Bloom doesn't look like he's aged a day since Return of the King and his moves are every bit as gorgeous as they were then.
It's a bit odd that a character who wasn't even in the book should steal so many of the scenes, but there's no denying that he can fight and he looks awesome doing it, whether in a running archery duel or in an extremely physical slugfest with orc chieftain. Another section that was very good despite being nowhere in the book is the battle between Gandalf and the forces of the Necromancer. It is highly impressive from a special effects standpoint, and nicely fleshes out important events which the novel only hinted at.
Of course Legalos is not the only one to chew the scenery. In the later sections, a certain dragon makes a very BIG impression. Vain, arrogant, and very well spoken, Smaug is the kind of callous predator who likes to play with his food before roasting it alive. His every word brims with anger and condescension, and his physique more than backs up the menace in his voice. He is absolutely massive, towering over the dwarfs and their grandest creations. It's clear that Thorin and his companions have no chance of defeating him, but their attempts are certainly entertaining.
I will admit that the ending was a disappointment. It's not that they changed it from the book, but rather that it came at an earlier point in book than one would expect. When it became apparent that the movie was over, there were incredulous groans in the theater, but I suppose that this movie's less is the next one's gain. If anything, Desolation of Smaug has reinforced my opinion that The Hobbit would have worked better as two movies, and could easily have been fit into one, but admittedly it is grand adventure and good fun. It's still not equal Jackson's earlier trilogy, but it's a very good movie.