The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2013)

The first film of the three part prequel series to The Lord of the Rings Trilogy based on the famous J.R.R. Tolkien books, from returning director Peter Jackson and writer Guillermo Del Toro, was good and established the characters well, and naturally I was excited to see the next part. Basically after the opening, seeing how Gandalf the Grey (Sir Ian McKellen) recruited dwarf Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to join a fellowship to reclaim the dwarfs' lost kingdom of Erebor, the story continues where the last left off, where hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Gandalf, Thorin and the rest of the dwarfs, Balin (Ken Stott), Dwalin (Graham McTavish), Fíli (Dean O'Gorman), Kíli (Being Human's Aidan Turner), Dori (Mark Hadlow), Nori (Jed Brophy), Ori (Adam Brown), Óin (John Callen), Glóin (Peter Hambleton), Bifur (William Kircher), Bofur (James Nesbitt) and Bombur (Stephen Hunter) have crossed over (and under) the Misty Mountains. They are chased by orcs and find shelter in the house of skin-changer Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt), and after Gandalf leaves the company the other continue into Mirkwood, following the instruction that they must stay on the path, of course this becomes difficult, and giant spiders slow them in their tracks, but Bilbo with his sword he names Sting and the help of elves Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom), son of Elven King Thranduil (Lee Pace), defeat these foes. The elves put the group into cages, but Bilbo using the One Ring he took from Gollum releases them, and at the riverbank they meet bowman Bard (Luke Evans) who for a price agrees to smuggle them on his barge of barrels into Lake-town, where they hope to find a range of better weapons before they reach the Lonely Mountain, where the feared dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) lays waiting, but of course the company are unwelcome by the Master of Lake- town (Stephen Fry). After agreeing that they will give the town a high amount of the riches from inside the cave of the dragon, and some other little bits and pieces of argument or fighting, they are allowed to continue on, and eventually they reach the top of the Lonely Mountain, and Bilbo decodes the message of the wall of how to open the door, and he as the "burglar" is the one that must enter the dragon's lair and find the Arkenstone. Gandalf meanwhile travelled with fellow wizard Radagast (Sylvester McCoy), but he is alone in the orc-ambushed Dol Guldur, where he engages with the dark evil called the Necromancer (also Cumberbatch), but his true identity is revealed, it is in fact the evil force of the dark lord Sauron, returned to Middle Earth, and after battle the wizard ends up captured. Bilbo clambers his way into the caves, and through the millions of golden treasures and jewels, looking amongst them for the distinctive Arkenstone, of course he cannot escape waking Smaug, the large dragon may not be able to see him with the ring on, but he senses his presence, and the hobbit does his best to convince him he is not stealing anything, but ultimately the dwarfs come to save him when the situation becomes too dangerous. They manage to trick Smaug into using his fiery breath for opposite effect, and they think they have killed him by drowning him in a a vat of molten gold, but in fact he shakes this off, and in rage the dragon escapes the mountain and starts flying towards Lake-town, Bilbo watches as the beast makes his way to wreak havoc, and in devastation all he can say is "what have we done?", this is the cliffhanger. Also starring Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Ryan Gage as Alfrid and Lawrence Makoare as Makoare. Freeman still remains likable as the slowly becoming confident and reliable hero, McKellen is still wonderful as the wise wizard prepared to do anything to protect his shorter friend, and many of the supporting cast members bring a little something to their characters, but best, as he is so unrecognisable, is the voice of Cumberbath as dragon Smaug, he is so dark and booming, it is admittedly not as sweeping as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was, but the special effects are still amazing, the scene between Bilbo and Smaug is the most engaging part, and there are the action packed sequences to keep you happy, a most worthwhile fantasy adventure. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects, and it was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Make Up/Hair and Best Special Visual Effects. Good!