A lot of action with very little sense

Rating: 4/10 (19 December 2013)

I am a keen fan of Tolkien's books and when I was told this film was better than the previous one, I was excited for it. However both me and my girlfriend were extremely disappointed. What started out looking like quite a good film turned into one that had me looking at my watch and shaking my head wondering where on earth things were going.
The story starts how it ended - with our heroes being chased by a make believe Orc pack led by a guy who isn't even alive in the books. Okay, it makes things a bit more interesting I suppose. It turns the book from a quest into a chase.
The scene in the woods was very good, and true to the book for a change. The exit in the barrels was entertaining, despite the regenerating Orc pack and barrels (that Bombur manages to roll into despite previously crushing his own barrel). Although the side quest with the elves doesn't exist in the book, I can see why Jackson did it. Although the silly love triangle with the female elf and Kili makes little sense.
The film started to go wrong after Bilbo entered the mountain. The scene with Smaug was entertaining but it just went completely off the rails, it was almost laughable at times. Even for someone who hadn't read the books you could clearly point out everything that didn't even make sense. Why was Bilbo allowed to freely stand in front of the dragon without his ring on? Why did the dwarfs then enter the mountain, only to run down the stairs instead of back the way they came? Why could Smaug not smell the dwarfs despite crawling directly over the top of them? Smug then stands by dwarfs at several points without thinking to crush them which he could have so easily done. In fact how all the dwarfs made it out alive is nothing short of bizarre. Then Thorin rides an iron shield down a molten lake of gold (which is highly logical) and a solid gold statue turns to liquid for no apparent reason. Then finally, hurrah, the dragon does what he should have done half an hour ago, he goes to destroy the lake town. Phew. We got there eventually, despite the most uncomfortable 30 minutes of film I've ever sat through.
Seriously I do laugh at some of the reviews saying it is the film of the year. Even without reading the books you can see how utterly ridiculous some parts of the film are. It just didn't make sense most of the time. A real disappointment.