An improved, but still not at its best movie

Rating: 7/10 (13 December 2013)

Again, we are back into the Middle Earth. Nothing could be more exciting than this! After the disappointment of watching the unexpected journey, this time, I just went in and tried and enjoy, and it did not disappoint. I think there is a few reasons for that I am convinced this one is an improvement. 1.) The storyline has a greater diversity, since more and more characters would get involved. 2.) All the characters got a good development of who they really are. 3.) The ambition of Jackson finally makes it an independent trilogy. Obviously, in the Unexpected Journey, there are too much connection Jackson tried to build between LOTR, and it turned out somehow weird. This time, everything looks in place. A 60 years younger (in reality, an older Bloom) Legolas somehow impressed me! And the lack of romance things in Tolkien's story, definitely had its improvement here, although somewhat unnatural. Of course, there are more than a few things you can be unhappy about, like the music (and oh god, when will there be such a masterpiece again like LOTR?). But overall, I could see Jackson is finally trying to get on his new trilogy and make some attempts for new elements of his film making, rather than trying to copy the old things he did, which is nice to see. Next year, hopefully we will see a great ending. Personally I do not hope it can top LOTR anymore, because, to be fair, it is impossible....