Great adventure film, bad rendition of Tolkien's work

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2013)

In this part of the story Bilbo Baggins really begins his voyage towards the Lonely Mountain, accompanied by 13 ambitious dwarfs. The most dangerous part of the journey: the passage through Mirkwood forest, the biggest, oldest and most fearsome forest of Middle Earth. Gandalf, who leaves his travel companions unexpectedly at the edge of the forest, shouts the historic words 'don't leave the path!' before passing out of hearing, the attack of the hideous giant spiders, the unpleasant stay in the crypts of the Elven King: everyone who loves 'The Hobbit', knows that the highlights from Tolkien's marvelous masterpiece are there, on those pages.
In my opinion, the 'Desolation of Smaug' was a sort of test: would Peter Jackson succeed in translating the magic of those scenes to the big screen? Would he succeed in making the voyage through Mirkwood as memorable as the descent into the mines of Moria in the 'Fellowship of the Ring'? Would he succeed in surpassing the rather disappointing first part of his trilogy? The answer: no. Once again Jackson torpedoed his own film.
He completely misses the essence of the mythology, not a single spark of the fairy-tale-like tone of the book remains. Once again he replaces Tolkien's enchanting magic by the clash of weapons. As soon as our friends enter Mirkwood, Jackson goes into fight mode and he starts throwing his vast array of tricks at the screen: cheap sound effects, hyper-kinetic camera work, and a never-ending bombastic soundtrack- and this while the pressing silence is supposed to be one of the most threatening characteristics of Mirkwood! Jackson's approach of overwhelming and astounding is unfortunately stretched across the whole film. Instead of building some atmosphere, he always, always, chooses in nearly every scene, wherever it takes place, to let it culminate into an attack of orcs, loud sword clashing, a wild chase, or a mindless duel with some roaring troll. As if Jackson is concerned that the cinema public will fall asleep if they're not presented with constant action scenes.
I know, you're not supposed to compare a book with a film, and yes Jackson is allowed to make his own creative choices and giving his own interpretation to Tolkien. But, sorry, his interpretation sucks. The growling orcs, Ian McKellen's ubersolemn monologues, the Elves, forever gazing in the distance with bored faces. All Jackson is doing is giving us Lord of the Rings again, but in pointless 3D. The most ridiculous scene is by far Thorin Oakenshield zigzagging under the dragon's scales in full speed whilst pushing a wheelbarrow.
Is there nothing good to be said? Sure. The meeting between Smaug and Bilbo is rather entertaining, and at a certain moment Gandalf climbs a rather very precarious stairs, and the discovery of the ash-covered corpses of the Erebor dwarfs is a moving moment- but in general the predominant thought in my head was 'I've had enough of this'. Now, you don't have to listen to the die-hard fans who can't step away from the book To paraphrase Tolkien, stay on the path, keep your good humor and hope for the best, and with any luck you will see an epic adventure film.