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Wednesday • December 18 • 2013
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The Reviewer www.themotionpicturereviewer.blogspot.com
To be honest, I was completely lukewarm with ‘An Unexpected Journey’ and that feeling continues with ‘The Desolation Of Smaug’... BRIAN GRABINSKI
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The Hobbit: The D e s ol a t i on of S m a u g (2013) Advent u re | Dra ma | Fantasy - 13 December 2013 (USA) SYNOPSIS : The dwarves, along with Bilbo Bag g i ns a nd Ga nda l f the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, t hei r homel a nd, f r om Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring. REVIEW: Bilbo Bag g i n s, Ga nda l f, a nd t he ba nd t he of m isf it dwar ves continue t heir jou r ne y to t he L onely Mountain in ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug’, the second film in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. Are the stakes raised in the sequel with the addition of new allies and enemies or will this be another long and boring set up movie about a group of men out on a stroll? Let me start my review in saying that I loved the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. I own all three extended editions in my librar y. W hen ‘A n Unex pec ted Jou r n e y ’ c a m e ou t , I was really excited to see it, but I left the theater absolutely bored. I felt that there was too much set up and frivolous over explanations of the plot a nd my t holog y of t he c h a r a c t er s . But I’m a smart guy and I do realize t hat t he f irst mov ie of pretty much any trilogy is normally the set up movie and that action and quick mov ing of the plot w ill pick up in the sequel. Now, ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ is a gorgeous mov ie to w atch t hat ’s filled with fantastic digital ef fe c t s, c ool m a ke -up and costumes, and great act i ng per for ma nces. Peter Jackson once again with his literal translation of the book makes you feel like you are an inhabitant
of Middle Earth as Bilbo and company take their dangerous stroll towards the Lonely Mountain. There are some pretty good sequences in the film t hat unfor tunately just come and go. The fight w it h t he spiders in t he black forest of Mirkwood is pretty gruesome. The best scene in the entire movie is the barrel escape f r o m t h e Wo o d - e l v e s du ngeon. T he dwa r ves f loat down a river trying to avoid being ambushed by the marauding Orcs. The fighting is extremely well choreographed. In an almost three hour movie, t hese t wo scenes on ly make up roughly thirt y minutes. The most anticipated moment of t he ent i re movie is the appearance of Smaug voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. The digital effects of the dragon were pret t y i mpressive, but Bilbo’s interaction w ith him were mostly dialogue. Smaug was like a Jame Bond villain monologuing before the Hobbit about t he inev itabi lit y of everyone’s doom and the futility of ever reclaiming the mountain kingdom. For a movie about finally reaching Smaug, it takes two hours before you even see the dragon on screen. To be honest, I was completely lu kewa r m w i t h ‘A n Un e x p e c t e d Journey’ and that feeling cont i nues w it h ‘T he Desolation Of Smaug’. I was not blown away with t he pre s ent at ion a s a whole and felt completely unfulfilled at the abrupt ending to t he f ilm. For those who want to know ever y m i nute deta i l of Tolkien’s universe, ‘The D e s ol a t ion of Sm au g ’ will overload you with an overkill of them. If you a huge fan of the book, chances are you’ll love the second film, but it’s not a guarantee. No matter what I say, the ultra ravenous Middle Earth fanboys and girls will adore this movie and everything Peter Jackson m a ke s . T he mov ie b y all means isn’t horrific, but it ’s a n u n ne e de d over explanation of men ma k i ng a jou r ney to reclaim their home. VERDICT: On a scale of 1-10 I give this one a 7.5 My 2¢ -B
Runtime: 161 min • Rating: PG-13 • Official Site: http://www.thehobbit.com/