Review: THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

     So what if I'm not cool enough for your Fanboy Tea Party? I liked The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Sure, the start of the picture was clunky with its unnecessary prologue and its attempt to shoehorn a link between this new trilogy and the Lord of the Rings movies. Regardless, once the actual story found in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic book begins, the film takes off and never looks back. And with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the pacing and tonal problems that brought the previous installment down a notch are a distant memory.

     Picking up after the events of the first picture, the second finds Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the company of dwarves led by Thorin (Richard Armitage) continuing to make their way to The Lonely Mountain while fending off the vengeful band of orcs that have been on their tails since the last film. Their quest gets even more perilous as they push through the giant-spider-infested Mirkwood, escape captivity by bitter elves, and sneak their way past a paranoid Lake Town. It all leads up to Bilbo putting his newfound courage to the test as he makes his way into The Lonely Mountain to complete the task he was hired to do without waking the horrid dragon, Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). Meanwhile, the wizard, Gandalf (Ian McKellen), breaks away from the group to investigate a dark force known as The Necromancer (also voiced by Cumberbatch), who may or may not be the "enemy" he fears coming back to life. We all know who that is.

     With every film series, after everybody and everything is introduced in the first, number two is centered around all-action.  Well, The Desolation of Smaug is definitely such a case, with no shortage of high adventure throughout its two-hour-and-forty-minute running time. Unlike with the previous film, it's crystal clear that this is supposed to be fun. And it is. Director Peter Jackson briskly keeps the camera and the editor moving and knows precisely where to drop the character moments. It all keeps us from being completely crushed by the spectacle. Jackson's groove is consistent from the start of The Desolation of Smaug to the finish, It's a sharp contrast to An Unexpected Journey, which had to work to find its magic as it moved along.

     One criticism I hear about this trilogy is the lack of emotional resonance. Some call the whole thing shallow or even empty. Yes, the Hobbit movies don't display the kind of depth of character that is prevalent throughout The Lord of the Rings. However, anyone who's actually read the The Hobbit knows it's a more lighthearted tale than Rings. I consider Jackson emphasizing epic set-pieces on this trip to Middle-Earth to be a minor fault. One thing I do have a problem with is the titular character seemingly reduced to a support role in this whole adventure. I'm still forgiving though; it's an unintentional flaw. It's not an obvious disinterest, like, say, Tim Burton's treatment of the title character in his Batman movies.

     I know I'm not going to change the minds of those who have already blown off the trilogy after seeing An Unexpected Journey. But trust me, the growing pains have subsided, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, on it's own, is a rousing, if slight, tale you'll want to be lost in.

4 out of 5 stars

- JDO