The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

I was not exactly enthusiastic about last year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Sure, it had all the markings of a Peter Jackson – middle earth epic but none of the soul. Jackson had seemingly succumbed to his darkest tendencies – leaning too hard on his masterful CGI teams and less on the classic source material. It made sense from a studio perspective: Jackson struck gold with Lord of the Rings (single handedly saving, for a time, New Line Cinema) so why not stretch out a relatively short but beloved prequel story into 3-massive, bloated sequels? Well because it’s super indulgent and kind of lame, that’s why.

And so we continue to slog through Middle Earth with The Desolation of Smaug. The first installment in this unnecessary trilogy lacked the urgent momentum of LOTR and slowly established a story of a Hobbit, familiar wizard and merry band of dwarf’s hell bent on reclaiming their homeland from the evil dragon Smaug. By the end, despite the bevy of action scenes, I felt no closer to accomplishing said journey. Luckily Jackson has picked up the pace in his middle chapter.

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is following his dwarf companions and Gandalf the Gray (Ian McKellen) to the depths of the Lonely Mountain. After narrowly escaping a horde of Orcs (and the evil Gollum) the group is on the run. They must reach the mountain soon or the door will be sealed forever with Smaug and the dwarf fortune inside.

The film has little plot to speak of (in fact it’s very video game-linear in that way) which ironically benefits the pacing. Jackson focuses his efforts on many of his strengths: namely bold themes, world building and fantastic action. There are so many set pieces in the film it’s hard to recount them all. Jackson really peaks in two. The first involves Bilbo, the dwarves, Legolas (Orlando Bloom reprising his role) and a massive group of Volkswagen-sized spiders. The second places Bilbo and the dwarves in wine-barrels floating desperately down a river as Orcs and Elves chase, battle and fall around them. Each time it feels like Jackson’s camera has a mind-of-its own; whipping up, around and through the landscape. We’re treated to amazing Elvin gymnastics, oafish dwarf battling and many an Orc beheading.

It’s in these (and many more) sequences that Jackson justifies his run time. Middle Earth is a massively fun place to visit – it’s nice to see him remember that. The physical comedy also remains intact and is a breath of fresh air between all the pontificating.

Unfortunately the film does suffer from many of the same problems that the first did. Every time the pace slows we get speeches about motivation and right and wrong. Without the finality of LOTR looming over this prequel much of it landed like a drunken dwarf at 2 AM. It’s not that Jackson doesn’t communicate his themes (quite the opposite) we just know that this is just the beginning of a bigger story so there is little reason to care (we’ll call it New Star Wars Trilogy Syndrome.)

After seeing the first film in 48 frames-per-second (giving the film a weird, soap-opera quality) I chose to screen the film in 24 fps 3D. I’m very happy with the choice as the film is a visual feast. Jackson probably didn’t use less CGI-here but he integrates it much better. And the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) is incredible to behold. The extended climax in Smaug’s layer echoes the riddle scene with Gollum from the first film with an added layer of fury. Smaug is smart and ferocious but clumsy in the tight space. Watching tiny Bilbo navigate his gold-filled layer as he stalks is stunning.

There is no real reason (other than the almighty dollar) The Hobbit should be three movies. It’s a slight, simple story that JRR Tolkien used to prime his classic trilogy. Jackson fills his tale with many new stories – some are worthy, most aren’t. But there is so much on display that it’s hard not to root for his vision. We know he can mine the depths of Tolkien’s material for incredible results. In Desolation of Smaug he inches closer to the end. Let’s hope when he gets there he lets Middle Earth be.

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