Review - 'The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug' Is Middle-Earth Magic

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The Hobbit Smaug 8My review of director Peter Jackson's 2012 film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey -- a prequel to the blockbuster Lord of the Rings franchise -- declared that film a big, bold, beautiful triumph that exceeded expectations. Jackson's second entry in the prequel trilogy opening in theaters this month, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, continues that cinematic success with a thrilling, fun adaptation that moves faster, takes less time, and provides a great deal more story progression. And of course, there be dragons! Well, there be a dragon -- but he's more than enough.

Based on J. R. R. Tolkien's famous book The Hobbit as well as the detailed appendices in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the prequel trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug feels more like a piece of the The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, with an overall darker tone and sense of malevolence threatening all around, but doesn't lose the humor or frequent whimsical feel to much of Bilbo's journey and his relationship with the dwarves. The similar approach to Jackson's previous series of films should appeal to those who felt the first Hobbit movie contrasted too much with the serious, darker style of The Lord of the Rings. Likewise, the faster pace and shorter run time addresses two of the primary -- if misplaced, in my opinion -- complaints about the previous movie.

The Hobbit Smaug 4Will that translate into box office success? Let's be serious for a moment -- there are few rational people who entertain the notion this film won't be a box office success, so it's just a matter of how big of a success we're talking about. The first Hobbit, despite a parade of reviews and press doing their best to convince audiences to stay away, was the second-highest-grossing of the Tolkien franchise so far, grossing more than $1 billion and earning a CinemaScore of A from viewers. On home entertainment, the film has taken in around $100+ million worldwide on DVD and Blu-ray (with those lovely high profit margins the studios love). What this all means is, while there was plenty of negative press about The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and some of the more cynical folks might want to spin it as if the movie was overall unpopular with audiences, the truth is it was a hit with audiences and there is a sharp contrast between the reaction from film critics and a certain segment of the broad fan/geek community, and the reaction from average mainstream viewers worldwide.

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUGThe marketing is likewise working overtime to drive home the message that this is a much faster and more intense movie, with even more action and cliffhanger moments, not to mention a great big realistic dragon. If there is any drop in box office from the first film, as there sometimes is with darker second entries in a franchise (although that's not particularly common, especially not nowadays), it won't be significant enough to register as a failure -- although no doubt, any drop at all is going to be proclaimed a failure or a serious problem and so on by some in the media who are frankly already determined to dislike the film and seem to be rooting for it to perform badly.

There isn't much else releasing for the last three weeks of the year to steal away much of The Desolation of Smaug's audience internationally. So, with a lag in major 3D releases overseas since Thor: The Dark World (contrary to what you might've heard, 3D happens to remain highly popular worldwide, especially in foreign markets) and no other big blockbuster releases targeting the same demographics, it seems Middle-earth could be destined for quite a strong four-week initial run. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is still performing strongly, of course, and that movie has a few big markets in which to open, but the overall timing and landscape favor The Desolation of Smaug doing very good business for many weeks.

The Hobbit Smaug 1What does that all add up to? It might perform lower domestically than the previous entry, since domestic media were particularly harsh and pushed some negative narratives, but I suspect it'll make up the shortfall overseas and come in somewhere in the $900-$1 billion range. Hypothetically, if it pulled in somewhere in the $800 million range instead, that would be a notable drop but still nothing resembling a weak or failed performance. The bottom line is, it's not realistic to think it will do numbers low enough to be anything other than another big hit for the franchise.

Part of my reason for suspecting big box office results -- besides all the obvious reasons related to the franchise -- is word of mouth. I think once audiences see it, the word of mouth will be good and will help it overcome whatever wave of mixed reviews might befall the film (after all, when a filmmaker or film series succeed with audiences in defiance of the established media narrative, that's like a declaration of war for a lot of critics and so the determination to take the director/series down a notch or two can really take hold in the media).

The Hobbit Smaug 6There are so many different locations providing a wide array of visuals and impressions, it helps make the film constantly visually interesting as it shifts from one type of setting to the next, and the action is always changing because of these significant shifts in environment. It starts with a horizontal race through open space, then becomes a winding tiered stumble through a darkened forest, then becomes a vertical battle through the trees, and so on. From light to dark, from greens to muted greys to blues then browns -- on and on the movement through planes and lighting and color palates plays out. However, overall this movie prefers the shadows, so the movement is like two steps forward, one step back in the transitions, so it's always moving deeper into the darkness.

If the first Hobbit felt a lot like Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, this one feels perhaps more like Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys, albeit with more slapstick and other physical humor akin to Brazil. None of this is meant as a literal comparison, necessarily. But the flavor of Gilliam's sensibilities is hard to deny, and it just fits so nicely that the reference is definitely meant as a compliment.

The Hobbit Smaug 12We get some romance this time, courtesy of a love triangle between Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel, Orlando Bloom's Legolas, and Aidan Turner's Kili. Tauriel isn't in the Tolkien novel, but she works as an original character who brings a combination of fierceness and moral certainty that conflicts with the other Elves at times. Her attraction to a dwarf, and Legolas' jealousy, make for an interesting little subplot that doesn't get overplayed and so serves to provide a love story of sorts for those who might want one -- and let me just say, I'm sure there will be folks who mock it as if being interested in a love story is somehow unacceptable at face value, and to that I just say "bull." What matters is if it works and is done well within the story, and in this case I think it is. That said, if someone didn't enjoy it because it didn't feel necessary and they felt the apparent emotional attraction progressed too quickly for their tastes, I think that's a valid reaction even if I don't share it.

If the film has any element that is particularly obvious in its absence, it has to be the lack of Andy Serkis' Gollum. He is such a compelling character, so visually striking and watchable, and the performance so captivating, that I just couldn't help missing his presence. There was no real reason for him to appear, of course (although his voice shows up), but if they'd found a way to include him even for just a brief scene, I doubt most of us would've minded.

The Hobbit Smaug 10But while Gollum's absence was felt, so was Smaug's inclusion. The dragon is magnificently realized, slithering and sneaking around and over and under everything, reveling in the awe and terror he inspires in others, and Benedict Cumberbatch's voice suits the beast quite perfectly. There aren't many live-action film dragons that truly live up to the potential of the mythical creatures -- Dragonslayer being my all-time favorite -- but The Desolation of Smaug provides cinema with one of the greatest incarnations of a dragon I've ever seen. There is such personality in not only his voice, but also in his movements and the way he chooses to present himself, and in the sneer when he speaks contemptuously toward Bilbo and the dwarves.

Smaug was always going to be the foundation on which this movie -- and indeed, probably the entire prequel trilogy -- rested. The production would largely rise or fall depending on whether it got Smaug right. I was anxious to see what they'd do with the character, and a bit worried about whether they could pull it off, so I'm happy they did so great a job.

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The Hobbit Smaug 7Bilbo's journey remains the axis around which the story revolves, and you can feel the tension building as he and his band move ever closer to their inevitable showdown with Smaug. However, I'm impressed by how well the film was able to keep Bilbo's arc focused while exploring many other subplots and character arcs. The film not only adapts the original novel and the detailed appendices from the The Lord of the Rings, it also necessarily -- as a prequel that exists alongside a larger series and story -- has to fit all of the source material into the context of the later stories and help link them together. And it also makes effort to fill in a lot of elements that go either unexplained or only briefly addressed in the book.

The Hobbit Smaug 2I feel all of this was worthwhile, and those who complain that these films are taking too long to tell the story from just a single book are either woefully uninformed or just frankly being disingenuous with their criticism. You can say you don't feel it was the right approach or that the film's didn't execute it well, but it's pointless to ignore that the film is adapting more than just the single novel, or to deny that it also makes perfect sense to link the stories together and to try and fill in certain gaps in the original storytelling.

The shorter length and faster pace works for most of the film, but I do feel the confrontation with Smaug was longer than it needed to be and should've been trimmed by a good five to ten minutes in the middle. Since it's an extended chase and battle with an awesome dragon, however, I didn't honestly mind lingering there a bit longer. And the rest is so well-paced, it's entirely forgivable that Jackson wanted to spend more time with this stage of the conflict.

The Hobbit Smaug 9I'll note that I attended the screening with a good friend who liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy but had never seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The night before we saw the newest film, he bought the previous one on Blu-ray and watched it so he'd be up to speed. His reaction, as a more mainstream viewer, was that he loved (his words) this new film and felt it's superior to the first one. Purely anecdotal evidence from just one person, but he's not a fanboy and saw the films back-to-back, and I think a lot of audiences are going to have the same reaction -- that it's a great film, fun and funny with plenty of good scares to boot. He really appreciated the faster pace and shorter run-time.

The screening I attended didn't feature the 48fps version of the film, so I can't tell you if it looks as good in that format as the first film did. But I'll be going back to see it again, so I look forward to finding out!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is another grand entry in the Tolkien saga, raising the emotional and physical stakes while revealing more of the sinister forces that we know will ultimately come to threaten the entire world. It's pleasing to see a filmmaker this in love with storytelling, this committed to creating entire worlds and exploring them in such detail for not only our enjoyment but his own. That's a rare thing indeed, and for it to turn out so well is even more rare. It's a sight to behold, and you won't be sorry you did.

Are you eager to see the latest Hobbit film, dear readers? What are you expecting, and what are you hoping to see or not see? Sound off in the comments below!

