Unbelieveably Padded
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Rated PG-13)
by HEATHER GRIFFITHS
Ugh. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (161 minutes), although slightly
shorter than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, was even more unbelievably
padded. It wasn't bad, even if it was a shameless cash grab. It was gorgeously
shot, with the location scout deserving tons of credit for finding beautiful
landscapes. However, long choreographed fight scenes took up more than two
thirds of the running time. Orlando Bloom was spackled over with a too-liberal
dose of CGI. Female characters were shoehorned
into a narrative that somehow managed to
remain a Neverland-style boy's club, and frankly,
the film did not hold my attention.
The film picks up the narrative thread by
re-introducing Thorin Oakenshield (Richard
Armitage) at the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree,
near the shire. Gandalf the Grey (Sir Ian
McKellan) warns him of a price on his head,
and then suggests he seek the aid of a burglar
to help him reclaim the Arkenstone to unite the
dwarves. This occurred before the events shown
in An Unexpected Journey, and helps catch the
audience up before jumping to Bilbo (Martin
Freeman) scouting out a safe path to flee from
the orcs and wargs that pursued them at the end of the first film. Bilbo rejoins
his party with a warning about a random scary bear that may or may not be
after them, upon which Gandalf suggests they get moving.
The travelers find refuge in the house of Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt). Though
hostile to dwarves, he is even more hostile to orcs, so he supplies them and
sends them on their way to the Mirkwood. Gandalf has a vision that sends him
off after the necromancer mentioned in the first film, leaving Bilbo, Thorin
and the rest of the dwarves to follow the path towards The Lonely Mountain.
Gandalf really should have known better than to trust them with even the
simplest of directives, because they promptly go on a woodland induced acid
trip and get captured by giant spiders.
Bilbo tries to save the day, but elven intervention is required as the spiders
begin overwhelming them. Legolas (Bloom) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly)
lead the dwarves to the sanctuary of the Wood Elves, while Bilbo follows,
concealed by the powers of the one ring. There Thorin has a chat with
Elvenking Thranduil (Lee Pace). The upshot
of that conversation is that the elves are snobs
and Thorin would rather rot in elfjail than work
with him. A little tete-a-tete between Tauriel and
Kili (Aidan Turner) follows, which is apparently
the beginning of a romantic triangle between
Legolas, Tauriel and Kili that was introduced at
studio request during the 2012 re-shoots.
Bilbo finally frees the dwarves, leading to a
nifty orcs-chasing-dwarves-in-barrels-downthe-river-while-getting-shot-by-elves sequence.
They get to Laketown, then finally up the Lonely
Mountain, where Bilbo sneaks in to talk to
Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). Meanwhile,
Gandalf is off in his own movie, wandering
through deserted ruins and fighting orcs and the necromancer.
Overall, a good entry into the Lord of the Rings universe. My primary
complaint is that this sequel does not set the fantasy bar any
higher, but instead seems content to stroll along a comfortable,
well paved, middle ground. When I first saw The Fellowship
of the Rings and The Two Towers, I was transported in a way I
haven't been in the sequels.
HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing
Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com.
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