I’ll
say this: I enjoy The Desolation of Smaug quite a bit more than An Unexpected Journey. Yes,
it’s still way longer than it needs
to be, it tries to wring too much epicness into a film that doesn’t call for
it, and there’s at least an hour’s
worth of completely invented subplot material that distracts from the actual
story of the book. However, it doesn’t
drag nearly as much – it feels like far more physically happens, the action
sequences are mostly cool enough to justify their length, and overall, it seems
the film makes more of an effort to tell what resembles a cohesive story.
The
movie benefits from the fact that the middle chunk of the book has a lot more
entertaining plot stuff than the first. For
starters, we get the Mirkwood spiders, where Bilbo finds his courage
(believably so – I think the butt-kicking Bilbo scene at the end of An Unexpected Journey feels really out
of character. He’s too bold, too
ruthless, and too successful against a fully grown orc. Here, he gets the job done, but he plainly has
no idea what he’s doing, he’s running on fear, luck, and adrenaline, and plus,
it’s clear that he’s being affected by both the ring and the forest.)
We also
get the wood elves. I’ll admit that, in
this sequence, the film-only bits work better than the book bits for me. The barrel scene goes on far too long and far
too crazily, but I really enjoy all the elf drama going on while the dwarves
are indisposed. Tauriel is a nice
addition to the story, and even though I’m sure the last thing poor Evangeline
Lilly wanted after Lost was another love
triangle (sigh… seriously?), she’s a fine character in her own right, an
excellent fighter with a strong sense of justice. I also want to mention Lee Pace as
Thranduil. He’s awesome – cold and
imperious with probing, ageless eyes that see everything. His scenes were some of my favorites, and it
fun to see him get to do something after essentially being window-dressing in
the first movie.
And, as
the title suggests, we get the big sequence with Bilbo and Smaug, which is even
better than Bilbo and Gollum in An
Unexpected Journey. I love how smart
and quick on his feet Bilbo is, even though he’s obviously terrified. Our little hobbit has such a clever tongue,
and he really knows how to keep the monsters talking just long enough for him
to find an escape. Not to mention, Smaug
himself is fantastic. The lackluster
creature effects elsewhere don’t extend to the dragon – he looks great and is
well-integrated into the scene. Benedict
Cumberbatch is suitably menacing in the role, and both he and Martin Freeman
are so wonderful, you’d never guess their parts were filmed separately (well,
aside from the fact that Freeman is a speck compared to Cumberbatch’s colossal
beast.)
Most of
Gandalf’s screentime, unfortunately, happens away from the party in
supplementary scenes, so that’s a bummer.
Plus, as much as I like to watch elves fighting, their extended presence
is really shoehorned in. Lastly,
considering where the film ends and the title of the final installment, I have
a sinking feeling that the last movie will largely be one never-ending battle
(possibly with countless faux-denouements like The Return of the King.)
Warnings
Fantasy
violence with lots of battle scenes, and some general scariness.
No comments:
Post a Comment