Hello Everyone :-)
As per New Year tradition on 30th December I made my way to the pictures with my lovely family to see ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ (just ‘Desolation of Smaug’ from now).
‘Desolation of Smaug’ picks up (after a brief flashback) where we finished at the end of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ with Bilbo and the Dwarves of Erebor travelling across Middle earth to the Lonely Mountain by way of the Mirkwood and Lake Town. Our heroes encounter shape changers, giant spiders, Elves, Orcs, power-hungry Politicians and finally the titular Dragon himself.
Half of me doesn’t even want to bother writing this. In fact it’d be far easier to copy and paste my ‘Unexpected Journey’ post and sub in Smaug’s name for Gollum’s.
Right. Let’s begin with some good things.
It’s still lovely to be in Middle Earth. Peter Jackson builds this world with such ease I can’t imagine it in anyone else’s hands. It’s very much like a safety blanket, 10 minutes in you’ll let out a little sigh and sink into the cinematic equivalent of a reassuring cup of tea and a plate of biscuits.
Some of the set pieces are great. The scene with the Spiders in Mirkwood, the scene with the barrels (excluding the unnecessary POV barrel shots) and the entire Lonely Mountain chase scene are great fun. These all help spur the action on at a faster (albeit marginally faster) pace than the previous outing.
There are a few great performances in ‘Desolation of Smaug’. Evangeline Lilly’s ‘Tauriel’ is nice. Lilly is far more capable than the lot her character has been given and, although she is a lovely inclusion in what is a massive sausage-fest, her character isn’t as fleshed out as it should be.
Luke Evans’s Bard the Bowman is an excellent addition to proceedings. He’s lifted straight from the books and I really loved his earnest take on the character. His is one of the few new faces that is nicely developed; the introduction of his young family and the revelation of his ancestors’ role in Smaug’s conquest of Erebor makes him a sympathetic character in a sea of people I don’t really give a monkeys about.
As before Martin Freeman is a perfect fit for Bilbo. The best scene in the whole film is the one in which Bilbo confronts Smaug for the first time. ‘RMLM' favourite Benedict Cumberbatch, performance captures the fuck out of that dragon and he’s awesome. It’s a brilliant, brilliant scene which makes it all the more infuriating when other scenes are not given the same amount of due care and attention.
The film is 2 hours 41 minutes, or in other words FAR TOO LONG. 161 minutes is simply too many and my attention started waning when we got to Bard’s house in Lake Town. But then ‘Desolation of Smaug’ is 8 minutes shorter than the last one so that’s something…
Another weirdly uneven thing about this film is the CGI rendering. Some bits look fantastic, like you could reach out and touch Smaug but others (Legolas’s fight in Lake Town, Legolas on a Horse, Legolas’s chas… oh you get the idea) look awful. The reliance on CGI for the Orks in particular is a massive retrogressive step. Azog has got nothing on the Uruk Hai from LOTR.
Exactly the same as with ‘Unexpected Journey’, ‘Desolation of Smaug’ falls down when it forgets it’s ‘The Hobbit’ and starts ramming the LOTR Trilogy down your throat. It’s as if the film is going,
“LOOK! Remember how much you loved Legolas in those other films? Well, he’s back! And look, It’s Gimli’s Dad! And you remember the love triangle from the last Trilogy? Well now we have another one!” (Just as an aside, if you thought the Arwen/Aragorn/Eowyn love triangle was unconvincing and pointless just wait till you see this one…)
The vast majority of the audience for the Hobbit films have already invested a great deal of time watching the LOTR trilogy, as such we do not need reminding of what happens in it. Show me something new Mr Jackson; make me care about these new characters! Almost all of the Dwarves are still interchangeable; we’re still not spending enough time with Bilbo and we’re still pissing about foreboding the events of a trilogy that WE’VE ALREADY SEEN!
‘Desolation of Smaug’ is not a total loss but if it carries on like this I can’t see The Hobbit Trilogy being held with the same affection as LOTR. Whilst Middle Earth still has me on side, my patience is wearing thin, like butter over too much bread.
‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ is still in Cinemas now.
Right, I need something nice. Let’s have some…
Reasons to be cheerful :-)
1. First picture of Peter Capaldi of from his first day of filming Series 8 of Doctor Who! Don’t get too excited, he isn’t wearing his costume; he’s wearing Matt Smith’s costume off the back of ‘The Time of the Doctor’, but still very exciting :-) I have every faith in Peter Capaldi. I think if he can bring the passion, sincerity and fun of which we know he’s capable to his tenure as The Doctor then we’re going to have something pretty special on our hands.
Also, I will be writing up my ‘Doctor Who 50th Anniversary’ Excel Event with pictures and all sorts so you can have a look at how the day went.
2. The first trailer has landed for Game of Thrones series 4! It looks like a lot of the events of Book 3 part 2 are present and correct here :-) I’m currently on Book 4 ‘A Feast for Crows’ and I must say after a little break I am so happy to be back into it! Game of Thrones Series 4 premiers on Sky Atlantic on 7th April at 9pm and Game of Thrones Series 3 is out on Blu Ray and DVD on 17th February!
3. Ben Kingsley is filming a 14-minute short about the Mandarin that will be part of the extras on Thor: The Dark World's Blu-ray, and will provide a conclusion to the events of Iron Man 3. I don’t know about you but I LOVED Iron Man 3 and think the way they dealt with the potentially Un-PC character of the Mandarin. Personally I can’t wait for Kingsley to reprise his role as Trevor Slattery the Toast of Croydon :-)
And that’s it! That’s all for today :-)
Goodbye till next time :-)
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