The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug

I think the whole world agree, that Peter Jackson is one of the greatest directors of all time. I must have seen The Lord Of The Rings at least 10 times, the same with the sequels. I don´t think anyone will ever make better adventure movies than Peter Jackson. His vision and visual ideas are absolutely fantastic. I dont think anyone else could have made The Lord Of The Rings trilogy as good as he did. Now, if you have not seen his earlier work, like Bad Taste, or Braindead, you need to go and buy these now. These movies are bigger classics than Lawrence Of Arabia, yes you read correctly. I see his earlier work as some of the greatest movies of all time. Meet The Feebles is the best puppet comedy you will ever see, where else will you see a fly eating shit out of a toilet and a crocodile doing heroine ? When The Hobbit turned up about 2 years ago, i was very excited to see if the prequel would follow in the great foot step of Jacksons earlier work. In some ways it did, but i must admit i felt that it was not on the same level of cinema magic. Maybe because the cast was not as good as in The Lord Of The Rings. Gandalf is still here, but the new cast just did not match the characters all the way. So here we are, with the next chapter of The Hobbit. I was supposed to see this in christmas last year, but after months i finally got a chance to watch The Desolation Of Smaug. Is this sequel a big improvement since last time, or is it still facing problems with the cast ?

Bilbo Baggins ( Martin Freeman ), Gandalf the Grey ( Ian McKellen ) and the chosen men, continue their quest. They are on the run from Azog and the orch army. Gandalf know a place where they can hide, but warn that it could be dangerous. Still they decide to find their way to the home of Beorn ( Mikael Persbrandt ), half man, half bear. Azog and his army do not dare to continue the journey, because he knows Beorn will protect Bilbo and his team. At first Beorn is hostile as a bear, but as he transform into a man he becomes more friendly. He supply the men with food and horses, and tell them to go through Mirkwood. This forest is known for being dangerous, so Gandalf warn them not to loose the path trail. Unfortunately they loose their way and is captured by giant spiders. Luckily Bilbo manage to get out of the net he is captured in, and with the help of the ring, make himself invisible to help the rest of the team. As they try and escape the forest, spiders attack. But a group of elves suddenly appear, including Legolas ( Orlando Bloom ) and Tauriel ( Evangeline Lilly ), who save the team. But since Legolas do not trust these people, he and his people lock them up. The only way to be set free is by The Elvenking, known as Thraundil ( Lee Pace ), only he can decide if they should be released. Thraundil will release them, on one condition. They must find white gems, in the dungeon of Smaug. Thorin Oakenshield ( Richard Armitage ) do not agree to do this, so is also thrown in a cell. Bilbo managed not to be captured in the Mirkwood forest, so he have followed his friends to rescue them out of their cells. Bilbo and his team escape, while the elves is also attacked by Bolg, son of Azog, who was ordered to kill everyone. Bolg and his orchs attack the elves, but Bilbo and his friends manage to survive. Now they must travel to the dungeon of Smaug, and steal the jewel Arkenstone.

I am happy to say that The Desolation Of Smaug is better than the first chapter. More action, more special effects, but most of all, more stronger characters have arrived. Mikael Persbrandt is here as the character Beorn. he looks quite funny with all his facial hair. Is he any good ? Well he tries at least to make this character look majestic, and does ok. While some of the other cast members are back, they have tried to give their characters more depth. And this is a good detail. Last time i felt that they did not match really good, and now they are going in the right direction. Peter Jackson still prove why he is one of the greatest adventure directors of all time. Even if The Desolation Of Smaug is better than last time, it is still not as great as The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. One reason is that the characters were much more powerful in the previous movies,  and it would be almost impossible to find better actors in The Hobbit. Let´s talk about the action sequences. I think many people felt that An Unexpected Journey was a bit slow. Thankfully this sequel tries to fix that, with bigger battle scenes and more violence. The dragon Smaug is an important detail in this chapter, and from a special effect perspective, i have o say that Smaug looks great. The Desolation Of Smaug is a worthy sequel to An Unexpected Journey, even better i would say. The acting is better, the characters feel stronger, If you love The Lord Of The Rings, i have a feeling you will enjoy this one also. I am looking forward to the final chapter of The Hobbit, hopefully it will have everything we hope for. Until then, i suggest you feast on this one.

Rating: DDDD