Man, I'd last seen a Hobbit movie before I started this blog more than a decade ago. The threequel was reputed to be the weakest link in a pale imitation of The Lord of the Rings, hence my lack of hurry to see it. Nonetheless, it looked like the most promising DVD I hadn't watched in my local library, having better ratings from general audiences than from critics.
The Desolation of Smaug ends with halfling Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) accidentally inspiring the titular event. Not long into TBotFA, human archer Bard (Luke Evans) slays the rampaging Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch), but that's not the end of the dragon's evil influence. One of Bilbo's dwarven companions, King Thorin (Richard Armitage), finds Smaug's trove almost as corruptive as the One Ring and refuses to share any of it with the humans of newly burned Lake-town, despite his prior oath and their obvious need. When elven King Thranduil (Lee Pace) comes with an army to claim a family treasure, Thorin is undaunted, and the other dwarves obediently prepare to fight. Perhaps fortunately, before the first casualty, the arrival of two armies of darkness induces the other three to team up.
When I read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit at 13, I found the final act relatively dull and couldn't remember much more than who dies. Looking back, the movie uses more details from the book than I thought. It seems nothing important was changed; the adapters merely filled in a lot of details.
The most notable additions are of elements from TLotR. I'm sure Thranduil's son Legolas (Orlando Bloom) had no part in the literary precursor, but he was too popular a warrior to leave out. More minor roles go to Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving), an uncorrupted Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), and Sauron (also Cumberbatch). Several moments echo or presage points from other movies.
A few original characters reappear from TDoS. The forces of evil are commanded by orcs Azog (Manu Bennett) and Bolg (John Tui, not Lawrence Makoare as before). Alfrid (Ryan Gage) provides comic relief as a toadying yet bossy, cowardly scoundrel of Lake-town. And for the sake of a little more estrogen, Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) is both a friend to Legolas and a star-crossed love interest to dwarf Kili (Adrian Turner). (I won't bother naming the rest of the dwarves, because they're pretty alike.)
I'm afraid there's not much for Bilbo to do this time. The designated "burglar" doesn't really fight. And Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) is too weak from imprisonment to serve as much more than a messenger.
Some reviewers complain about the length of the battle. I actually found it far less tiresome than the Battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers, if only by virtue of greater variety. It helps to have so many alternating focal characters in different scenarios, not all equally intense.
I have mixed feelings about the action. It can be innovative and cool but often ridiculously unbelievable in physics and/or choreography, even to someone who knows little about either. Two people should not pause for a quiet conversation in the middle of a crowded battlefield, justified in their confidence that no one will attack them. Sometimes the green screen technique was blatant. And to maintain a PG-13 rating, we see no blood amid beheadings. Must be an orc thing.
TbotFA was better than I dared hope. It may not make the upper half of the six Peter Jackson-directed Tolkien flicks, but it's not the worst to my mind and was worth my 144 minutes, plus the nice DVD extras.
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