Like with the first film, I am more than willing to step over creative liberties and narrative flaws because Jackson once again allowed me to spend time in Middle Earth. If you didn't care for the first one, don't torture yourself and stay home. You won't like it. If you don't like drawn out fantasy epics, stay home. You won't like it. If you like Tolkien, thought the first film was flawed but ok, you'll probably have a pretty good time as it is a much smoother ride than the first one. If you're an infantile Tolkien fetishist that loves high fantasy adventure like me, you'll love the everloving crap out of it.

This unintended trilogy is not an adaptation…

A Movie A Day 2013: Day 344

The Good: Two things: the spectacular barrel sequence and Smaug.

The Bad: Desolation of Smaug is a bloated and exhausting 161 minutes. Dialogue is often eye-rollingly cheesy. Acting is a bit shaky—Lee Pace leads the charge here as the Elven King, hamming it up like he's in a LotR parody. The love triangle between Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), and Kili (Aidan Turner) feels tacked on. Legolas and Tauriel are given many moments to showcase their badassery—and it is cool at first—but all the arrow-shooting and sword-fighting quickly become repetitive and tiresome. Worst of all, the sequel continues the trend of its predecessor of being built on deus ex machina. You could…

When The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey premiered on silver screen as the first in a trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, the response it received was mostly positive to mixed. The majority of criticism was targeted at the needless expansion of a single film story into three features but, in my opinion, it did commence this latest Middle-Earth adventure on the right note and, despite its sluggish pace, provided a largely satisfying experience.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is the second chapter of The Hobbit film series & picks the story right from where it was left off in An Unexpected Journey. Continuing the adventure of Bilbo Baggins who's accompanying thirteen dwarfs on their quest to reclaim…

excellent, all things considered. stakes & scale can’t match LOTR, but nails world-building & sense of adventure that made those films work. given how production works on these things, it seems foolish to suggest that Jackson learned from the raw material of the first film (which, *woof*), but... who knows. genuinely not responding to this on a curve, but it's his first film not to be at least a little embarrassing since 2003.

Bilbo comes into his own as a character, the set pieces bristle with style, each location feels at least vaguely alive, and – most crucially – the fading complexion of Middle Earth is palpable. the thing zips by, offers a ton of valuable connective tissue to the LOTR trilogy…

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings add-on pack continues with The Desolation of Smaug. I wasn't hugely impressed with the first Hobbit film. This sequel is a bit of a mess, but it is a slight improvement. The story basically picks up where the last one left off, and sees our band of heroes still on their way the mountain. The first third is really quite dull. Things pick up at the midway point, though it really does feel like it's just dragging things out. However, the last sequence - which finally sees the entry into the mountain and the proper introduction of the title villain Smaug, is actually really well done. It's fun and exciting and the dragon is…

My issues with the first film (in a review as long as the movie).

We’re back for round two of Peter Jackson’s flabby fantasy saga as Bilbo Baggins and his band of diminutive dipshits continue on their exhaustingly long quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the scaly clutches of Smaug the dragon. Oh goodie! I totally understand why people love JRR Tolkien and Jackson’s rendering of Middle Earth but I’ll be rather thankful when I never have to visit the damn place again.

The Desolation of Smaug is a rather curious movie that manages to solve some of the problems from the ponderous first film but in doing so create a whole heap of new issues. It is still…

Before I start off my review I want to say that I really liked The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was my #9 film of 2012. It certainly wasn't without it's flaws though. Boring at times, the tone was childish at times, etc.

I pretty much feel the exact same why about The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug as I did with the first one. I really liked it, but it's not something I consider great. There was a scene that was really great, but outside of that scene the movie is just good. The scene I'm referring to is the barrel scene, that was epic awesomeness lol. There are a few other scenes that are really good, but a…

This movie is so fucking awesome. Especially the last 45 minutes or so. Benedict Cumberbatch delivers some amazing work here as Smaug. Far more entertaining than the first Hobbit film, and the pacing here is way better as well. My main issue with this still, which I guess is also my issue with the first one and the last one, is that Thorin is not a likable character. It makes his quest to reclaim his lost kingdom far less compelling than that of Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. But still, that does not stop me from enjoying this overall. There are some really fun action scenes here, the escape from the elf kingdom in barrels being one of the…

The second two movies are combined into one 3.5 hours movie, and I’ll be honest, as I go into this I’m feeling like they could have cut even more. If I’m being nitpicky (and of course I can be since I’m watching another persons edit of the film) right off the bat I would have cut the weird Bree sequence from this movie. I don’t understand what the point is, aside from weirdly mirroring the sequence from the first trilogy and giving Jackson his cameo. I’m also surprised that they left the dumb Gimli joke in here, but I don’t want to turn this into a list of edits I would have made, so I will say that I like…