Review: THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG  (FANTASY/ACTION-ADVENTURE)
4 out of 4 stars
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Evangeline Lily, Aidan Turner, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Benedict Cumberbatch (voice), Sylvester McCoy, Mikael Persbrandt
PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.
Verdict: Both a vast improvement on its dull predecessor and an excellent adventure film in its own right, this is the real return to Middle-Earth that you've been waiting for, even if notions of excess are lacking in its cinematic vocabulary.
YOU MAY ENJOY THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG IF YOU LIKED:
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY  (2012)
THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY (2001-2003)
AVATAR (2009)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (2003)
JOHN CARTER  (2012)

In order to remain relevant, I suspect director/writer/producer/media mogul Peter Jackson will eventually have to reclaim the ability to make leaner, more efficient films, but that day is not today.  As long as his colossal fantasy-epics run closer to the side of THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG than last year's AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, I think I can live with that.
By the time we reach the end of the first hour in the lengthy two hour and forty minutes-long film, we're in the midst of the most exciting and inventive action sequence of the second chapter in the Hobbit Trilogy, with dwarves riding in barrels down a wild riptide reminiscent of a theme park attraction, whilst also doing battle with orcs pursuing from the riverbanks.  During the course of that prior hour, we've also had the pleasure of combat with giant spiders in the multi-layered midst of their gruesome webs and an attack by a gigantic monster of a bear.  By the time we'd reached the end of the first hour in the previous film, our heroes had just finished up a dinner party scene that played out practically in real time and were finally around to actually doing something, but not much of which they did.

At the end of that film, right after which THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG begins, young and cautious hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), a peaceful and miniature-sized person of the Shire countryside, had finally gained the trust and acceptance of the stern dwarf leader, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), who had enlisted Bilbo at the urging of the wise wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) as a "burglar" on his quest to reclaim the dwarf kingdom of Erebor, now under the possession of Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), the last great and fierce dragon of Middle-Earth.  It's convenient to know this, but not at all necessary, and if you or a friend you want to drag along never saw the first film, it won't be too hard to jump right in, especially if you're already somewhat familiar with THE LORD OF THE RINGS movies or J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth.
Now, with orcs hot on their trail, led by the vengeful Azog the Defiler (Manu Bennett), Thorin, Gandalf, Bilbo and a dozen other dwarves of their company stand at the edge of the ancient forest of Mirkwood.  Gandalf is led away by other pressing business in the ruins of Dol Guldur, where the Necromancer, a mysterious sorcerer, is summoning the spirits of an ancient evil back from the dead.
In the forests of Mirkwood, Bilbo and the dwarves encounter all manner of terrors, from giant spiders, nightmarish hallucinations and the less than hospitable Wood-elves, less wise and noble than their kin featured in previous films.
Fans of LORD OF THE RINGS will be glad to see Orlando Bloom back in the role that made him a household name and heartthrob as Legolas, the prince of the Wood-elves,  It's not a throw-away role either, with him getting plenty of screen-time as the younger and more arrogant version of his popular character, grappling with the shady dealings of his father, Thranduil (Lee Pace), the Elvenking, and unrequited feelings for the chief of the king's guard, Tauriel (Evangeline Lily).
A creation entirely original to the film (the film deviates more significantly from the source material than any of Jackson's previous Tolkien adaptations), Lily is a standout as the film's (and likely the trilogy's) only major feminine presence, and plays a major part in the proceedings, also providing opportunity for a touch of romance (conventional but sweet) to all the violence.

Peter Jackson famously loves his creature effects (see: KING KONG (2005 remake), and he gets his share in here, not only with the spiders (a scene which somewhat resembles the "Bug Pit" from his KING KONG) and of course the orcs, but most prominently with the titular dragon.  As voiced by Martin Freeman's Sherlock co-star Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the hottest stars working today and with the most unlikely name, Jackson gets as much mileage out of Smaug as possible, and he certainly is one of the finest creature creations yet to come out of Jackson's Academy Award-winning Weta Digital effects house.
Obviously the film is not perfect ("4 stars" does not equal perfection; it is simply an enthusiastic endorsement), but most of its foibles are carried over from AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, such as the unfortunate decision to replace the impressive prosthetics and makeup work of the LOTR Trilogy with motion-capture performances for the many of the orc characters, and for better or worse, the source material has been mixed heavily with Tolkien's additional writings in order to more closely tie this trilogy in with LOTR.  There's also the inherent issue of it being the "middle" film, starting and ending rather suddenly without the first and third films to support it as bookends (the sudden beginning is refreshing after the first film's very slow start, but the ending isn't the neatest cut-off).  Given the nature of the film as a sequel though, I'm willing to let those off as quibbles.  My only major objection is the excessiveness of some special effects sequences, namely a very extensive climax scene that seems to meander some as it comes up with new stages of the same action for quite a while, while really only acting as a prelude to what will follow in next year's THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN.
Something that I find interesting about Peter Jackson's approach to The Hobbit is how he deals with both making a follow up to one of the biggest and most acclaimed film trilogies of all time, but while also working with a source material that it frankly cut from a slightly different, less heavy cloth.  The Hobbit is a popular children's novel, a light and imaginative adventure story, as opposed to the weighty epic melodrama of The Lord of the Rings.  Naturally, audiences expect more LOTR, and I think Jackson wants more of that than he wants The Hobbit, so what we get is a heavily modified and details-heavy adaptation, rather than THE LORD OF THE RINGS, which was often repetitive for the sake of faithfulness to its reputable source.  I'm not complaining, especially if their going to mega-budgeted, nearly three hours-long films.  You need that kind of substance to sustain that sort of thing, and it didn't quite come together for the first HOBBIT.  Thankfully, it does in THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, where Thorin's story is like a dark mirror of Viggo Mortensen's Aragorn in LOTR, and where we get to see the origins of the War of the Ring set as a backdrop to a fine adventure.