The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), Peter Jackson
3/5
Much improved from the first instalment of the Hobbit trilogy. Watching the film in 3D with High Frame Rate (HFR) was also much better than the first film. This, I believe was more due to my own acceptance and adjustment to the format, than it was to the quality of the format itself. Having said that, the 3D felt a lot less invasive than the first and a lot more polished, so it didn't really take you out of the story as much. Also, the film was a lot better paced and had a lot less dwarvish silliness, instead it was a lot more action based. Bilbo (Martin Freeman) was already established as a character and was a real stand out performance and central focus that guided the story. Also this film focused more on a few of the dwarf characters than the first film was focused on establishing all 13 dwarf characters which was more muddled and confusing. Unlike in the
Rings movies, where the
Fellowship of the Ring (2001) was by far my favourite film, I liked the
Desolation of Smaug a lot more than
An Unexpected Journey (2012). Having said all this, there was a vast number of changes from the book in this film, making it a lot more sinister and action oriented. This isn't just the addition of including Gandalf's concurrent story from the appendices, but a lot of character and plot deviations from the major story. Overall the film was a lot of fun, the 3D wasn't a gimmick, and not very distracting. While there were some ridiculous scenes that weren't realistic, it was a fun fantasy action film, that should be viewed
very separately from the original novel.
Analysis
***Spoilers***
There were many surprising changes from the novel and I felt it was an unusual and unexpected "prologue" or intro to the second film. The film opens on a scene of Bree very similar to the scene and shots depicted in The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Even down to the cameo of Peter Jackson which is hard to miss, considering it is the very first shot of the film reprising his role from his cameo in Fellowship (2001). This scene was more about nostalgia for me as it is very reminiscent of the scene in Fellowship (2001). However, I think the use of the conversation between Gandalf and Thorin tied in really nicely the aim and story set up for this bridging film; Thorin's quest to "reclaim my homeland.
Beorn and Gandalf.
The first major change was the role of Beorn (pronounced strangely in the film as "Bee-Orn"). In the book Beorn is described as a sort of dangerous yet joyous and raucous character and the very humorous scene where Gandalf gets a couple of dwarves to approach his home at a time. Instead he is depicted more as a fantastical beast "skin-changer" who chases the dwarves down into his own home. The action pace is much more prominent, and thus his role changed in order to serve this plot purpose. Another couple of minor changes which I think are significant is that Beorn's character in the book only changes at twilight for night time, whereas in the film he changes a couple of times during the day. The charitable view of this would be to say that it was twilight not full daylight when these scenes occurred. However the character depiction is very different from the book character although there are a lot of minor details in the background that are from the book, especially the bee keeping and honey and other barn animals all around his home.
Beorn in his bear form attacking the dwarves.
The pacing was a lot faster and the company quickly move into Mirkwood where Gandalf splits off from the rest of the company. A minor detail that I was disappointed they didn't include is Gandalf's numerous warnings in the book for the dwarves not to drink of any water from the forest, stating that it was unwholesome instead Gandalf says something along the lines of the air being somewhat poisonous or dangerous to breath. Then follows a montage of the company getting lost in the forest and a sort of hallucinogenic sequence. This deviates quite a lot from the descriptions from the book.
"There was no movement of air down under the forest-roof, and it was everlasting still and dark and stuffy." (Tolkien, J., 1996, p. 129).
The company in Mirkwood
Mirkwood as depicted by Alan Lee.
There is a much more ominous and eerie feel to the chapter Flies and Spiders in the book, depicting pitch darkness and eyes peering at them in the darkness. Instead the film moves quickly on to the action fight sequence with the spiders which far from being separate like it is in the book, but slides quickly into the elf sequence. Having said that the spiders in the film worked quite effectively, even down to the inclusion of the spiders talking. This aspect worked really well and fit in with Bilbo's use of the ring, which is revealed in The Two Towers book that the wearer of the ring can understand different tongues. It is revealed when Sam is watching the gate in the mountains of Mordor and listens to the Orc captains discussion.
Bilbo fights the spiders in Mirkwood.
Most of the use of the ring in Desolation of Smaug (2013) works really effectively, although it was difficult to see when Bilbo was wearing the ring and in the shadow world, which is precisely Tolkien's description in the Lord of the Rings. In fact the whole spider sequence felt very similar to the scene in the Two Towers (2002) film especially in Bilbo's fighting style with the spiders. Bilbo's fight with the spiders was somewhat different from the book the Hobbit although it did represent the spirit of the chapter where Bilbo finds his courage, and leads the spiders away and rescues the dwarves. The film depicts a much more action fight sequence instead of in the book where he toys and distracts the spiders in order to help the dwarves escape. After the spider sequence in the book, the dwarves find themselves lost and chase the firelight and sounds of celebration getting more and more disoriented towards the heart of the forest. Instead the elves break into the spider fight, killing many of them and find themselves face to face with the dwarves and taking them captive. Quite effectively this moves the pace along, however I think it seems to be another unnecessary change from the original text. Also it introduced Tauriel an elvish character completely created by the film creators. Functioning as a plot device there is also a number of nice scenes between Tauriel and Kili, with a hint of romantic interest, kind of creating somewhat of a love triangle between Tauriel, Kili and Legolas. Legolas also features heavily in the film, something I think was a great addition that was plausible from the source material and fitted in nicely.
Tauriel
Scenes in the elf kingdom were really effective and quite humorous, even down to the drunken keeper of the keys. Bilbo really comes into his own helping the dwarves escape the elvish dungeons, mirroring nicely the book. Thranduil's (Lee Pace) character is also well developed during these scenes and makes some sense the small introduction of him in An Unexpected Journey. Seeming to be a consistent trend in this film is that it really is the second half of the first film, where a lot of the character introductions and plots are either tied up or further developed, making more sense out of the hodgepodge that was the first film.
Gandalf entering Dol Guldur
Meanwhile during this whole section of the story, Gandalf is off on his journey to Dol Guldur which is nicely integrated into the rest of the action in the dwarvish story. Even Radagast the brown wasn't nearly so annoying in his scenes compared to the first film. If only this had been how he was portrayed in the first film; a lot more serious if slightly nervous and mystical, rather than his ridiculous "rustabell rabbits". Overall this section was satisfyingly ominous, and while casual viewers may have been perplexed as Sauron depicted as clouds of black smoke-like substance, it was so satisfying for this to be accurately portrayed from the books. They did include a number of shots of the eye of Sauron as well as a shadow of his figure, wreathed in flame which should have been explanation enough for those who have only seen the Lord of the Rings films.
The dwarves stuffed into the elf barrels.
Moving on the Barrels out of bond sequence, this was quite funny and in keeping of the spirit of the book for the beginning, but quickly diverged into another drawn out action sequence. The elves and the orcs both converge upon the dwarves and it quickly turns into an action fight sequence. Tauril's character has surprisingly been nicely developed as something of a warrior who defies orders and has more of an invested interest in the rest of Middle Earth compared with the greedy and selfish Thranduil. Legolas seems quite taken with her and follows her and chases the orc horde. I'm kind of predicting that Tauriel will die in the battle of five armies in the last film, in keeping with the fact that Legolas never marries, so as to be consistent with the Rings films. This would also be a nice drama and tragic ending along with the other deaths in the battle of five armies.
The dwarves escaping on the barrels and fighting the orcs.
Managing to reach the safety of the edges of Laketown they meet Bard. Bard's character has been significantly developed for the film, including his use as a smuggler to get the dwarves into Lake Town and also emotional development with his dead wife and his children. Stephen Fry as the Master of Lake Town is quite silly although his role is rather pompous and absurd, but thankfully a small role, finally discovers the dwarves and welcomes them although Bilbo's cold is left out of the film version, much to my chagrin. Also, the story of the black arrow and Smaug is introduced setting up Bard's role later in the story really nicely.
The dwarves finally reach the mountain, leaving some behind, which is kind of unnecessary, as is the dramatic inclusion of Kili's wound which seems just to be a reason to bring Tauriel and Legolas to Lake Town for another Orc battle. Once they finally reach the mountain in the nick of time, the dwarves seem far too eager to just give up there quest, believing they've missed their chance, although this scene brings Bilbo's character to the fore, nicely mirroring Frodo's solving of the riddle to get the company into Moria. Strangely, this is all quite backwards as the hobbit films are kind of mirroring the rings films, although it's supposed to be earlier, so Peter Jackson is back peddling a lot of the stuff that occurred and was depicted in the Rings films.
Smaug as depicted in the Hobbit film
Smaug as depicted by different artists
Further to this the Smaug riddles are kind of deleted from the dragon sequence in favour of this overly drawn out action sequence which is ridiculous on a number of levels, but at this point in the film, there's been so much that makes no sense, it seems plausible! Smaug is animated convincingly although I think his long necked design quite different from Tolkien's drawing of Smaug and of most dragons. Surprisingly the voice of Smaug isn't jarring at all because these films are quite silly in tone and much more akin to the Chronicles of Narnia which include talking animals than they are to the Rings films.
Overall the last action sequence of the film is just totally unbelievable and ends on a predictable cliffhanger. Although, I had anticipated the film would end with Smaug's demise by Bard's black arrow. I think this will seem rather strange and out of place considering, the destruction of Lake Town, doesn't really feel like introduction to another film, but rather a conclusion. Things that need to be tied up in the next film are the white orc, Gandalf's imprisonment at Dol Guldur, where presumably Galadriel will make an appearance and of course the battle of Five armies and the confrontation with Thraduil and the dwarves. The Arkenstone seems to have been developed and will continue to be a focus into the third film.
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