{"id":12356,"date":"2014-01-05T22:46:09","date_gmt":"2014-01-05T12:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=12356"},"modified":"2014-05-20T20:01:26","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T10:01:26","slug":"the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=12356","title":{"rendered":"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Director: \u00a0<\/strong>Peter Jackson
\n<\/em>Writers:\u00a0 <\/strong>Fran Walsh, Phillipa Boyens<\/em>
\nCast:\u00a0 <\/strong>Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage<\/em><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he Desolation of Smaug<\/em> is the second installment in Peter Jackson’s grandoise adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit<\/em>.\u00a0 We pick up almost immediately where we left off in An Unexpected Journey<\/em> with Bilbo and the Company desperately trying to escape Azog and his orc army.\u00a0 Their mission: to return to the Lonely Mountain and reclaim the invaluable Arkenstone jewel from the dragon Smaug.<\/p>\n

Structurally, The Hobbit<\/em> trilogy has a lot of parallels with The Lord of the Rings<\/em>.\u00a0 The first installment of both trilogies focuses on the hobbits and the enormity of the task presented to them.\u00a0 In the second installment, the scope of the story expands and we become invested in the journey of the outcast who would be king (Aragorn in LOTR<\/em>, Thorin in The Hobbit<\/em>).<\/p>\n

The Desolation of Smaug<\/em> introduces plenty of new subplots and characters and is all the richer for it.\u00a0 There is the smuggler Bard – a resident of Lake Town and a descendent of the man who tried and failed to protect the water village from Smaug’s attack.\u00a0 Bard carries the burden of his ancestors failings but you suspect before long he will have a chance to atone for their failures.<\/p>\n

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Wood Elves take up a prominent role in The Desolation of Smaug with Orlando Bloom reprising his role as Legolas and Evangeline Lilly taking on a new role as Tauriel, a capable and compassionate warrior who is more taken by the plight of the dwarves than the rest of her kind.\u00a0 I still remember what a star-making role Legolas was for Orlando Bloom and how it became the launching pad for his acting career.\u00a0 Given how interest in his career has diminished quite significantly in recent years, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed his performance in The Desolation of Smaug<\/em>.\u00a0 I think Jackson knows how to get the best of Bloom.\u00a0 This is a role that requires him to say very little, look attractive and slay orcs in elegant fashion.\u00a0 It worked ten years ago and it still works today.<\/p>\n

Given how closely An Unexpected Journey<\/em> followed the source material, I was interested to see what Peter Jackson would do with The Desolation of Smaug<\/em> where we would really start to see him take some creative license with the story and add his own content.\u00a0 Overall, I came away satisfied.\u00a0 In the book, we don’t really know what Gandalf does when he abruptly abandons The Company at the edge of Mirkwood Forest.\u00a0 Now we know!\u00a0 Sure, Legolas, Tauriel and their love triangle with the dwarf Kili wasn’t in the books but it sets some foundations for the events of the third film which pit the dwarves and elves against one another.\u00a0 As with The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, I thought Jackson’s modifications to the story made sense in the context of a film narrative and were respectful to the themes of Tolkien’s works.<\/p>\n

In my review<\/a> of An Unexpected Journey<\/em>, I spoke of Jackson’s use of HFR and how I felt it heightened the look and feel of the film (although it has certainly been polarizing with audiences).\u00a0 After The Desolation of Smaug<\/em>, once again I feel compelled to champion this format.\u00a0 High Frame Rate gives the viewer an uncommon clarity and sharpness of vision which makes it seem as though you’re watching a stage play.\u00a0 What I felt was particularly effective in The Desolation of Smaug<\/em> was the sense of weight and heft it gave to the special effects and CGI characters.\u00a0 We all know the worst kind of CGI in films is where the characters look ‘pasted in’.\u00a0 You can see some of the most famous offenders in The Scorpion King<\/em> and Star Wars Episode I:<\/em> The Phantom Menace<\/em>.\u00a0 At its worst, I feel it can really break my suspension of disbelief in a film whereas older cinematic techniques like animatronics and stop motion can still capture my imagination because I can still see actors interacting with something that is physically in front of them.<\/p>\n

\"smaug2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When Legolas clashes with the orcs and Bilbo confronts Smaug, I was taken aback by how impressive the CGI was and how the HFR made them look as though they were real, tangible creatures that were really there.\u00a0 Am I alone in thinking this?\u00a0 Obviously I’m not the only fan but its likely that I’m still in the minority.\u00a0 I don’t think HFR is necessary for every film but I do think that for the effects laden blockbusters that get pumped out by the dozen each year, it could only be an improvement.\u00a0 I’d love to see Cameron use this technique with the next Avatar<\/em> film.<\/p>\n

I digress.\u00a0 I will say that I found the action sequences in The Desolation of Smaug<\/em> to be a cut above what we got in An Unexpected Journey<\/em>.\u00a0 The Barrels Down The River sequence was a fantastic blend of thrills, escapism and slapstick.\u00a0 Most contemporary Hollywood films are pretty poe-faced when it comes to action scenes.\u00a0 Just look how humourless and deadpan Man of Steel<\/em> was last year, all flailing fists, frowning and knocking down skyscrapers.\u00a0 With Jackson’s films, the action always reminds me of the bravado, showmanship and humour that you’d get with old Errol Flynn films.\u00a0 I wish more directors still had that sense of fun and adventure in their approach.<\/p>\n

The highlight of the film is of course Frodo’s confrontation with Smaug.\u00a0 Benedict Cumberbatch is a fantastic as the voice of Smaug.\u00a0 He is regal, cerebral and terrifying.\u00a0 The confrontation isn’t rushed.\u00a0 It’s a game of wits that ends on a cliffhanger.\u00a0 Another twelve long months before we get the conclusion.<\/p>\n

I didn’t know what to expect with The Desolation of Smaug<\/em> but what I got was better than I’d hoped for.\u00a0 It’s Jackson’s best film in some time.\u00a0 The characters are larger than life, the effects are incredible and the story is two and a half hours of fun, adventure and escapism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Smauggy with a chance of rain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1742,1369,378,1741,1201,1510],"class_list":["post-12356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-films","tag-ian-mckellan","tag-jrr-tolkien","tag-peter-jackson","tag-the-desolation-of-smaug","tag-the-hobbit","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12356"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15060,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12356\/revisions\/15060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}