Lucas
Versantvoort / November 26, 2014
After being
somewhat let down by the first Hobbit
film, I was still somewhat interested in seeing Smaug in the second. It’s not every
day you see a wonderfully arrogant British dragon talking down to others. As expected,
Smaug is the highlight, while the rest of the film is hampered by the same
issues that held the first outing back.
We pick up where we left off, with
Gandalf, Bilbo and the dwarves on the road to Erebor in order to reclaim it
from Smaug. On the way, they split up, with Gandalf heading to Dol Guldur and
the dwarves entering Mirkwood, a forest filled with huge spiders. They narrowly
escape, but are captured by elves, including a familiar face (Legolas) and a
new one (Tauriel). They are brought before Legolas’s father, the king
Thranduil. Naturally, with tensions between dwarves and elves always being
high, this ‘meeting’ goes less than well. Thorin remembers very well how the
elves refused to help when they were driven out of Erebor by Smaug. Meanwhile,
the dwarf Kili and the elf Tauriel develop something of a romance, further
complicating matters. Bilbo, using the ring, helps the dwarves escape using
empty wine barrels and floating down the river. Legolas and Tauriel give chase,
but are forced to aid the dwarves when orcs show up. After a somewhat boring
sequence involving Lake-Town, Bilbo and the rest (excluding a now wounded Kili)
resume their march toward Erebor wondering, like me, if they’ll find something
worth paying an admission ticket for.
And they do find it, more or less,
in the form of Smaug, a deliciously cocky dragon voiced by Benedict
Cumberbatch. It’s the kind of villain where you relish every line he utters.
It’s all very quotable. Unfortunately, even if you haven’t read the book (like
me), you immediately know that Smaug’s pride and arrogance will prove to be his
downfall. The only thing left to do then is cherish the scenes where he tears
shit up. A scene I really like is when Thorin and the rest lay a trap for
Smaug. Thorin lures him by (what else?) insulting him and claims how they’ll
have their revenge. I won’t tell you what the trap entails, but needless to
say, it doesn’t work and Smaug consequently mocks the notion that they could
have their revenge: “Revenge? Revenge!? I will show you revenge!” It’s hard to
put into words, but it’s one of Smaug’s more badass moments.
So Smaug is fun to watch, but the
rest of the film is either boring, suffers from uninteresting storytelling and
dialogue or features poor CGI. A lot of the action scenes, like the river
chase, just don’t look good. It really feels like 90% of the budget went into
Smaug. This effect is only increased by the over-the-top choreography. Whenever
Legolas is fighting, he jumps, he slides, he flips and he just looks blurry. The
same goes for the attempts to inject the action with humor, like when Bombur (the
fat one) pirouettes in one of the barrels with his axes sticking out, thus
killing any approaching orcs. Though funny, it also reduces the tension
drastically. The romance between Kili and Tauriel was also uninvolving. Rather
than feeling for them, it felt like the requisite romance, like Aragorn and
Arwen in the original trilogy. But maybe it’ll pay off in the third film. Another
wasted opportunity is Beorn, the ‘skin-changer’ who shelters Gandalf and the
rest at the beginning of the film. He has his monologue about how orcs killed
his kind and how he’s the last one, but I’m just rolling my eyes thinking ‘who
cares?' Reading the book would’ve probably helped when relating to him, but that’s
just an excuse. The film itself has to be capable of at least making you sympathize
with him. As it is, Beorn just feels like a throwaway character. Lake-Town is
also uninteresting. Not only does Stephen Fry in the role of the mayor feel
incredibly out of place, it’s all just really unengaging, a problem exacerbated
by little things that don’t make sense. So, you’re trying to sneak out of
Lake-Town with a whole bunch of stolen swords and you’re letting Kili, who’s
injured by an arrow to the leg, carry the swords? Well, gee, I hope he doesn’t
trip or anyth—oh wait, he just fell down and the racket caused by the swords
has woken up all of Lake-Town. Well done, guys…well done.
Problems, problems… It’s interesting
looking back on these two films and seeing how much they differ from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Of course,
the scale is smaller overall, but they just ‘feel’ different, in the same way
that the Star Wars prequel trilogy
feels different and that’s not a good thing. You know it’s bad when you're looking at
the trailer for The Battle of the Five
Armies and all you’re really thinking is ‘let’s just get it over with’.
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