A more exciting and cohesive film, the second Hobbit film holds itself together much better than the first but is much lighter on weight and substance.

Telling the next chapter in a journey that probably should have been contained in one movie, the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug follows the hobbit Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a company of 13 dwarfs, lead by rightful king Thorin (Richard Armitage), as they seek to break back into the abandoned dwarf city in the Lonely Mountain and oust the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) who has taken up residence there. Well, to be more clear, Thorin really just needs a gem that gives him the right to reclaim the throne, which is why they brought Bilbo along as a burglar to sneak in and take it without waking up Smaug. Along the way the company is still pursued by orcs hellbent on killing Thorin and they run afoul of the elves of Mirkwood led by Thranduil (Lee Pace) with whom Thorin has some major beef. This brings his son Legoas (Orlando Bloom) into the mix along with Tauriel (Evangeline Lily). Also, the company walks, runs and rides horses a lot.

The Desolation of Smaug is the middle film in a trilogy adapted from a book that is a bit over 300 pages with filler material from appendices and other sources. This hurt the first movie quite a bit as far as narrative structure and story but it managed to be good anyway just by delivering a high level of quality even in the face for structural mismanagement. That is much less of an issue here as it feels much more sturdy as a story and the diversions into Lord of the Rings set up are fewer and fit better. That being said, part of the reason this is true is that there isn’t a ton going on in this movie from a story point of view. The characters continue moving toward their goal. They are again waylaid and imprisoned and they get out and are waylaid again. And so it goes.

For its messy story, An Unexpected Journey did a lot with world building and character development. Here we don’t see a lot of growth from anyone in particular although there are moments showing the effects the ring is having on Bilbo and Thorin has more moments of his obsession taking him over but that is about it. Killi (Adain Turner) is given some development as he catches Tauriel’s eye, something that makes Legoas jealous, which is nice but aside from motivating some characters to action, it didn’t really add much.

Now that all that is out of the way, where the Desolation of Smaug really shines is in its action set pieces and effects. I saw this in 2D and I was worried, based on my experience with the previous film, that the action would be blurry and hard to see but that was not the case. The action scenes are kinetic and fast paced with a lot of moving parts that are all very clear and easy to follow. This was a welcome change as the choreography for the action scenes is absolutely brilliant. The staging and photography is also flawless and the audience is treated to several very, very badass action scenes. Having Legoas back in action with the addition of Tauriel means that you have all the cool shit that he did in Lord of the Rings but with better effects. Legolas is cool enough in these action scenes that it will make you ignore how much of a raging dick he is in this movie.

*possible spoiler if you don’t know anything about what goes on here or have seen no trailers or read the title of the movie*

The creature effects remain wonderful and, despite my misgivings on how he would ultimately look, Smaug is pretty awesome. Voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, the dragon has real weight and is very expressive. His scenes with Bilbo are excellent even if they don’t match the level of the Bilbo/Gollum scene last time around. It is a bit weird as a fan of the BBC show Sherlock to hear Cumberbatch and Freeman sparring this way given their roles on that show but the fact that Cumberbatch is a big CGI dragon does help. He does double duty here as the Necromancer as well but he is CGI there too.

The performances are just as good this time out as they were in the last movie. Martin Freeman is great again as Bilbo as is Richard Armitage. Lee Pace is a bit creepy as Thranduil but handles the superior and disdainful countenance very well. Evangeline Lily acquits herself nicely as a newly created character there, presumably, to give a reason for Legolas to be involved (the triangle between Turiel, Legolas and Killi was not originally film and was apparently added in 1012). Orlando Bloom is awesome as always as Legoas and I was very, very happy to see him. Legolas is kind of a douche here but he is also a huge badass so that evens it out. Ian McKellen is, as always, excellent as Gandalf and Benedict Cumberbatch, who also did motion capture, shines as Smaug. Luke Evans turns in a strong performance as Bard and all the dwarfs do a great job again.

Conclusion [9.5 out of 10]

Even with the lighter story and character content, the Desolation of Smaug is exciting and fun to watch with great performances and effects. It suffers for being the middle of a larger narrative that should have been much smaller but if I had to choose between watching the first one and this one, I am probably going with this one. If you thought the first movie was slow or boring with long stretches of not much happening, this one should make you happier but if you are looking for the growth and story strength of the first then you may be disappointed here. At the end of the day, Peter Jackson brings heavy quality to the production which makes it somewhat resistant to the flaws but he is going to have to finish strong next time out. If he can marry the strong points of the first two films and weed out the weak ones, he might have the perfect movie.