THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG
By: John ’Doc’ Strange
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Cast: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Dean O'Gorman, Aidan Turner, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sylvester McCoy, Stephen Fry
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening)
Selig Rating: MATINEE
Runtime: 161 Min.
Part two of the Hobbit story brings us the dwarves’ storyline. Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and his band of 12 dwarves journey to the Misty Mountains in the company of Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) and Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman). Thorin, descendent of the last king of the dwarves, seeks to return to the throne in order to reunite his people. Bilbo, thief, is along to assist them to get into the mountain and recover the Arkenstone.
To reach their goal will mean facing the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) in his lair. To reach said dragon they must face the perils of Mirkwood, Esgaroth, and the Kingdon of Erebor. They are chased throughout their journey by Orcs who hound them at every turn. They fight and are captured by elves.
The story is decent and most of the 3D effects are decent but not great. The length is rough, 141 minutes is a long time to sit and watch a film that had no real beginning and has no real end. This is the danger when you take a LONG film and cut it into 3 parts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it just doesn’t. The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug falls somewhere in the middle of this range. This is a “connector” film. It is important to the storyline but cannot stand on it’s own.
I am a huge Tolkien fan so I enjoyed the film. I liked The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, part one of Jackson’s trilogy. I liked this one. I wish I had loved it. The best rating I can give the film is MATINEE.
Movie Site: http://www.thehobbit.com/
The Selig Rating Scale:
FULL PRICE – Excellent movie, well worth the price
MATINEE – Good movie
DOLLAR – OK movie
CABLE – No need to rush. Save it for a rainy day.
FREEBIE – Good that I saw it on the big screen but wish I hadn't paid for it.
COMMERCIAL TV – Commercials and cutting to the allotted time will not hurt this one.
FORGET IT! – Bad. If you see this one, do yourself a favor and keep it to yourself.
GET YOUR TORCHES – BAD! – Burn the script, the writer, the director and maybe even the actors!
