At the risk of sounding cringeworthy, I'll say a more apt title for this movie would be "The Desolation of Smaug's lack of screentime".
I like "A Unexpected Journey" a lot. Found it a nice ride, full of awe and amusing elements that got the spirit of the book right.
But Desolation didn't do so well in my books. The first movie's greatest strenght (in my opinion) is the focus on the Dwarves and their culture, which appealed to me as a fan of Dwarves, but this one just sidesteps all of that by having the most egregious case of Spotlight-Stealing Squad of recent memory.
Matter of fact, what do the dwarves do in this movie? Spiders of Mirkwood? Killed by the Elves. Escape from prison? Bilbo does that. Fight their way out? Legolas helps them with that. Find their way into Laketown? Bard. Find their way into the mountain? Bilbo. Retrieve the Arkenstone? Bilbo.
And accordingly, their screentime and lore is reduced to nothing. Now it all returns to be about-sigh- Fuckin Elves again. Thranduil's self-righteous bullshit, Tauriel being entirely unnecessary (though I don't think she was as bad as most people thought), Legolas being annoyinglySpotlight-Stealing Squad.
"In time, all foul things come forth" says Thranduil, and this is true: This is the movie where foul things come forth to this trilogy. Spotlight-Stealing Squad from the elves, lack of focus on the dwarves, stretching the story to nothing (seriously, this movie has no plot whatsoever until they reach Erebor), and a excessively dark tone that spoils the fun mood the first movie had.
Now there are good things. Every single second of screentime Smaug has is utterly magnificent and a sight to behold, truly a grandiose being wonderfully acted. And speaking of grand beings, there's Sauron's Nightmare Fuel arrival that is by far the most memorable scene of the movie (and perhaps of the trilogy). These two, Smaug and Sauron, save the film.
But other than that, no. This is a weak, weak movie to me.
In time, all foul things come forth.
At the risk of sounding cringeworthy, I'll say a more apt title for this movie would be "The Desolation of Smaug's lack of screentime".
I like "A Unexpected Journey" a lot. Found it a nice ride, full of awe and amusing elements that got the spirit of the book right.
But Desolation didn't do so well in my books. The first movie's greatest strenght (in my opinion) is the focus on the Dwarves and their culture, which appealed to me as a fan of Dwarves, but this one just sidesteps all of that by having the most egregious case of Spotlight-Stealing Squad of recent memory.
Matter of fact, what do the dwarves do in this movie? Spiders of Mirkwood? Killed by the Elves. Escape from prison? Bilbo does that. Fight their way out? Legolas helps them with that. Find their way into Laketown? Bard. Find their way into the mountain? Bilbo. Retrieve the Arkenstone? Bilbo.
And accordingly, their screentime and lore is reduced to nothing. Now it all returns to be about-sigh- Fuckin Elves again. Thranduil's self-righteous bullshit, Tauriel being entirely unnecessary (though I don't think she was as bad as most people thought), Legolas being annoyingly Spotlight-Stealing Squad.
"In time, all foul things come forth" says Thranduil, and this is true: This is the movie where foul things come forth to this trilogy. Spotlight-Stealing Squad from the elves, lack of focus on the dwarves, stretching the story to nothing (seriously, this movie has no plot whatsoever until they reach Erebor), and a excessively dark tone that spoils the fun mood the first movie had.
Now there are good things. Every single second of screentime Smaug has is utterly magnificent and a sight to behold, truly a grandiose being wonderfully acted. And speaking of grand beings, there's Sauron's Nightmare Fuel arrival that is by far the most memorable scene of the movie (and perhaps of the trilogy). These two, Smaug and Sauron, save the film.
But other than that, no. This is a weak, weak movie to me.
6/10