The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

[The Chev]

Wolf of Wall Street will be my next film I see.

 

[Khev]

Catching up on some posts after a grueling (but fun!) Christmas with the wife and kids.

So I went to see this again today. I was thinking that I would enjoy it a bit more without my kids there to make me worry about length and them getting bored.

I hate to say it but I liked it even less. It is By far the weakest of all the films IMO.

Here is what I did like......

Smaug and how he was rendered and voiced. Some of the action. The talking Spiders... And that is about it.

What I find that I really did not care for.

1. Nothing happens. They get to Lonely Mt. and that is about it. Sure we meet a few new characters but none of them add anything to the story. The Two Towers suffered a little bit from this but nothing like this film. At least TTT benefited from introducing us to some great characters which leads me to

2. There is no character growth. Hell there is hardly any character moments at all. Does Bilbo have more then 20 lines of dialogue?? Do any of the characters. There are no real memorable new characters either. Some of this has to do with the source material being spread over three films I am sure. LOTR got to introduce us to great new characters in almost each film but each was basically it's own book. The Hobbit is one small book so it's just not filled with enough great characters to fill three films.... Though they could have at least tried a little harder with the characters they already introduced.
*** I do make an exception for Smaug.... He was a great new Character and perhaps I like Bard in the next film more.

3. The made up stuff.... I don't mind the female Elf... But all of that love story with the dwarf stuff really slows down the film and fails at making me care at all. It feels forced and I have to assume it's because it's made up. I like Legolas as much as the next guy but he has a few two many "Oh Legolas is so cool" moments.... Does it bother me because I know he was not in the actual book and this was all done for the fan boys?? I don't know but again I have trouble getting invested in the character or the action. Also as cool as Smaug is the ending just drags on way too long. The whole Forging of the Gold Dwarf looks pretty but ultimately serves absolutely no purpose.

4. This could be my biggest complaint and perhaps it does not effect many on this board but this had FAR and AWAY the worst film score of the series... Not one memorable theme appears. Lake Town has a little theme but it's nothing like The Fellowship, Rohan, Gondor, or the Lonely Mt song... But not just that LOTR was filled with many other great themes. The Mines of Moria, the bridge of khazad dum, the love themes, Into the West, and so much more.... This film was basically just background music that could have been composed by anyone.

5. I know I got into with Josh about this... But I still say that having Gandalf fight Sauron ruins some of the tone and feel of the original films... Tolkien was smart to leave all of this in the appendices. I liked the extra stuff in AUJ.... Not so much in this film. I know I can research the books and find out a lot of this history but the films should stand on their own. And I still say that because of all of this (running into Sauron) Gandalf should have been suspicious of the Ring Bilbo has whenever Bilbo finally tells him. Leave out Sauron and I have no trouble with any of this. But like I have said before this could all change for me after I see the third film.

6. No sense of Danger..... What is it with Jackson and Lucas in their prequel films... People seem like they can fall for ever and ever and never get hurt. FOTR always felt grounded in reality... It's like Jackson made KING KONG and fell in love with the Dino stampede and wanted to repeat it.... This is a lesser complaint I have but I do miss the feeling of "as outlandish as this all is it still feels real"

I'm surprised that like The Chev I pretty much disagree with all of your criticisms. Obviously it's all personal preference, save for the "nothing happens." I just don't get that. Tons of adventures and meetings occur, relationships are established and changed, and so on.

I love the score. LOVE IT. A lot of it is recycled obviously but that new theme (Smaug's theme?) that plays over the "Desolation of Smaug" title graphics at the beginning and throughout is just killer IMO and one of my favorites of the series.

When I first saw DOS I greatly feared that the extended Smaug battle meant that the dwarves might kill him instead of him dying like he did in the book. Now I feel like the dwarves going toe to toe with him accomplished two things: 1. reinforced just how indestructible he seems to be and 2. made his grudge against Thorin's company personal. To me it was clear that had the battle continued Smaug would have eventually prevailed. He just didn't have the patience for it and needed to head off to obliterate a town to prove a quick point.

I thought the film introduced a ton of great new characters. Smaug (obviously,) Thranduil (just a non-speaking cameo in AUJ,) Tauriel, a different Legolas, Bard, Beorn, and the Lake Town Master.

One thing I noticed the second time though was that after Bilbo took off his ring when facing that first spider "here I am," he could still understand it "it stings, ahhhhh!" So I guess it wasn't just the wearing of the ring that made him understand them.

 

[The Josh]

I don't think there is much recycled stuff on the score but lots of new stuff.

 

[Gruson]

Jaws,

We agree again. Love your points. I just didn't care for this one. Nothing happened, no suspense, and boring characters. We needed more Bilbo and Gandalf for sure. Even Azog, my favorite character from the last movie, wasn't even in it much.

Major disappointment and easily the worst of the series.

I rank them:
Fellowship
Hobbit
Two Towers
Return of the King
Smaug

Boromir is also my fave.

The score also had no excitement. Where was the incredible "Hobbit" theme that was used so much in the last one?!?!

 

[The Chev]

Jaws,

We agree again. Love your points. I just didn't care for this one. Nothing happened, no suspense, and boring characters. We needed more Bilbo and Gandalf for sure. Even Azog, my favorite character from the last movie, wasn't even in it much.

Major disappointment and easily the worst of the series.

I rank them:
Fellowship
Hobbit
Two Towers
Return of the King
Smaug

Boromir is also my fave.

The score also had no excitement. Where was the incredible "Hobbit" theme that was used so much in the last one?!?!

Bilbo did plenty in this film

He rescued the dwarves Twice.

Figured out the Secret Door

Had his big moment with Smaug.

The only sequence where Bilbo was in the background was in Lake town, where people like Bard and Thorin where the focus for a little bit.

 

[The Ween]

I'm beginning to think I saw a different movie.

 

[jye4ever]

What did Smaug say (more like yell) when he came out of the gold?

I thought it was "I am blind" but now I don't think that was it.

 

[JAWS]

Jaws,

We agree again. Love your points. I just didn't care for this one. Nothing happened, no suspense, and boring characters. We needed more Bilbo and Gandalf for sure. Even Azog, my favorite character from the last movie, wasn't even in it much.

Major disappointment and easily the worst of the series.

I rank them:
Fellowship
Hobbit
Two Towers
Return of the King
Smaug

Boromir is also my fave.

The score also had no excitement. Where was the incredible "Hobbit" theme that was used so much in the last one?!?!

Sorry fans of DOS... If Gruson and JAWS agree about a film we are always right

What did Smaug say (more like yell) when he came out of the gold?

I thought it was "I am blind" but now I don't think that was it.

"It Burns"

 

[JAWS]

I don't think there is much recycled stuff on the score but lots of new stuff.

I think for me, there was lots of new but very boring stuff... Nothing memorable at all. A very "pedestrian" score that was only back ground noise intead of helping bring the film alive.

Also, Not having the Lonley Mt. was a crime... Would have helped make the films feel a little more connected.

But people who enjoyed the film seem to enjoy the score also... This just seems to be just a perfect storm for me to not enjoy the DOS

 

[JAWS]

I'm surprised that like The Chev I pretty much disagree with all of your criticisms. Obviously it's all personal preference, save for the "nothing happens." I just don't get that. Tons of adventures and meetings occur, relationships are established and changed, and so on.

I love the score. LOVE IT. A lot of it is recycled obviously but that new theme (Smaug's theme?) that plays over the "Desolation of Smaug" title graphics at the beginning and throughout is just killer IMO and one of my favorites of the series.

I thought the film introduced a ton of great new characters. Smaug (obviously,) Thranduil (just a non-speaking cameo in AUJ,) Tauriel, a different Legolas, Bard, Beorn, and the Lake Town Master.

I guess just find that "nothing happens" because, despite all the new characters and adventure and action, there is nothing of consquence that happens to help the story move along. Lots of new characters with nothing to do. Lots of old characters with nothing to do until the last 40 or 50 min.

It just was not my kind of film. At least not my kind of Hobbit/LOTR film. But it's cool that you go something out of it.. I am hoping that the EX cut helps me enjoy it more.

But I will always disagree with you about the score. I just found nothing memorable about it. The Smaug theme reminds me too much of the other "bad guys" theme used in the original films... Just not as good. But other then his theme and Lake Towns theme there was nothing else realy to note and I did not care for either of those that much. But musc is just like film and it's all about personal preference.

 

[jye4ever]

I will agree with Jaws on the soundtrack, the weakest.

 

[Goonsack Steve]

Just came out of this movie (Opening day for Australia today) and all I could say was "Wow." I was actually also screaming in the cinema when the movie ended. The cliffhanger was just too damn much for me (Since I haven't read the books) that now I just can't wait for next year.

 

[The Chev]

I think for me, there was lots of new but very boring stuff... Nothing memorable at all. A very "pedestrian" score that was only back ground noise intead of helping bring the film alive.

Also, Not having the Lonley Mt. was a crime... Would have helped make the films feel a little more connected.

Hey, I found something we agree on!

It was pointed out that you can hear parts of it during the Barrel chase, but it's only the second part of that theme. I miss that first part of it.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a pedestrian score. After listening to it many times now, It's gone on me more, but still doesn't wow me like the other ones. To be honest AUJ's score didn't wow me like LOTR's did, but AUJ had some great music in it.

 

[The Chev]

Just came out of this movie (Opening day for Australia today) and all I could say was "Wow." I was actually also screaming in the cinema when the movie ended. The cliffhanger was just too damn much for me (Since I haven't read the books) that now I just can't wait for next year.

Glad you enjoyed it.

I loved the way Smaug said the final two lines. He sounded a different almost like he was out of breathe. Probably because he was in flight.

 

[TheProcrastinator]

I have to agree with the complaint about the score. There is such a difference between the music in the new films, and what I remember from FOTR, for example.

The old trilogy had a proper score, with loads of characteristical, stand out themes, constantly changing from set piece to set piece. The music there was as diverse as was the visual side of those films.

But in the Hobbit, not only is there a shortage of new themes (I only counted one in DOS, and it was overplayed to death), but everything else is just a cacophony of background music, sounding pretty much the same throughout the whole film, but also being sooo intrusive. I mean it played almost constantly, to the point that those few moments of silence scattered throught the last portions of the film, seemed totally out of place. The music underscored practically everything in that film, every single action, every dialogue, often in a way that was almost caricatural.

I think the messy, frantic score only added to the fragmentic, chaotic feeling of this movie.

 

[The Chev]

I have to agree with the complaint about the score. There is such a difference between the music in the new films, and what I remember from FOTR, for example.

The old trilogy had a proper score, with loads of characteristical, stand out themes, constantly changing from set piece to set piece. The music there was as diverse as was the visual side of those films.

But in the Hobbit, not only is there a shortage of new themes (I only counted one in DOS, and it was overplayed to death), but everything else is just a cacophony of background music, sounding pretty much the same throughout the whole film, but also being sooo intrusive. I mean it played almost constantly, to the point that those few moments of silence scattered throught the last portions of the film, seemed totally out of place. The music underscored practically everything in that film, every single action, every dialogue, often in a way that was almost caricatural.

I think the messy, frantic score only added to the fragmentic, chaotic feeling of this movie.

The one interesting part in the DoS score was the music in Bilbo is sneaking around before Smaug wakes up. In the Production blogs they said they wanted to try something different, and it was interesting.

 

[The Josh]

I have to agree with the complaint about the score. There is such a difference between the music in the new films, and what I remember from FOTR, for example.

The old trilogy had a proper score, with loads of characteristical, stand out themes, constantly changing from set piece to set piece. The music there was as diverse as was the visual side of those films.

But in the Hobbit, not only is there a shortage of new themes (I only counted one in DOS, and it was overplayed to death), but everything else is just a cacophony of background music, sounding pretty much the same throughout the whole film, but also being sooo intrusive. I mean it played almost constantly, to the point that those few moments of silence scattered throught the last portions of the film, seemed totally out of place. The music underscored practically everything in that film, every single action, every dialogue, often in a way that was almost caricatural.

I think the messy, frantic score only added to the fragmentic, chaotic feeling of this movie.

I'm not always the best at picking out themes but there are at least 3. Lake Town, Kili/Tauriel, Smaug. I believe there is one for Mirkwood as well and Beorn may have one.

 

[Goonsack Steve]

Glad you enjoyed it.

I loved the way Smaug said the final two lines. He sounded a different almost like he was out of breathe. Probably because he was in flight.

Smuag amazed me. A couple of my friends who happen to live in the USA told me about smuag and said "I thought he would look better, but oh we'll" which kind of worried me. But to be honest I think my friend was completely crazy! I loved everything about him from his voice right down to his movements which seemed to be liked by all my friends I saw it with. Can't wait to see some more smuag next year!

 

[greygoose]

"I thought he would look better, but oh we'll" which kind of worried me.

What else did they want?! He looked awesome!

 

[The Chev]

What else did they want?! He looked awesome!

Agreed. Can't please everyone.