Spinning Platters

Never has ‘desolation’ been so fun…to a degree.

When The Fellowship of the Ring was released in 2001, it blew everyone away.  Audiences had never before seen a fantasy epic of that calibur, never mind one with such genuine emotional weight.  The success of the first film set up eager anticipation for the 2002 middle chapter, The Two Towers.  Aided by pitch perfect trailers and, crucially, a strong-enough middle part story arc, The Two Towers was a great success.  Who can forget the incredible battle at Helm’s Deep!?  Ten years later, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was released to wide anticipation but ended up disappointing audiences.  There are many reasons why this happened — some reasons fall on the filmmakers’ shoulders and poor editing choices, while other reasons involve misunderstanding (or ignorance of) the differences between the original LOTR and Hobbit source materials.  Nevertheless, the sub-par (but in my personal opinion, still quite fun) first Hobbit movie ensured that we all just wanted one primary thing in the follow-up — to be a better movie.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug meets, if not exceeds, our lackluster expectations.  It remains flawed, lacking the character depth and story arcs we’ve come to expect from director Peter Jackson’s numerous cinematic journeys into Middle Earth. However, it doesn’t lag like the first film.  It begins at a brisk pace and ends at an even faster pace, teasing us for the third and final chapter.  And in between, we’re treated to a limited but welcome small dose of romance and emotional depth, as well as a handful of incredible action sequences.  Even if it’s a minimal reward, we can finally start to care about these characters!

Continue reading “Film Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”