The movie CLERKS 2 triggered a debate among the geeks of the world about what should be their flagship movies: STAR WARS or THE LORD OF THE RINGS? The stupidity of this argument is almost equal to the iPhone vs Android argument that's been plaguing pop culture for the better part of the decade. They are debates with no objective answers meant to turn you into an loyal consumer of a particular brand. Unlike STAR WARS, J.R.R Tolkien's Middle Earth is still mostly unexploited. There is still enough original material for a couple of movie, and maybe, at the pace we're going, a couple of trilogies. THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG is the latest volume of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy and it really is cohesive with his body of work to a point that it's kind of a strange viewing.
Here is one odd thing to consider -> A trilogy of movies about the same novel will create three movies about the same exact thing. Since Josie and I watching THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY and THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG the same day, it was like watching a six hours movie with a pause in the middle. My memories of the two films are kind of jumbled together. The jist of it is that the company is still on its way to Erebor, the homeland of the dwarves, except that they are a little further down the road, this time. The problem is, the closer they are getting of the dragon Smaug, the darker, more violent and more chaotic the world around them becomes. Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and the company of dwarves start understanding how important it is that they don't fail at their quest.
One of the great selling points of THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG is Beorn. How cool is Beorn? He is pretty fucking cool in the novel, so he couldn't NOT be cool in the movie. Beorn is a recluse badass who belongs to an extinct race of shapeshifters. He is interpreted by Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt. He's not on screen for long, but Peter Jackson and his crew managed not to fuck it up. I had the Beorn I wanted: powerful, lonely and wise. I'm not sure how the geekdom of the world reacted to THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, but my limited knowledge of this chapter of Middle Earth was satisfied with the rendering and the amount of details.
So yeah, like I was saying: aside from the scenes inside Lonely Mountain at the end, it's kind of same-y. It's darker and a tad more tormented, sure but since it's another movie built on the same idea to blow the action scenes out of proportion, the viewing experience is actually quite similar. It makes a lot more sense to watch THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY and THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG a year apart in theaters, because you would actually miss the experience of watching a fast-paced, rambunctious and colourful fantasy movie in 3D. The Hobbit movies are definitely not the ultimate binge-watching experience that THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy was (and still is). While the idea is wearing thin and a certain laziness is starting to show in the approach, I would actually be curious to experience the last chapter of the trilogy in theater, next December.
The middle of The Hobbit's saga is a little soft, kind of like the middle of a novel sometimes is. It's not bad, it's just not kicking into another gear. Since THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY and THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG are both three hours, the excitement starts to fade after a while and the movie banks on gimmicks like seeing iconic elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) in action, to generate interest. THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG is not a disaster, but it's not a pleasant surprise like the first chapter of the trilogy was. Stretching one novel into three blockbuster movies was an ambitious idea after all and the magnifying glass of binge viewing puts that in pespective.
