The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Movie Review

If you follow me on Twitter you would have probably seen me literally 'begging' for invites and passes for the premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug well it's actually because of a number of reasons- first since Paul and I are big Tolkien fans. When we were boyfriend and girlfriend we spent so many hours watching the Lord of the Rings on DVD (the extended version, with commentary and of course the special features and all the behind the scenes that come with the DVD). We also have (of course) The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey on DVD :) 


The Second reason is that December 10, 2013 is actually our second wedding anniversary and I really, really wanted to celebrate by watching the premiere. Unfortunately it didn't push through so I just had to take matters in my own hands. (I actually got an invite bit it was only for one- sooo....)  

So yeah -Paul and I really are a match made in geek heaven - wanting to celebrate our wedding anniversary with Bilbo, Gandalf, a band of dwarves and a grumpy dragon. Even if that didn't really happen we went out to watch the movie with Paul's sister, her husband, their son and Paul's Ate who actually owns the DVDs we watch. Yep the geekiness runs in the family!   

Continuing in his tradition of translating Tolkien's work into a great cinematic experience, Peter Jackson once again slips on the one ring to rule them all on and transports you in an epic adventure - even if it means changing a thing or two in the story.     

First of all Legolas (Orlando Bloom) is not in the original "There and back again" story but is included in the movie most probably for the legions of fan girls. You can only have so much bearded dwarves, a clean shaven elf is nice to see on the screen for a change but Paul is not a fan girl and is not such a big fan of Legolas either. He keeps on shaking his head on the 'too much hero shots' for Legolas and I must agree that he has a lot of in the movie to the point of overkill maybe? 

A difference from the first Hobbit movie though is the increase in stunts in the second film, complete with walking on walls ala Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Orc decapitations too. I guess working with Dwarves would definitely limit those kinds of stunts but that definitely did not stop the crew from going all out in the barrel and river barrel ride scene. Anyone who gets out of that situation definitely deserves the title of barrel rider! 

   

The Wildest River ride ever- in barrels! 

Another elf who was also not in the original story is the female elf Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and in keeping with Peter Jackson's practice of letting female characters kick butt on the screen, Tauriel kicks a lot of Orc butts indeed. In case you didn't know, in the books Tolkien gave more traditional roles for his female characters who often sat back and looked pretty while the men did all the sword swaying and the arrow loosing action. So big thanks to Peter Jackson for putting a little girl power in his adaptations. 

Aside from giving female characters some orc heads to cut off, Peter Jackson also likes to add a little hint of romance and love in the air and in the absence of Aragorn and Arwen that 'honor' fell on the hands of Kili (Aidan Turner) and Taruriel- wait what? Yes you got that right there was also some weird, nay awkward Elf-Dwarf flirting going on. Oh and can I say it was also a bizarre love triangle between Kili- Tauriel and Legolas. Let's see how this inter-racial romance plays off in the next movie.    
   

Legolas and Tauriel: Absent in the books but kicking ass in the movie. 

A new character who was in the books was also introduced in the second movie and this is Bard the Bowman played by Luke Evans and Paul and I both agreed that he looks a lot like Will Turner from Pirates of the Carribean, even Paul's 11 year old nephew thought so! Its rather amusing to note that Bard looks like Will since Orlando Bloom is also in The Hobbit (as Legolas- but you already knew that). Maybe the character design or make up department could have given him a different look. Nevertheless Bard is a really interesting character given that he represents the human race in the movie. 

Kalook-a-like ? : Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) from Pirates of the Carribean and Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

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