The film continues the story about Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who was sucked into an adventure with a group of dwarves to reclaim their homeland, which was taken over by Smaug.
Most of the movie is about how they get to the Lonely Mountain, where the dragon resides. They first have to journey through a long, twisty forest that is easy to get lost in. There they encounter a group of large, hungry spiders with sharp teeth that make Shelob look like Barney the Dinosaur (not really, but they are creepy).
They are saved by wood elves who take them captive and put them behind bars. Since Bilbo has the ring, he is able to get by the elves undetected and free his friends, who need to get to the Lonely Mountain by the last light of Durin's Day, which is when the keyhole to get inside the mountain will be revealed.
While they are escaping, the elves chase them. However, an even more pressing matter diverts their attention. A large group of orcs is after Thorin, and the elves now have to attack the orcs instead of capture the dwarves, who get away.
Their next stop is Laketown, which is just below the mountain. In order to get into the city, they hire a smuggler who ends up being an important part of the story. He finds out there is a prophesy that these dwarves are going to bring destruction to Laketown, and he wants to stop them.
Meanwhile, Gandalf is on a very important quest. There are rumors of a great evil coming to Middle Earth, and he needs to investigate to see what exactly is going on. There are many orcs assembling for this dark power. A leader of this assembly is the pale orc, who was after Thorin in the first movie. Whatever is happening is so important that he appointed a different orc to kill him.
Each "The Lord of the Rings" movie has a distinct feel to it. "The Fellowship of the Ring" is more of an adventure movie about Frodo taking the ring to Mordor. In "The Two Towers," it goes into Frodo and Sam's relationship with Gollum and the assembly of men to resist Saruman's orcs. "The Return of the King" is about the war for middle earth, the end of Gondor's need for a steward and the destruction of the ring.
That is exactly how "The Hobbit" movies are. The first one was about the start of the adventure, and it features a lot of exposition that makes it slower than this movie. "The Desolation of Smaug" is about how they get to the lonely mountain and all the complications that arise. Most of the conflict in this movie is other characters not wanting to help the dwarves and even impeding them from accomplishing their quest.
The pacing is better in this film than in the first one. It is two hours and forty minutes long, but it felt much shorter. "An Unexpected Journey" felt slow in that it took a while for them to actually go on the journey. At the beginning of this film, they are already on a journey, and it stays fairly action packed from the start.
The trailer for this movie teased about Smaug. The audience can vaguely see his face, but unless you see this movie you cannot get a clear sense of how enormous and awesome he is. The animation of the dragon is a huge achievement for the filmmakers. He is huge and terrifying. Him breathing fire is a visual that obviously took a lot of time to construct, and it pays off.
The buildup for him added to this enormity. He is lying down in a room with so many gold coins, it would make Scrooge McDuck salivate. The coins shift as the dragon moves around in his sleep. Every time Bilbo takes a step in this room, he is trying to not awaken the dragon. The suspense that builds from this scene makes it my favorite part of the film.
Another great aspect of Smaug is he is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, who has a very intriguing voice. He adds a sense of menace and psychopathy to the dragon.
My main gripe with this movie is there are some unnecessary sequences. When the dwarves are imprisoned by the wood elves, a love triangle is introduced between Legolas, a female wood elf named Tauriel, and Keely, one of the dwarves. It is not a big deal, but it adds superfluous cheese to the story. I also thought that while the Necromancer was really cool, it did seem to slow the movie down slightly. However, I am excited to see where that takes the third movie.
There is also a very long segment that features characters running away from the dragon. This is awesome at first, but after a few minutes, not a lot changes, and it gets a little boring. Though the pacing of the movie is better than the first film, it would have benefitted from being cut down just slightly.
The action scenes in this are among the most visually impressive and brutal of Peter Jackson's Middle Earth films. There are many heads being chopped off. Legolas and Tauriel fight with stylized movements. Imagine Tarzan from the animated Disney film killing orcs while tree surfing: that how some of the action scenes look.
Overall, I give this movie four and a half out of five stars. It is a great addition to Peter Jackson's rendition of Middle Earth. I recommend seeing this in theaters to anyone who enjoys these films.
Content: Rated PG-13. There is a lot of brutal violence throughout, including orcs' heads being chopped off and arrows stabbing clean through their bodies. There is one brief sexual innuendo that surprised me.
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