Oh, thank God I still had time to watch this movie in the theater before I'm off on my 2-week holiday. Thank you so much to my brother who accompanied me to watch this, although the heavy rain in my city is an obstacle that we have to go through - resulting us getting inside the studio at the very last minute. The movie already started when I get in, which is a shame - but thankfully it's some kind of prologue and the title showed up few minutes after I sit down. Even though I've read the book, I have absolutely no idea what to expect in this movie, because I know it will be very different (since the movie is divided into 3 parts, while I think the book is not that long). So, here goes my non-spoiling review for the second movie adaptation of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. *there will be plenty of screencaps, so please be patient if took longer to load.
Listen to this song, The Desolation of Smaug's Soundtrack, by Ed Sheeran. It's a really nice song.
They play it when the movie ended. :3
The movie started with Thorin and Gandalf - sort of the prologue - when they're planning the journey several month ago. And then the scene changed, continuing the journey of the dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf being chased by Azog. Even from the start, the scene is already so exhilarating when they're trying to go somewhere safe, but then they're chased by another creature: Beorn - a skin changer that can turn into a big black vicious bear. Their adventure goes on, but then Gandalf has to leave them to do a 'more important' task - when he heard Galadriel's voice speak about The Enemy. But the dwarves and Bilbo aren't doing such a great job by themselves, and they lost their way in the forest. Thankfully, the Elves come to the rescue, but then the dwarves are held as prisoners - while Bilbo used the power of The Ring to make himself invisible.
The adventure continues, the dwarves keep escaping from the elves, from the orcs; lots of battles - arrows being shot, swords slashing, and many more. Thankfully amidst all that intense scenes, the movie managed to slip in a few laughs. Bombur is the funniest, since he's the cutest fat dwarf. The dwarves arrived in Lake-Town, bringing even more trouble. And at the end of their journey, when they finally get inside the mountain to take back Arkenstone, Bilbo Baggins has to do the most difficult job of finding it amidst all the silver and gold that fills Erebor; and of course, facing the dragon: Smaug.
The first thing I have to say about this movie is: the Elves totally steal the show. I know the elves will appear in this movie (as seen in the trailer), but I never thought they'll have so many screen time. Because as I remember, the book doesn't involve the Elves this much. But of course, I won't complain. When the elves showed up, being agile and shooting arrows in the coolest way ever, is always my favorite scenes in the movie. Tauriel is a brand new character that doesn't exist in the book. The story about Legolas who 'cares' for Tauriel also doesn't exist, and Tauriel-Kili love line is so unexpected - because there's no such thing in the book. It's also pretty awkward when Kili has to look up when talking to Tauriel. I'm pretty sure the elves will still be around in the third movie of The Hobbit, so I'm looking forward to it! **on a side note, I kept asking my brother how Legolas looked so different in this movie compared to him in LOTR. But anyways, he's still gorgeous. And this is the first time I've seen blood coming out from Legolas!
The second one that I'm anticipating the most from this movie is the appearance of Smaug the Dragon. It appeared around the second-half of the movie. And the scene when Smaug is around is so fierce and intense, because it seems like Smaug is teasing Bilbo around. The best thing about Smaug is when its' body start to heat up, showing all the fire bursting from its' body before it breathes out an incredible amount of fire. It's kind of difficult to explain, so it's best to just watch the movie ^^; The battle scene between the dwarves (who smartly uses the equipments in the room) and Smaug is also very exciting - although it doesn't happen book. This change, I think, is just to make the scene more dramatic and thrilling for the audience - or to not make the characters go to waste. Because in the book, only Bilbo gets to encounter Smaug before it flies to Lake-Town, leaving the dwarves and Bilbo inside the mountain, while Smaug does its' thing.Smaug: My teeth are swords! My claws are spears! My wings are a hurricane!
I'm still too overwhelmed by the movie, and I cannot recall what did I just watch. LOL. So I won't talk too much about the scenes in the movie - to avoid spoiler as well (read: excuses). It was absolutely amazing, and I guess no one can deny how so visually beautiful this movie is! I thoroughly enjoy the 3-hour I spent watching this movie. Peter Jackson always did a perfect job in bringing Middle Earth to life. Although the book and the movie is totally different in many ways, and there are many additional scenes, the main plot is still the same. But I think the additional plot distract the audience a little from the main focus, because the movie also bring up Sauron's comeback. I don't know whether I should be happy or disappointed with that much difference between the book and movie adaptation. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it.
Thranduil: Where does your journey end? You seek that which would bestow upon you the right to rule. The quest to reclaim a homeland and slay a dragon.Lastly, I can't express how much I'm anticipating the third and last movie of The Hobbit trilogy! The Hobbit: There and Back Again is supposed to premier next year, at around the same time, which is in December. It will be war-time, because Smaug is coming to visit Lake-Town to destroy it like it destroyed Erebor. Hopefully the last movie will wrap things up nicely and will do justice to the book. I am patiently waiting for next year to come! ♥♥
If this is to end in fire
Then we should all burn together
Watch the flames climb high into the night
Calling out father, oh, stand by and we will
Watch the flames burn auburn on
The mountain side
I agree, The elves steal the show. How many stars you gave, Stef?
ReplyDeleteI don't usually rate movies, but I'm giving this movie a 5/5 ^^
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