The hobbit: the desolation of smaug

"Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not a lower but a higher size of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, & so (when achieved) the most potent." -J.R.R. Tolkien, March 8, 1939 lecture "Fairy Stories"

Tolkien"s parenthetical "when achieved" is the kicker of that statement, the acknowledgement of how difficult and rare successful fantasy really is. You know it when you see it. This reviewer did not find that quality in "An Unexpected Journey", the first installment of Peter Jackson"s gigantic trilogy based on Tolkien"s slim one-volume classic "The Hobbit," but it is there in spades in part two, "The Desolation of Smaug." This middle chapter is about a half-hour too long, & the final third splits the story up into three pieces, weakening the narrative thrust that had been building, but no matter: By the time we get to Bilbo Baggins" confrontation with the dragon Smaug (voiced with delicious sneering evil by Benedict Cumberbatch), the real work has been done. The thematic elements are in place, the emotional tension is highly strung, and the kích hoạt unfolds in a wave lượt thích the fire erupting from the dragon"s mouth, overtaking all in its path. 

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Except for a flashback which shows Gandalf (Ian McKellen) và the exiled dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) joining forces in a dark and beer-soaked pub straight out of Chaucer"s "Canterbury Tales", "The Desolation of Smaug" picks up where the last one left off, with Bilbo (Martin Freeman) & the posse of rowdy dwarves deep into their journey to lớn reclaim the Lonely Mountain và the dwarves" lost kingdom. 

Bilbo, dragged reluctantly from his comfy hole-in-the-ground in the Shire in the first film, is now resigned to lớn his fate, và shows resourcefulness & pluck in one harrowing situation after another. He"s also got that mysterious golden ring he found in the goblin tunnel—the one that seems khổng lồ make him invisible, the one that nobody else knows about, not yet. It will come in handy. Gandalf tries khổng lồ keep the team together, but forges off on his own solitary spell-breaking mission (which Tolkien"s book suggests is undertaken by Gandalf to lớn force Bilbo to gain the trust of the dwarves on his own).

Along the way, the heroes find shelter in the home of a shape-shifting Giant-slash-Bear, & are pursued by a galloping army of Orcs. To save time, they cut through the Mirkwood Forest and run into a terrifying herd of gigantic attacking spiders, in a scene doomed lớn give me nightmares for months. (I have barely recovered from reading that scene in the book when I was 10 years old.) Saved và then imprisoned by the isolationist-minded elves, the dwarves & Bilbo find a way to lớn escape in a bunch of barrels down a river, being attacked from the banks by orcs & elves alike. 

Some old friends show up: cool-eyed Legolas (Orlando Bloom), và Galadriel (Cate Blanchett). There"s a new elf in town, Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), who is drawn to lớn one of the dwarves; the thắm thiết triangle she sparks has nothing to vì chưng with anything, but it is still nice to lớn see Tauriel act as a deus ex machina on a couple of occasions. Stephen Fry has a great cameo as the Master of Lake-Town, a despicable và gout-ridden person lording it over his fearful constituents from on high; it"s a Dickensian piece of scene-chewing. 

Jackson & his team have a lot of fun creating these three-dimensional worlds, overwhelming us with different moods, energies, and personalities. Some of the images are breathtaking: the Long Lake swathed in mist with mysterious structures rising out of it; the misty dark wood filled with shadowy waiting creatures; the elegant vertical fortress of the elves, soothing & yet rigid, too, indicating the elves" unwillingness lớn get involved in the larger dark forces overtaking the outside world. The final confrontation with the dragon, when it comes, is worth the wait (although it would have been nice if the wait hadn"t been quite so long). The dragon"s lair is gorgeously imagined, an undulating and ever-changing landscape of coins and gold. There are lots of great moments: a gigantic tapestry falling from the wall in a rippling wave; huge collapsing columns; tiny walkways over the abyss; the dwarves" visible awe at their ancestors" ingenuity and power. Throughout, you get the sense that you really are in a lost & glorious world.

And yet for all its scope, there"s also a kind of homespun silliness in Tolkien"s book—a "Tut tut, isn"t everything just a bit much?" energy, stereotypically British, which has sometimes been lost in the other films, overwhelmed as they are by portent & meaning. It"s not lost this time. That barrel scene, for example, goes on for what feels like forever, và every second is justified. It has its own momentum, chaotic và jubilant, reaching an almost screwball climax, as events catapult out of control và nobody is sure which end is up, least of all the dwarves. Smaug is a fearsome beast, but you still laugh at the detail of Bilbo wincing at the breath emerging from the dragon"s mouth. (Now that"s the Bilbo I recognize from the book.) 

There"s a moment before the spider attack that perfectly aligns us with the overall intent of Tolkien"s fiction. Bilbo is told khổng lồ climb one of the trees to peek out of the đứng đầu of the forest and see how much further they have lớn go. When he pushes his head through the top, all he can see is a carpet of autumn leaves spreading almost as far as the eye can see, with blue butterflies flitting about along the leaf-tips. The sun shines brightly, and for a moment Bilbo is awestruck. We know that what happens next is bound khổng lồ be grisly & terrible. But beauty is there to lớn be appreciated, & the hobbits, with their love of homey nature, pretty colors, and comfort, know this as well as we do. It was the love of home that kept people going in the dark years during which Tolkien wrote these volumes, when the shadow of war overhung Europe. The sunlight-drenched green fields of the Shire are long gone by that point in Bilbo"s story, a distant memory, but the memory gives Bilbo his power. It is worth fighting for. 

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Fantasy
Adventure

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O"Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island và a Master"s in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to lớn our Movie Love Questionnaire here.