The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

           Even though I’m not a J.R.R. Tolkien fan, I looked forward to finally seeing the second film in The Hobbit trilogy.  What’s the reason for my enthusiasm?  I haven’t seen anything with Richard Armitage for awhile.  So when I saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was next on my movie list, I eagerly awaited its arrival in the mail.  Unfortunately, since the film is long (about two and a half hours) I had to wait a day or two before I could watch it.  Once I did, I will admit, I was confused.  It had been such a long time since I’d seen the first film that I didn’t remember all the chain of events leading up to this one.  This probably means that when the third film comes out I shouldn’t wait so long to see it.  Maybe then I will actually remember what is going on.      

                In this second installment of The Hobbit, Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Thorin (Richard Armitage), and the rest of Thorin’s dwarves are still trying to reach the Lonely Mountain in order to reclaim the dwarves’ kingdom.  Bilbo and the dwarves (I’m not sure why, but Gandalf does not stay with them) go into a forest and get attacked by spiders.  Once they are free of them, all the dwarves are captured by elves.  Bilbo manages to escape capture by the use of the ring and follows the dwarves to the elves’ kingdom.  Once there, Thranduil (Lee Pace), the king of the elves offers Thorin a deal in exchange for their release, but Thorin does not take it.  He does not trust the elves because of how they treated the dwarves in the past.  Thorin is returned to his cell and with all the dwarves locked up it falls on Bilbo to save them. 

                Bilbo does save the dwarves.  He releases them from their cells and they escape.  This would be great except for the fact that while they are escaping they get attacked by Orcs.  Once Bilbo and the dwarves are safe from the Orcs, they have to figure out how to get to the mountain.  They end up meeting a man named Bard (Luke Evans) who lives in a village close to where Bilbo and the dwarves need to go.  Bard has a boat and he is able to sail Bilbo and the dwarves to his village in secret.  They all reach the village safely and it looks like everything will go according to plan, but the dwarves are caught stealing weapons and they are set to become captives once again.

                Fortunately Thorin knows how to think on his feet.  He does some fast talking and they are allowed to continue on to the mountain with the village’s blessing.  Except Thorin himself does not permit all the dwarves to go.  His nephew, Kili (Aidan Turner), was injured during the battle with the Orcs and Thorin does not believe it is wise for Kili to come along.  Another dwarf stays in the village to care for Kili, and Kili’s brother Fili (Dean O’Gorman) hops out of the boat because he refuses to leave his brother behind.  One other dwarf does not go on the journey either but that is because he slept too late and missed the boat.  The rest, along with Bilbo, sail to the mountain to face the dragon Smaug and reclaim the kingdom that is rightfully theirs.

                I must say, that by watching these films, I have realized that Bilbo is far more useful than Frodo ever was in The Lord of the Rings.  Instead of having to be saved like Frodo always was, Bilbo is the one doing the saving.  Without Bilbo, the dwarves would have been lunch for the spiders in the forest.  If they had somehow gotten out of that mess on their own, then they would have been forever locked up in the elf jails.  None of this happened because of Bilbo, and now he is being used to face down a dragon and reclaim a kingdom that isn’t even his.  What would these dwarves do if Bilbo was not there to go into the dragon’s lair to retrieve they stone they need?  Smaug is a very intelligent dragon.  Not just anyone can get around him.  Smaug.  I love saying that name.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe because it’s so unusual, which makes it fun to say.  Okay, back to the topic.  From all that I have seen, in my opinion, Bilbo is a far better hero than Frodo ever was.                               

                Despite the fact that I am confused with the storyline, and I don’t know which dwarf is which most of the time, I am enjoying a lot of what is going on.  First, Gandalf isn’t in the film much.  This makes everything a lot more palatable.  Hopefully his lack of presence remains throughout the third film.  Second, there is a really nice love story between the elf Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and Kili the dwarf.  Legolas (Orlando Bloom) might not like it, but I do.  I also like that there is a strong warrior type woman with the character of Tauriel.  It’s great to see a woman of strength in such a male dominated film.  Third, I really like Bard.  I’m not sure what his full role in the story is going to be, but I’m really interested to find out. 

               I don’t know when I will see the third and final installment of The Hobbit. It hasn’t even been released to theatres yet, so it could be quite awhile. I do know that I am looking forward to seeing how everything works out. Hopefully none of my favorite characters will end up dead. If they do, I will be greatly disappointed. Since the trilogy is based off of a book, I could look up what happens, but that would take all the fun out of it. I’ll wait for the film instead, no matter how long it takes me to see it.