I really enjoyed it, even to the point of debating with myself whether that was my favourite of the 5 Middle Earth movies to date. In the end, I decided it is not, but it is up there.
As usual, the environments are visually stunning and, satisfyingly, very close to what I always imagined them to look. From Beorn's house (I thought that scene was too short but done really, really well), to the Mirkwood, to Thranduil's kingdom, all done well.
The Lake Town stuff was a bit drawn out, but I believe the purpose for that was so that you felt something as the very last scene in the movie takes place. It worked for me.
The dwarven kingdom was also extremely cool. As they were activating the furnaces and all the other devices, you could suddenly feel the ambition of dwarves and get a glimpse into their nature.
The scenes at Dol Goldur were pretty awesome too. But the whole Gandalf/Sauron confrontation... that's something I've always had a problem with throughout the movies. If Sauron can't take shape and "regain his former strength" without the ring, how the hell is he so powerful he can overcome a wizard and make him captive? Does he really even need the ring? I don't know, that whole connection between Sauron being unstoppable and the ring never really hit home with me. Is it because he poured his cruelty and his malice in there? I mean, what? As it was, he waged war and nearly destroyed the whole world in Return of the King, and never once had the ring or even for sure knew of its whereabouts. Anyway, that part seemed farfetched and overly dramatic to me. From the books, you have the knowledge that Sauron was the necromancer but the notion was that he preferred to keep his true identity hidden while he was gathering his strength. It wasn't until he revealed himself at Barad-dur that it was positively known that he was back, at least I thought. But I suppose they had to crank up the drama because they'll be leading up to the epic battle there in the 3rd movie.
Smaug was great too, although a bit frustrating. He talked a lot and it seemed like he could have just ended it and eaten his foes several times. But I suppose that is line with the book, where the ego of a dragon is explained and that effectively illustrates how it motivated Smaug. The movie tries to show that a couple times but falls flat, mostly. He instead comes across like an ultra-powerful but, unfortunately for himself, inept, villain.
|