The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Movie Review by Chris Stuckmann

Chris Stuckmann reviews The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, starring Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Evangeline Lilly, John Bell, and Jed Brophy. Directed by Peter Jackson.

[TheDarkNeonHero]

Smaug is pretty much the BEST Dragon CGI effect i've witnessed ever. The FIRE..the freaking FIRE that he breathes was SO convincing that i always wince and feel the HEAT of the fire. Its so good. :D and the final line he delivers of "I AM FIRE...I AM..DEATH" just gives me CHILLS

[RonanB]

Smaug was done perfectly. So cunning, so epic and probably my favourite CGI creation!

[XxTheSystemLinkxX]

The dragon was the best part out of the whole movie. Cumberbatch needs an Oscar for his chilling lines.

[ColynKirkland]

Return of the King is a pure masterpiece.

[psychonautmaddy]

I am so glad somebody else loves this movie <3

[Seekeroftheblackflame]

Why do people hate this movie? Come on, Smaug? That is the most badass dragon to grace the cinema screens in a LONG time.

[Ninaofthes]

Honestly: I can't decide. For me it's just ONE big movie - I can't split the movie into pieces. I love it so much.

[tammytoa]

Best middle earth movie = LOTR: The Two Towers
- return of gandalf after his apparent death to the Balrog
- King Theoden - you have no power here!
- Riders of Rohan slaughtering the Uruk-hai
- Helm's Deep battle - boss
- ENTS!

[Apkans]

Seems like no one has the guts to tell PJ when his ideas are stupid anymore. He tried to have Arwen fight alongside Aragorn in Helm's Deep, but people people were like: "that's just stupid." He also wanted Aragorn to fight Sauron in the end, but again people were like: "dude, that's lame bro.." so they replaced him with a giant troll.. Not all the cheese was prevented in the original trilogy. but now he just does whatever he wants and bunnysleds, moose elf king mounts, single purpose bred warbats, made up elfchicks for forced romance and hawt dwarves are the result. The whole thing feels like a Micheal Bay Cartoon.

[Termnath]

It is a poor adaptation but spectacular movie on its own

[joeking]

My main gripe is the use and quality of CGI. The dragon looks spectacular but apart from that the effects seem to be lacking all over the place

[LisaFreemontStreet]

Interestingly, I think the pacing of this one was a little lacking, compared to the first one. I like this one more, but just by a narrow margin. There are brilliant scenes but the story-telling is a little sluggish...for me, anyway.

[drakonlorek]

When you watch the movie, be sure to notice the guy eating the carrot in the first scene, similar to Peter Jackson in LOTR

[MrPotatoShed]

I hated this movie so much I refused to watch the 3rd Hobbit film. LotR was excellent, but Peter Jackson went completely insane with this one and ruined the series. He was obviously trying WAY too hard to make epic moments, but made them completely stupid. The barrel scene? I don't think everyone was laughing because it was amazing, they were laughing because of how stupid and cartoonish it looked. Mirkwood? The single most disappointing scene in the entire movie. What was probably the darkest part of the book was reduced to an idiotic montage of characters wandering around calling each others' names. The spiders? The moment where Bilbo finally proves his strength as a true hero is ruined by the introduction of useless and inconsequential characters shoehorned in to force a love triangle worse than the Hunger Games. The dragon scene? Looney Tunes had more believable physics! Smaug looked and sounded great, but the "fight/chase" scene with the melting statue was almost worse than the barrel scene. Overall, I think this film was a waste of an excellent cast and great source material, and I found this film series even more disappointing than the Star Wars prequels.

[SerenityNoww]

I felt like this film took the worst of the padding from the first film (ie the over-the-top implausible and drawn out action sequences) and did more of it. Mostly for that reason I preferred the first film. There's nothing worse (and this is a problem for many modern day films) than being bored to tears waiting for a scene to end that looks so utterly stupid, defies logic and has absolutely nothing riding on it. Give me a good story, engrossing visuals, characters, themes, and interesting dialogue and I'll be entertained. Give me Super Mario and I'll fall asleep.

[JoelJoel]

Disagree about Legolas.  He's a detriment to this film.  He feels nothing like Legolas from LOTR.

[blakedavenport]

I love the Hobbit trilogy, and I love the first one the most. I think people give it too hard of a time. In my opinion, it's very enjoyable and happy. The only improvement I would like to see is more practical effects!!! (:

[MatrakenKEN]

what happenes with legolas's eyes in this film? xD they look really weird

[Frsttimer]

I saw this last night at the Cinemark NextGen and the 3D was amazing! I loved The Desolation of Smaug! One of the best ways to end a film. 

[chrishuard]

I did not enjoy DOS. The Beorn sequence was too short, the spiders and mirkwood (too short), the overly long barrel sequence with cg orcs(looked fake) chasing them, Gandalf being by foes he could have easily It just really irritates me the way PJ and his writing team feel the need to embellish and depart and add to what is already whole and complete. The only reason Bilbo survived his encounter with Smaug is because he was wearing the whole time! The only believable character was Bard. This movie was a severe let down for me, so much so I dont even want to watch the final one!