![]() ![]() ![]() It's fascinating and chilling and proof that these sorts of performances demand the finest of actors.It’s difficult to judge the second part of what was always intended to be a trilogy. With his resonant baritone (reminiscent of James Earl Jones), Cumberbatch imbues Smaug with an imperious, psychopathic rage and arrogance. Lastly, one cannot write a review of this movie without mentioning Cumberbatch's motion-capture performance as Smaug. ![]() The fight scenes (particularly those with Legolas and Tauriel) are, as always, one of Jackson's specialties, as are the middle-earth landscapes by his long-time cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, who knows how to immerse audiences into the beloved universe. Laketown's heroic everyman Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) is well cast. There's not a sense of camaraderie and friendship the way there was in the nine-member Fellowship of the Ring.īut what does work in this film is the stopover at the Mirkwood, where the startlingly beautiful but cold elvenking Thranduil ( Lee Pace) is a lovely foil to his hot-headed son Legolas ( Orlando Bloom), who has an obvious crush on the gorgeous (and completely new to the world of Tolkien) captain of the guard Tauriel ( Evangeline Lilly). One of the fundamental problems with The Hobbit is that there is a lot of traveling and not enough relationship building. But let's just say this and move on: The Hobbit three-parter is not The Lord of the Rings, and it will forever confound some critics as to why it a standalone book was divided into three nearly three-hour films, when one would've done just fine. This second installment is a slight improvement over the first, even if some of the reasons it's better will upset Tolkien purists some new characters were nowhere to be found in the book. ![]()
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