The story of The Hobbit continues with the second instalment The Desolation of Smaug, as the dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf the Grey continue their journey to reclaim the formers’ old mountain home from the dragon.
Last year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was thoroughly enjoyable but suffered from a slow start – 45 minutes before the heroes even left the house. Thankfully, The Desolation of Smaug doesn’t suffer a similar fate and is action-packed from the get go.
Picking up where the last film left off, we start with the gang trying to avoid the orcs who are actively searching for them. Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin and his band of dwarves have a long journey ahead of them but with dangerous obstacles at every turn, the task is as dangerous as ever.
The Desolation of Smaug introduces more new characters into the mix and some familiar faces too. Legolas (Orlando Bloom) – the heroic elf from The Lord of the Rings trilogy returns. Alongside him is Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) a she-elf who is brave and nifty with a bow and arrow.
Luke Evans, who was in this year’s god awful horror No One Lives, plays Bard in this movie. A man who is trying his damndest to do right by his three children, especially since his wife has died. There is more to the man than meets the eye though. 
Of course, the biggest newcomer is Smaug himself. The dragon, who is voiced brilliantly by Benedict Cumberbatch, is a spectacle to behold. After being awoke from his slumber under tonnes of gold and jewels, he proves an excellent antagonist as Cumberbatch hisses out his lines with pure venom.
Peter Jackson has worked wonders again with the instalment in his The Hobbit trilogy. The effects are spell-binding and none of the actors put a foot wrong, which is sometimes hard to find with such a large ensemble.
It may be a tad long – running at two hours and forty minutes, but if you can hold back from going to pee, you are definitely in for a treat. Once again though, I really don’t want to wait another year for the next part.
Overall Thoughts:
The Desolation of Smaug has epic set-pieces and excellent performances on a grand scale. Peter Jackson once again proves that no one can better him when it comes to stories based in Middle Earth.
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