“Desolation of Smaug”: Worth It?

by Chris Vegvary

(Potential spoilers for those who haven’t seen The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)

I recall back in the day, the early 2000’s to be precise, when the first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy came out. I was forced by a friend to watch the movie, Fellowship of the Ring, which saw Gandalf the wizard, Frodo Baggins the Hobbit, and a group of brave warriors band together to send the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom to destroy it once and for all. I did not care for the movie the first time I watched it, and fell asleep. The second time I decided to give it a chance, Fellowship of the Ring became my favorite film in the whole series, including the newer Hobbit movies. I don’t know what changed exactly, but I liked what I saw. Didn’t care for the other two Lord of the Rings movies, though.

When the first film in The Hobbit series came out in 2012 (An Unexpected Journey), I thought it was going to be about as impressive as the latter two films in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which is to say, very boring to me), but I was impressed at how it was not exceptionally dull. I remember parts of the old Hobbit cartoon from the 1970’s, and I liked comparing the events of the two in my mind. Bilbo Baggins and the rest of the company don’t look the same, but from what I recall, all the dwarves were pretty old and ugly-looking in the cartoon. I liked the cartoon’s designs for the trolls, though, where I felt like the film’s was lacking.

So recently, the second film in The Hobbit trilogy, The Desolation of Smaug (or Smooge, as I like to call him) was released to great success. Was it a good movie? Sure. Definitely not as boring as the two Lord of the Rings films I can’t stand to sit through, but really, wasn’t it all just filler? I realize that the events in the movie served the purpose of moving the whole thing forward, but when I think back on it, it seems like barely anything happened (I am fully aware that plenty of stuff happened). Bilbo, Thorin Oakenshield, and the rest of the company find the entrance to their great underground kingdom about halfway through the movie, and Bilbo is sent in to steal the Arkenstone from the treasure room where the dragon Smaug resides.

A good portion of the latter half of the movie sees Bilbo stroking Smaug’s giant ego while trying to get the Arkenstone, but he fails, and the movie ends with Smaug heading to the village of Lake-town to destroy it. Major cliffhanger, because I was really hoping and kind of expecting to see all that happen in this one. I guess I can be patient for the next film, though. All in all, I felt this one was not very exciting. Don’t get me wrong, it really is a good movie and it’s definitely worth a watch (maybe even more than one), especially if you intend to watch the third film when it’s released. It’s just that this one felt like filler to me, that’s all.