The Desolation of Smaug
It's taken me a while but here's what it think without spoilers. I love Martin Freeman. He is a wonderful Bilbo and his facial expressions are masterful. I had been looking forward to Stephen Fry as the Master of Laketown and he did not disappoint me. The dragon is awesome. The look, the voice, love everything about him. I adore this film's opening scene. The music was fantastic!Having said that, I was disappointed in the film as a whole. Now spoilers behind the cut.
I hate the romance between Legolas(implied), Tauriel! And Kili. I'm insulted that PJ and company think they have to put in a romance in order to draw in female viewers. Some of us turn up for the plot or the action or the adventure. The Hobbit is about a HOBBIT's adventure and a quest by a dwarf to reclaim his throne. It's about family history, treasure, and a dragon! Why isn't that enough?I have no problem with Tauriel as an elf of Mirkwood. I'm sure they had female elves and maybe even a female elf with kick-ass fighting skills. I know the elves have romantic lives. It's how they get more elves! I just don't need this romance. I don't think the film did either. And Kili wounded by a morgal blade? If he lives will he have to sail to the Undying lands to be healed too? (I say 'if he lives' because now, all bets are off. Jackson has made it clear that this film is not going where the book went. So, Kili could live.)Or, he could die in the battle wrapped in the arms of a sobbing Tauriel as she mourns the loss of her dwarf prince who died taking an arrow meant for her while Legolas watches sadly, knowing he will never win her heart. She is forever scared by the death of her hot dwarf!Wait! I'm sorry. What is this film about again?Oh, right. This is The Hobbit and I'm supposed to be left wondering if Thorin Oakenshilld will reclaim his throne and his treasure and if Bilbo Baggins will get his share of the glory and get back to the Shire in time for tea and won't someone please kill that dragon?And what of the Ring that Bilbo found in Gollum's cave? Will it be used as a wedding ring when Kili marries Tauriel and he becomes King under the mountain? (In that version he doesn't die at all but Thorin does and Fili does.)Will Legolas' Father be happy now and welcome Kili into Mirkwood because now, his high-born son won't be tempted to marry a commoner?(I disliked the 'girl from the wrong side of the tracks' thing too btw. Did Disney acquire the rights to Tolkien too while I wasn't looking? The plot for this romance had a Disney Princess vibe for me). Maybe that comes from having just seen FROZEN a few nights before. (Frozen is brilliant by the way)In short, too late for that but anyway, I think this was a bad making of The Hobbit and a brilliant MarySue fan fiction. One of those 'girl drops into Middle earth' and must decide between a hot elf and a hot dwarf while saving everyone stories. OMG it's twilight! The shiny vampire or the muscle-bound wolf? (The shiny elf or the hot dwarf?)I'm left wondering if one of the girls from Ff.net that used to write the Legolas loves me fics wrote the script for this installment of The Hobbit. *sigh*I know that the movie can't be the book in full. I know that they change things so they play better on the screen. I know Tolkien didn't give us many female characters. I was just hoping for more Tolkien and less romance. I expected this plot line in fan fiction here on line but I wouldn't have paid $20 to see it in 3D. I might have read it as an AU (I love AUs) and enjoyed it, but I wanted to see the film based on the book. If we're filming the AUs, let's film one in which Frodo stays in the Shire and marries Sam. I bet I know where we can get a good script for that one...