The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug

10 August 2015

The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug 2013

• Director: Peter Jackson
• Based on novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
• Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett (for two seconds), Benedict Cumberbatch (voice only), Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Mikael Persbrandt, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Martin Freeman  – Fargo, The World’s End, Hot Fuzz, Breaking and Entering, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead, Love Actually
• Ian McKellen – Vicious, King Lear, Extras, Lord of the Rings, X-Men, David Copperfield, Richard III, Cold Comfort Farm, Six Degrees of Separation, The Ballad of Little Jo, Macbeth, Othello
• Cate Blanchett – Robin Hood, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I’m Not There, Notes on a Scandal, Babel, Little Fish, The Aviator, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Heaven, The Shipping News, The Gift, The Man Who Cried, Elizabeth, Elizabeth the Golden Age
• Benedict Cumberbatch –  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Creation, The Other Boleyn Sister, Atonement, Amazing Grace, To Kill a King
• Orlando Bloom – the  Pirates of the Caribbean films,Extras, Troy, Lord of the Rings et al, Ned Kelly, Wilde
• Mikael Persbrandt – Ett öga rött, Radioskuggan, Svensson Svensson and a lot of scandal headlines in Swedish newspapers
• Stephen Fry – Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Alice in Wonderland, Extras, V for Vendetta, Tristram Shandy, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Longitude, Black Adder, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith, Wilde, Cold Comfort Farm, Jeeves and Wooster, Peter’s Friends, A Fish Called Wanda, A Handful of Dust
• Why? Part of the trilogy
• Seen: 7 August 2015 

       Just read that the trilogy is being re-released in a longer version.

       Um.

       OK, same lovely cast and beautiful scenery so let’s give it a chance.

       Doom and gloom and dire warnings. Dwarves and orcs and creatures of various kinds. Enchanted forests.

       On the plus side we have: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Stephen Fry, a few more women (even a warrior and one of the major characters), the scenery and stage settings. It’s quite exciting at times. There’s a bit of romance, a bit of humour. There’s even a touch of class conflict with a good-looking revolutionary.

       On the minus side however we have: endless battles, kings and nationalism and it’s essentially boring, though not as boring as the first one. And it’s far too long. They’re going to release a longer one? C’mon!

       But’s what’s this?  A cliff-hanger ending?

2 ½ * of 5