The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

It has been a long wait (365 days to be exact) but The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has finally premiered in theaters and I had the distinct pleasure of viewing it on its release date.  Here are some (but definitely not all) of my initial impressions of the film.

So to begin with, I did my very best not to read any spoilers or reviews of the film before it was released in an effort to keep it a complete surprise in every way.  However, I did read one comment that said the prologue would make die-hard Tolkien fans grin with happiness, and that indeed turned out to be true!

The movie begins in Bree with Thorin Oakenshield's arrival to the ever-raining village of men on the border of the Old Forest and Midge Water Marsh.  This of course begins the exposition of how Gandalf and Thorin had their chance meeting to begin the first discussion of a possible quest to Erebor to reclaim the Dwarven kingdom from the dragon.  An attentive viewer also sees that Peter Jackson reprises his exact same cameo in Bree as he did in the Fellowship of the Ring: a squinty-eyed Bree-lander eating a carrot!

Gandalf greets Thorin in the Prancing Pony Inn (the same spot where Mr. Underhill and his companions seek the grey wizard over 60 years later) and the two begin a hushed conversation that somebody or something has put a bounty on Thorin's head - just his head, nothing attached.

After a very intriguing conversation and several highly unsavory Bree-landers becoming aware of their presence, Gandalf and Thorin agree that, in order to be successful, the quest will need a burglar (and a good one too) and that is when the prologue concludes, beginning the rest of that immediate tale in the Shire with Gandalf's unexpected visit to Bag End. 

The movie now transitions to the present time span of the adventure - 12 months after Thorin's meeting with Gandalf.  The Company of Dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf have recently been saved from a horrible fate by the Eagles, but the orc pack is still hot on their trail.  They finally make their way down from the eastern foothills of the Misty Mountains and reach the banks of the Anduin River.  Suddenly the adventurers hear a terrifying animal howl in the distance and rush to the safety of a woodland cottage full of livestock and creatures of all sizes.  They have reached the Queer Lodgings of Beorn.  

After a thrilling encounter with the bear form of Beorn, we are introduced to his more humanoid form, and he entertains his rather unwelcome guests with a few questions of their purpose as well as the intent of the pursuing orc pack.  Soon, however, he lends them his ponies, and they make their way to the eves of Mirkwood.  I really enjoyed this entire sequence, but I felt like it was entirely too short.  I hoped to see a lot more of Beorn's house, his bee pastures, and have more development on the character as well.  I know a lot has to happen in the course of the movie, so I can't complain too much.  This, however, is a prime location for the extended edition of the movie to enhance upon!

The Company of Thorin Oakenshield now ventures into the dark depths of Mirkwood.  To their dismay, Gandalf departs from them to deal with an even worse degree of darkness in the High Fells, a region far to the Northwest where the servants of Sauron were buried (Are they still, though?).  The Dwarves and Hobbit begin their uncertain venture into the tainted forest.  Throughout this scene, the entire Mirkwood location was really a great wonder to behold, with the intricately entangled forest leading the Dwarves and Bilbo astray, and then... the spiders appear. (Attercop! Attercop!)

In an effort not to sound like a broken record, I will just admittedly say that I felt like the Mirkwood scenes were far too short as well.  The Dwarves wrecking the Elven-king's feasts and the Enchanted River segment were entirely absent, and it isn't long before Bilbo is battling the nasty hissing spiders, freeing his companions.  I did, however, really enjoy the possessive effects that the One Ring is already starting to have over Bilbo in this scene.  Throughout the Lord of the Rings, the ring itself was always portrayed as its own character and even given a dark, hushed ominous voice of Mordor black speech at times.  The ring has finally abandoned Gollum and it is beginning its initial efforts to return to its Master.  

After a thrillingly tense battle between Bilbo and the monstrous arachnids, the Elves of Mirkwood, led by Legolas Greenleaf, make their debut and finish off the spiders, capturing the Dwarves in the process.  Just as all this occurs, Bilbo manages to slip his ring on again and cryptically follow them.  We are now taken to the Elven-king's forest labyrinth kingdom.  This Elven stronghold was pretty much exactly how I had always envisioned it in the novel: twisted, like the forest itself, but also refined and elegant in a manner that only Elves can accomplish.  Thorin and Thranduil have a heated argument over divinity, and it ends with all the Dwarves becoming the Elven-king's prisoners.  

Around this time, the Mirkwood Captain of the Guard, Tauriel, makes her debut in the film (and into the Tolkien universe as a whole for that matter).  While I won't delve too deep in her addition or the romantic subplot(s) that arise in the film, I will say that I was completely fine with her character in the film.  Sometimes, she did feel a bit out of place (especially towards the latter parts of the film) but overall, I believe she is a quality addition rather than a filler, and she provides an element to the film that was sorely lacking: a female character!  I will be curious as to how her character is developed both in the Desolation of Smaug extended addition as well as the final movie.

When the Barrels out of Bond sequence finally rolls around, we have been given the opportunity to see a good portion of Thranduil's Elven realm, but it's now time to drop the Dwarves full speed into the raging Forest River that leads out of Mirkwood to Long Lake.  In the relatively mild version of the book, the Dwarves make this journey unchecked (but still cold and wet) but in this version - well, it's anything but peaceful.  The orc pack is still hot on their trail, as are the Elves.  A scene of pure insanity unfolds as the Dwarves and Bilbo tumult down the Forest River with gnashing orcs ever at their heels.  Overall, I might have considered elements of this action scene a bit over-the-top if I hadn't enjoyed it so much!  

Finally, the washed out and weaponless adventurers reach the runoffs of the Forest River and take a brief respite.  Throughout the intense action, Kili the Dwarf was wounded by a nasty Morgul arrow, but the rest made it out unscathed.  As the group is recuperating, they encounter a shadowy figure upon the rocks wielding a longbow - which is aimed at their heads.  Bard!  

After a bit of bartering between Balin and the man of Lake-town, Bard the Bowman reluctantly agrees to ferry the Dwarves and Bilbo secretly into Lake-town, and the orc pack arrives moments too late to attack their quarry again.  Then, as the fog is unraveled, we see Lake-town for the first time.  This was, again, just how I had envisioned it while reading the novel: a collection of rather medieval, log-architecture buildings built in a circular fashion, all of which are just above the water level.  Boats are almost like cars in Lake-town, with small vessels running to a fro all throughout the town.  Every scene which showed more of Lake-town was an absolute joy to behold, and I felt like it did receive wonderful development throughout the second half of the movie.

Anyways, back to the story - Bard reaches his home in Lake-town (after several tense encounters with local authorities who he is at odds with) and the Company of Thorin settle in.  It isn't long, however, before the Dwarves do get themselves caught in an effort to steal weapons from the

local Lake-town armory.  The Dwarves are brought before the Master of Lake-town, a humorously corrupt official who revels in the elegance of his own rotund image.  I have somewhat skipped over the animosity plot line between Bard and the Master, but it is never really developed too much in the movie either.  More or less, Bard is a man of the people, and the Master is a man for himself and views the people as simple peasants that owe him continual tribute.  Speaking of tribute, when Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, is announced to the Master, his eyes see only gold offerings from Erebor, and with a wry grin from ear to ear, he happily agrees to fully endorse the Company of Dwarves on their endeavors.  The Dwarves become local heroes in Lake-town and Bard sees only the looming threat of death on the horizon.

The Company of Thorin is now fully outfitted with the best weapons and armor that Lake-town has to offer and they depart with a standing applause from the common folk.  However, Fili, Kili, Oin, Ori, and Bofur decide to remain behind to tend the increasingly worse Kili (who is now starting to feel the deadly effects of his Morgul infection.)  This splitting of the Dwarven comrades does create a fairly large deviation from the book's plot; however, I think it was a necessary one that will prove to be very beneficial in developing the Dwarf characters better, both in the remainder of the Desolation of Smaug as well as in the final movie.

Bilbo, Thorin, Dwalin, Nori, Gloin, Balin, Bifur, Bombur, and Dori finally arrive to the ruined city of Dale at the bottom of the southern slopes of Erebor.  I would have enjoyed seeing more of their journey across the desolate landscape leading from Lake-town to the Lonely Mountain because I always enjoy the cinematic topography shots in these films, but oh well.  After an interesting climb up a colossal stone Dwarf statue (I found myself wondering how they reached each subsequent staircase in that zig-zag fashion - watch it again to see what I mean!) the adventurers reach the hidden door.

Initial efforts to open the door fail and the Dwarves give up far too quickly in their pursuit to discover the hidden keyhole to the door.  Yet, as they're departing, Bilbo refuses to give up.  He waits around and discovers that the "last light of Durin's Day" really refers to the moonlight, not the setting sun.  As the crescent moon illuminates through the night clouds, a solitary thrush arrives as well and begins to knock up the hidden passage.  Suddenly, the keyhole becomes visible, and the Company has a renewed hope.  Thorin opens the door with the key given to him by Gandalf in Bag End, and they all creep into the Mountain...

I think I will end my initial assessments of the movie there for now.  I realize that I have skipped over many of the plot points and components of the film (including Gandalf's treacherous journey to Dol Guldur and Tauriel's journey to Lake-town to assist Kili) but I wanted to focus more on the Dwarves this time around.  Of course the largest component I'm completely leaving out of this post is Smaug the Magnificent!  In all honesty, I would very much like to see the film again in order to properly compose my thoughts on Smaug.  He was, without question, the highlight of the film for me, and I can safely say that he probably is for most viewers.  So, in the near future, I hope to write a post that does him complete justice rather than just fitting him in at the bottom of this lengthy one.  If you stuck with this first impressions post all the way until now, thank you!  Please provide some feedback below as well as what you thought of the movie.

Coming Soon!