The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is bound to go down as the best chapter in the soon-to-be Hobbit trilogy. Visually, it has what the first one did not: constant movement. The first was beautifully filmed and Jackson took full advantage of verdant landscapes and wide-angled shots, but the second carries on the claustrophobic feeling of weariness and perpetual trekking that was first established by Bilbo Baggins’ (Martin Freeman) encounter with Gollum (Andy Serkis) at the end of the first installment. Also, at 161 minutes, Desolation of Smaug is a less tedious slog than the first one – though not all that much more logical.
There are head-scratching moments in this chapter just as there were in the first. For instance, why, after traveling for five filmed hours – the equivalent of real-time weeks – running over a numbers hills, traversing a number of crevasses, battling dozens of orcs, fighting off gigantic spiders, getting captured by elves, stowing away in barrels full of fish, and then climbing a treacherous mountain do the dwarves seem so incredibly ready to turn back when they can’t figure out the answer to a seemingly obvious riddle about the last bit of light at the end of Durin’s Day? Perhaps we’re only meant to believe that the dwarves are a form of human capital, good for pummeling foes, breaking objects, and illogically staying afloat in rapids despite their waterlogged barrels. But the quickness with which they concede defeat is annoying and begs the question, Why do we care what happens to this brood?
In truth, our familiarity with Bilbo – or more so the ring that he holds rather loosely in his pocket – keeps us interested in whether or not the dwarves reclaim Erebor from Smaug. (Segue: it seems mightily apparent throughout the first two films that Bilbo is a klutz and really should have nothing whatsoever to do with controlling the ring.) But in truth, Bilbo is fairly flat. He’s a rube, a pawn at the rather unlikable whim of Gandalf and Thorin (Richard Armitage).
And like the first film, this one tempts us with the intimation of a payoff to keep us interested. Each scene is a linear step to the next one that brings us closer to the end (both of the trilogy and the beginning of the Lord of the Rings and the next chapter). In the first film, the carrot takes the form of Gollum, whose very presence conjures recollections of The Lord of the Rings. In turn, the film leaves us with the carrot indicative of the second chapter, Smaug. We watch to see the dragon (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). And given the ending of the second film, we watch to see the inevitable fate of Smaug.
It’s not that Desolation of Smaug has no merit. It’s visually stunning and contains exciting moments, but it also debunks the theory that Jackson is making this trilogy for the fans. In making this second chapter, he deviates from the book and adds characters familiar to those familiar to Lord of the Rings. In this, he’s pandering to the audience. In truth, some of the most spectacular scenes in Desolation of Smaug involve Legolas (Orlando Bloom). He is both a bridge to Lord of the Rings and an interesting, familiar character, but he doesn’t exist in The Hobbit. The same goes for his love interest, Tauriel. She is also absent from the original novel, but cashes in on the young love trope that panders to young audiences who are looking for something more than is found in The Hobbit. Under the guise of making a film for the fans, he’s also, in a way, acquiescing that The Hobbit is not necessarily as interesting and deep as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, despite its near equal length of nine-plus hours.
