The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

What's it about? Picking up after the climax to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, DOS takes us back to the Dwarf kingdom, where Smaug the dragon jealously guards a colossal hall of unimaginable treasure. Along the way, Bilbo and the rag-tag company of dwarves run into benevolent and not-so benevolent men, ambiguous  and powerful elves, ride barrels down a mighty set of rapids and then finally square off against the eponymous creature, who needless to say will not easily or gladly be parted from his gold.

What's it like? For those who found Unexpected Journey too slow and uneventful, those wrongs are righted here to a degree. DOS moves quickly and is generally far more full of incident than the scene-setting first part. Having said that, a volume as slender as The Hobbit never had any business being fleshed out into three 2.5 hour films, so there is still a bagginess here that cannot be avoided or denied. Set pieces such as the afore-mentioned barrel run down the rapids and the finale with Smaug are thrilling and effective and Martin Freeman continues to bring a perfect blend of innocence and bite to Bilbo. With thirteen dwarves, some were bound to continue to fade into the background and it is difficult to remember much from most of them. Even with a long running time, it was always going to be hard to keep them from being largely anonymous. 

Peter Jackson brings Orlando Bloom back as Legolas and introduces an entirely new character in the shape of Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel, an elf warrior with a bit of a soft spot for one of the dwarves. The fighting and action sequences blend live action with complex digital effects with considerable success and although the whole enterprise feels necessarily other-worldly, it is not a distancing experience. As always, Jackson draws us into a real, convincing, fleshed out world. We believe in the characters in all of their various shades of grey and even if this series of films has already become bloated, we stick with it and most importantly, we care.

Should I see it? There is a lot to like and admire and not too much to be concerned about for younger audiences. There is certainly no sexual content or bad language, but the violence is pretty strong in places. A decapitation is a decapitation, whether it is an orc/goblin head or not. A giant spider attack will not go down well with more delicate sensibilities either, so be warned on that score. On a more positive front, there continues to be a lot of interesting content about power and corruption, the rise of insidious, infectious evil, pride and greed and a longing for home. As is often the case, these important and weighty themes can be lost amongst the loud noises, but they are there if you are prepared to look for them.