The Desolation of Smaug addressed so much that was wrong with Peter Jackson’s second foray into Middle-Earth, after the light-hearted tonal shift of An Unexpected Journey. It was a more focused beast, with Martin Freeman’s wonderful interpretation of Bilbo placed front and centre into the action. He was a character in genuine peril, rather than one who'd previously been lost amongst any number of indistinguishable personalities thrown around in a visually impressive, but completely weightless CGI fairground ride.
It was also shrouded in a more sombre tone, with a sense of impending doom which had served the original LOTR trilogy so well, and had an identifiable evil presence in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch’s titular dragon. The cliff-hanger had promised so much, and with a name like The Battle of the Five Armies suggesting a Helms Deep rivalling showdown, expectations were as high as Mount Doom.
Previously on The Hobbit … Laketown was about to be decimated by Smaug, Bilbo (Freeman) and the Dwarves were perched atop the Misty Mountain, at the gates to the Dwarf Kingdom of Eribor, dealing with the ramifications of what they’ve done, all that is apart from Thorin Oakenshield, who’s consumed by greed for the gold beneath the mountain and the power it promises.
When the dust settles, a number of factions gather outside the gates to lay a claim to the fortune. Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) wants compensating so that the Laketown survivors can rebuild their homes; Thranduil (Lee Pace) and his Elf army desire what they believe to be rightfully theirs; whilst all the while an Orc army march towards the battlefield, intent on gaining tactical ground during these embryonic stages of the Rings war. Seconds out, round three.
The most truncated of Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations, clocking in at a relatively brief 144 minutes, it’s also the slightest in terms of franchise achievement. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t retain the unique ability to tap into our imaginations with his own. There are moments here which can stand up to the arrow tracheotomy of the troll from Fellowship, such as the dying of Smaug’s light, an all too brief moment shared between Gandalf and Galadriel, and a post-battle lighting of some Halfling leaf that accentuates why Ian McKellen has been so perfect for this role.
