"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" (2013)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

If you missed my review of the first movie, I should point out that yes, I have deliberately held off on it until now. I didn't go to see any of the Hobbit movies in the cinema because I was so vehemently against the idea of splitting the book into three films that I refused to support the notion; I didn't want to vote yes with my wallet.
Just to recap, I thought the first movie was a surprisingly good start to a trilogy I had very little faith in.

In keeping with its predecessor, some of the adaptation choices work really well, particularly expanding the Bard character's role in the story so he doesn't seem like a deus ex machina. On the other hand, I have the same complaint everyone does: the love story between Tauriel and Kili was completely unnecessary. Kili was already becoming one of my favourite characters from the first movie; he didn't need a cross-species love triangle storyline to make him stand out. On top of that, the fight scenes get a little too choreographed at times, as the characters often easily dodge attacks from behind that they couldn't possibly have seen coming. Smaug himself was just plain awesome, though. :) Overall, this is definitely far inferior to the first movie – not bad, but a mixed bag.

My rating: 60%