See my reaction post for my initial, non-spoilery thoughts on the film. This review will be much more detailed and full of SPOILERS.
Once more time... there are SPOILERS BELOW:
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World-Building: Awesome
Characterization: Awesome
Plot: Fast-paced and excellent
Desolation of Smaug was a wonderful second installment in the Hobbit Trilogy of films. It's fast paced right from the start and a wonderful visual spectacle. There were quite a few changes made to the storyline, more than I expected, but I felt that most of these changes worked. The 3D was a treat, Smaug was epic, and Bard and his hometown of Laketown were wonderfully portrayed.
To start from the beginning, the addition of Gandalf and Thorin's meeting scene was a great idea, because it acted as a reminder of how this tale began without retreading ground we've already covered. I'm still not 100% sure who the two men who seemed to be going to attack Thorin were, but I assume they had something to do with Azog and his crew or maybe they just didn't like Dwarves? Either way, that scene was short and quick and not a bad way to start the film. They also acted as an early mention of Thorin's father and grandfather whose madness plays a role in Thorin's characterization, of course.
After this scene we are flung right back into the chase with Bilbo and the Dwarves still being chased by the orcs. Beorn, like Tom Bombadil in LOTR, was never one of my favorite parts of the story. I was wondering if Jackson would decide to take that character out all together. Jackson kept him and I must say his portrayal was wonderful. It was brief and added depth to the story and the world.
Another new location that was briefly, but wonderfully portrayed was home of the wood-elves. It was reminiscent of Lothlorien, but still it's own place. Thranduil was not like any elf we've seen yet in the sense that he's not a very pleasant character. He seems selfish and more than a little cruel and I kind of liked it :D The scene where he showed Thorin his burnt face was excellent!
Now, that brings us to Tauriel. I went into this movie very afraid that she would ruin it. I went into it expecting her to be as bad as Liv Tyler's Arwen at her worst (I really hated Arwen in the movies) or even worse. I knew there would be a love story between her and Legolas and that frightened me even more. As it turns out she wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. She actually was a good warrior and as one of Thranduil's captains it made sense for her to have a more prominent role. I wasn't at all expecting the romance they added in between her and Kili, but it didn't get to the point where it made me hate either character. I would never have included it myself if I had a choice, but I could live with it in the movie and it added some motivations for the elves' continued involvement in the tale, which I assume will stretch on into the next movie. I must say though, the "healing Kili" scene was terrible. Just, so, terrible. The actress did a good job with the accent, she did a great job with the fighting scenes, but that was just... wrong. *shakes head*
Legolas was one of my favorite characters in LOTR and I was looking forward to seeing him in the Hobbit, but I still feel that there's something missing there. The elf vs orc scenes were a bit overkill and there were many other elves showing us awesome fighting moves so he didn't stand out in the way he did in some of the battles in LOTR. The other thing is that Gimli wasn't there so that wonderful interaction was missing (except for one, tiny, glorious mention!). We'll see. I'm hoping the third movie will allow him some more interaction with his father and some better character development.
This brings us to the barrel riding scene, which was excellent. It was quite different from the book, but I didn't mind at all. The way the barrel escape worked also gave us more time to interact with the wonderfully characterized Bard. In the Hobbit, Bard is just this guy from Laketown who only shows up to shoot the arrow and slay the dragon. In this film they used the existing politics of Laketown with the Master and his oppression to flesh out Bard's character. I have to say, Bard is one of my favorite characters in this film. He's the most moral character, too, because while the Dwarves are fun and we sympathize with them, this film has showed us that they really aren't the most pleasant of characters.
The only big thing left to talk about is Smaug. The dragon was wonderfully portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch and the genius special effects people so that in the movie as well as in the books, his position as the ultimate fantasy dragon, of which all other dragons are pale imitations, is preserved. He's clever and his voice is very draconic, and he's frightening. Probably the only change I don't agree with in this adaptation is the way the dwarves were involved in Bilbo's confrontation with Smaug, but I think once they had created the dragon Peter Jackson and his crew were unwilling to kill him off without having some more fun first. I don't really blame them, and to be honest it makes a bit of sense for the dwarves to attempt something, but the number of times in that whole confrontation/chase scene in which the dwarves should have died is ridiculous.
Gandalf's exploits and his confrontation with the Necromancer coughsauroncough was a great addition that helps tie this in to other parts of the tale and as I said in my review of the first film, it helps make his disappearances and reappearances at Bilbo and the Company's side less random. There were some great visuals with Gandalf's magic and the darkness of the Necromancer trying to break through his magical light shields.
The ending now. I expected Bard's heroic slaying of Smaug to come at the end of this movie. The first film was tied up quite well. Desolation of Smaug, however, ended with a very, very sudden cliffhanger that will make it even more difficult to wait a year for the next installment.
Some hated the credits song, but as I said in my reaction post, I find that it captured some of the feelings of anger and mournfulness that viewers felt with that cliffhanger ending so I liked it. It fits this movie quite well, almost as well as Enya's May it Be fit in LOTR. *ducks rotten vegetables* It really does!
Well, those are my thoughts for now. I loved the movie. It was much better than the first(already excellent film) and it leaves me very excited for the next one.
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