Trailer Trashin’: It’s Elves vs. Dwarves vs. Men in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Hello again, dear readers, and I hope a lot of you enjoyed Thor: The Dark World over the weekend. In the meantime, this week’s Trailer Trashin’ column takes another look at my most anticipated movie of the rest of the year, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Premise: After successfully crossing over, and under, the Misty Mountains, Thorin (Richard Armitage) and company must seek aid from a powerful stranger before taking on the dangers of Mirkwood Forest – without the help of their Wizard. If they reach the human settlement of Lake-town, it will be time for the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) to fulfill his contract with the Dwarves. The party must complete the journey to the Lonely Mountain and Bilbo, acting as burglar, must seek out the secret door that will give them access to the hoard of the dragon Smaug (voice of Benedict Cumberbatch). But where has Gandalf (Ian McKellen) got off to? And what is his secret business to the south?
My take: As I’ve written about multiple times in this column, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy are my favorite films of all time. And while I will freely acknowledge that last year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had its flaws, I love Jackson’s vision of Middle-Earth so much that I’ll always be glad to see more of it. The release of the second part of the story, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, is just over a month away, and I’m chomping at the bit with anticipation. This latest trailer was revealed as part of a worldwide fan event for the film last week, and it’s a great reminder of why I’m so excited to see it.
In terms of the cast, there’s not much for me to say that I haven’t already said. I still think Martin Freeman is the absolute perfect choice for young Bilbo Baggins, and anything that gets him more mainstream attention is okay with me. Similarly, Ian McKellen is still the perfect Gandalf, and between this and X-Men: Days of Future Past, he’s going to get to kick a whole lot of ass onscreen over the next year. We get to see Richard Armitage as Thorin and Luke Evans as Bard staring each other down, in a battle of the scowling bearded dudes. We see a bit more of Lee Pace as Thranduil the Elvenking, and I still find his bushy eyebrows distracting for some reason. And we get to hear an awesome new line from Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, which provides a perfect way to cap off this trailer.
Story-wise, this trailer focuses a lot on the tensions between the Dwarves, Elves, and Men. These tensions are a part of the original story, but because the book is told only from Bilbo’s perspective, he’s not usually a direct witness to them. Of course, by the time we get to the third film, they’ll all have to put their differences aside and join forces for the Battle of the Five Armies. For anyone who’s wondering, the lines we hear from Bard at the beginning of the trailer are taken from a song in the book. Fans of Tolkien’s books know how many songs and poems he created for them, and I certainly appreciate it when the filmmakers find ways to fit them into the movies.
Martin Freeman in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” © 2013 – Warner Bros. Pictures.
This trailer also shows a lot of action, expanding nicely on what we’ve already seen from the film. After all this teasing and hinting at the Mirkwood spiders, I really can’t wait to see their sequence in its entirety. We get to see some of the famous scene from the book of Bilbo and the Dwarves escaping from the home of the Elvenking by riding in beer barrels going down the river. We see the Elves fighting Orcs in some old ruins. And finally, we see some hints of Smaug’s rampage after he is awakened.
Like I said, this trailer really underscores why I’m so excited for this movie. Yes, stretching out the shortest of Tolkien’s books into three films is ridiculous, but it also means we get to see more of Peter Jackson’s vision of Middle-Earth, and I’m willing to accept that. Just like its predecessor, I think this will be a treat for both fans of the franchise and of fantasy in general. When The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opens in mid-December, you can be sure that I’ll be checking it out opening weekend.
Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Graham McTavish, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O’Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Lee Pace, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Sylvester McCoy, Mikael Peresbrandt, Craig Hall, Stephen Fry, John Bell, and Manu Bennett
Director: Peter Jackson
Writers: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro, based on The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Timothy Monforton
