The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
It doesn’t just seem like a decade since Peter Jackson had a cinematic high note—it really has been. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was released in December 2003, and then swept the Oscars. Jackson has struggled since and last year’s Hobbit movie was, at best, a misfire. But it’s not just in comparison to that film that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug looks good. It stacks up favorably to all the Tolkien stuff and shows that Jackson still has a fire for this material. Even more surprising is that this is a bridge film, the second movie in a trilogy, and those are usually very safe and uninteresting. But Smaug is electric, well paced and a lot of fun. It’s nothing short of a trilogy-saving movie; now let’s see how Jackson can wrap this thing up.
By Colin Boyd
Now Playing
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is not showing in any theaters in the area.
Credits
Director:
- Peter Jackson
Cast:
- Ian McKellen
- Martin Freeman
- Richard Armitage
- Benedict Cumberbatch
- Evangeline Lilly
- Lee Pace
- Luke Evans
- Ken Stott
- James Nesbitt
- Orlando Bloom
- Cate Blanchett
- Christopher Lee
- Hugo Weaving
- John Bell
- Jed Brophy
- Adam Brown
- John Callen
- Stephen Fry
- Ryan Gage
- Mark Hadlow
- Peter Hambleton
- Stephen Hunter
- William Kircher
- Sylvester McCoy
- Graham McTavish
- Michael Mizrahi
- Dean O'Gorman
- Mikael Persbrandt
- Aidan Turner
Writers:
- Fran Walsh
- Guillermo Del Toro
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Peter Jackson
- Philippa Boyens
Producers:
- Carolynne Cunningham
- Zane Weiner
- Fran Walsh
- Peter Jackson
- Alan Horn
- Toby Emmerich
- Ken Kamins
- Carolyn Blackwood
What others are saying
Now Playing
© 2024 Tucson Weekly
