4. Amazingly Detailed Set-Pieces
The movie is not short of exposition and heart in the first act, but from act two onwards, with the audience now fully re-acquainted and re-familiarised with Middle-earth and the necessary back-stories, the movie begins to gather pace- and rapidly. The action-adventure displays come thick and fast in acts two and three, with a series of spell-binding set-ups that may well leave your heart racing and you trying to grab for your jaw as it plummets to the cinema floor. This is Peter Jackson even better than we remember him- a master of the genre at the peak of his powers. If last time he was the directorial real-world equivalent of Gandalf the Grey, then Mr Jackson has returned as Gandalf the White now. These sequences at once terrify and enthrall, offering a fantastic fusion of fun, energy, comedy and drama: the duel between the rock giants amidst the ferocious storm of the Misty Mountains as the heroes hang on for dear life; the ominous confrontation with the Goblin King amongst the twisting tunnels deep in the heart of the mountains; and all the while the 3D showing us in crystal clear clarity the hordes of orcs and goblins fall to their deaths from dizzying heights. And of course we have the action-drenched nail-biting climax, when the wolf-like wargs and their goblin masters corner and come to an explosive face-off with the company on the precipice of a cliff at the edge of the Misty Mountains. This set-piece with the eagles (who not for the first time prove to be Gandalfs ultimate get-out-of-jail free card) is gorgeous to behold, and is up there with the
Riddles In The Dark piece as one of the highlights of this stupendous movie.