The Hobbit: 11 Amazing Things You Missed In The Desolation Of Smaug

9. Everyone Was Forced To Miss This Awesome Orc

A fair criticism of The Hobbit is the over reliance on CGI. Effects extravaganzas can work (as Gravity showed), but with these films the technology too far it just looks a little fake (and that's not even touching on the HFR issue), a particular let down after how well traditional and modern methods were so masterfully melded in The Lord Of The Rings. This whole issue has been personified by The Desolation Of Smaug. Bolg, the original antagonist in The Hobbit sat out An Unexpected Journey thanks to his resurrected father Azog taking over dwarf chasing duties. Now, with the Necromancer wanting Azog for some overarching reason, old Bolgy gets to lead the chase. When we finally get to see Jackson's interpretation of the Tolkien character, it's a little bit of a let down; he's just another cool looking, but clearly CGI model. What's worse is that there was an actual, physical Bolg on set. Seen above and played by Conan Stevens (who stupidly left the role of Gregor Clegane in Game Of Thrones for this), it's subsequently been replaced by the film version, probably so the design jars less with Azog. You have to question why they even bothered switched the characters (and, looking Number 6, they almost didn't). The old version of Bolg is still in the trilogy in a small capacity though; there's a split second shot of him during the Moria fight in the first film.