The Hobbit: 5 Lessons From The Desolation Of Smaug That Will Make The Third Film Great

1. Villains And Smaug

No action/fantasy film is complete without a good villain, and Desolation delivers on all fronts. Jackson has created in Smaug a lifelike threat, breathing new life into a rather cartoonish character and morphing him into the most convincing dragon ever to appear on the silver screen (Sorry, Dragonheart). A major issue I had in becoming fully immersed in the first Hobbit was the overwhelming usage of CGI. The Orcs, played by real people in LOTR, were replaced with CGI replicas in The Hobbit. The result was half the effort and half the believability. This was particularly problematic when depicting Azog, who Jackson tried hard to sell as a formidable threat to our heroes. But Azog was not a particularly interesting villain, and whatever effect he may have had was ruined because he looked completely fake. While Azog himself still looks like a CGI creation, many of the other effects have been improved. You can see the detail in every scale ridged along Smaug's back, every drop of moisture in his breath, and every flare of color in his fire. Smaug possesses a palpable sense of weight. Azog and the rest of the Orcs had the Star Wars prequel effect of blending in too well with their environments, to the point where it appeared that our human actors were merely interacting with a screen. Smaug, on the other hand, stands in stark contrast to his environment. The colors of Smaug's body pop out vividly against the sparkling gold of his treasure kingdom. When he moves, the gold cascades around his feet in waves, every piece creating a distinct ripple. The sound of gold echoes around the cavernous domain, and the voice of Smaug booms out mightily over it. Indeed the sound mixing here is notable, as Benedict Cumberbatch delivers Smaug's lines with tremendous gravitas and sneering disdain, enhanced through a powerful mechanical boosting effect. It's fascinating how delivery, effects, and staging can really add to material. The dialogue exchanged between Bilbo and Smaug is essentially the same as in the book, but here there's a convincing sense of dread. In the book, Smaug's depiction seems almost whimsical, his riddles with Bilbo exchanged with a wit and high-minded loftiness. This makes for great fun, but it's not exactly terrifying. And though Bilbo reacts to him with terror, as readers we never feel it. On screen, Bilbo's reaction to Smaug is equally felt by the audience, as we all shudder beneath his size, his voice, and his horrifying intelligence. It helps too that the material with Smaug has been greatly expanded upon. For a book that spends the majority of its pages building up to the Smaug confrontation, it doesn't actually spend much time on Smaug himself. The entire exchange between Bilbo and Smaug lasts less than 10 pages, after which Smaug is quickly offed by Bard. This leaves readers wanting more, and Jackson has successfully capitalized on this desire. He fleshes out Smaug in size, scope and presence, extending the confrontation with Smaug to include not just Bilbo, but the Dwarves as well. The scene opens up from Smaug's cave and encompasses the halls of Erebor, creating a fantastic structural action set-piece, on par with the best movie thrillers. This is particularly important for Thorin, as it creates for him a genuine confrontation with the dragon. In the book Thorin speaks about the dragon often, and he is built up as an arch-enemy of sorts. But Thorin never once confronts Smaug in the book, and this leaves something to be desired in tying up Thorin's loose ends. I always thought it should have been Thorin, not Bard, who slays Smaug. It would have seemed like the natural ending of Thorin's arc. But though Jackson couldn't change that particular bit, he did smartly give Thorin the confrontation with Smaug he deserves. There is a sense of satisfaction as Thorin faces Smaug atop the statue of his grandfather, exchanging words of promised vengeance before releasing a wave of liquid gold upon the beast. Not only is this an awesome moment in suspense and execution, it's a striking visual bit, with more excellent CGI in animating the flowing gold. It tops off an intense half hour sequence that richly enhances the material from the book, and far outshines the extremely subpar, slow and overblown final confrontation with Azog from Unexpected Journey. It bears mentioning that Smaug is not the only good villain here. I was surprised to find that even the underwhelming Azog was more enjoyable this time around. His CGI may still leave something to be desired, but his motivations are clearer and more interesting. The first time we understood little about him, except that he wanted Thorin's head on a platter because he cut off his hand. Now we know that he was, in fact, summoned to go after the Dwarves by Sauron himself. Sauron makes everything more interesting. And though this has the effect of removing Azog's independence as a villain, it gives him a new sense of purpose. He's no longer carrying out his own boring mission, but a much grander scheme. He functions as a lieutenant, like Gothmog from Return of the King. The overall combination of great heroes and great villains make for a distinctively more complete film than we got last year. Now that Smaug has been introduced so well, Jackson is set to bring us an epic final confrontation with the dragon next year. I'm sure, like the end of Desolation, Bard's battle with Smaug will be greatly expanded upon, delivering a proper amount of action and buildup before the final execution (pun intended). The Battle of Five Armies, which was largely told in aftermath in the book due to Bilbo being knocked unconscious (A cheap trick that Jackson neither could nor should want to get away with) was an underwhelming conclusion. But in There and Back Again it could prove to be among the series' best battles. It will be the first to feature armies from ALL of Tolkien's major races: Dwarves, Men, Elves and Orcs will all clash for the first time on screen, and since we are now invested in characters on all sides of the fence, we will have the fascinating experience of supporting everyone and no one. Perhaps we will not know who to root for now that we'll have a stake in Thorin and the dwarves, Bard and the men, and Legolas/Tauriel and the Elves. Through Bilbo's eyes, perhaps the right side won't be so clear. Jackson's efforts have really come a long way, and my faith in him is renewed. If There and Back Again takes shape in a manner that avoids the worst of Unexpected, and utilizes the best of Desolation, we just might find ourselves interested, invested and cheering on our characters to get there and back again. Questions? Arguments? More suggestions for how Jackson should handle the final movie? Sound off in the comments below!