4. The Increased Amount Of Action
An Unexpected Journey took its time introducing to us the vast amount of characters and setting up its narrative, and of the running time of 169 minutes, more time was spent with dialogue and getting to the action itself. But when the action showed up, boy was it captivating: thanks in part to the 3D the action stood out, and even in a 2D format the action is still a joy. The Desolation Of Smaug plays a different card, increasing the action scenes tenfold and introducing inventive ways to use the 3D at the same time. Each bit of action in this film easily upscales all of the action scenes from An Unexpected Journey, in some cases even in the original three LOTR films. The hotly anticipated barrel sequence is one of the most engaging action scenarios of 2013, bar none: even in 2D I could watch that scene all day long, extended or not. And then of course there are the Mirkwood spider sequence, and the climactic sequence where the pace hits its apex at Erebor when Smaug appears and steals his scenes entirely. Even the criticised decision to bring back Legolas added more action elements, and channelled the higher-octane spirit and pace of the original trilogy. It's al part and parcel of setting up a trilogy: the original trilogy had the same experience, with The Fellowship Of The Ring pursuing a more sophisticated method in introducing characters and pushing action to the back burner, then The Two Towers looked to introduce the beginning stages of the action before The Return Of The King went full-blood with epic action sequences. In this case, An Unexpected Journey was the build-up, The Desolation Of Smaug started the action, and There And Back Again will hopefully reach that same fever pitch as The Return Of The King.