The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug *spoilers*

[CMonster]

So I'm wonder what opinions people have on this? I felt it was a very mixed bag with some real big positives and negatives.

On the good side:
Had a good pace, managed to flow pretty well between dialogue and action. The action scenes felt shorter and better than that of the first (at least until the very end) particularly the spider and barrel scenes.
It was fun. Cool things happened that looked spectacular.
I really dug the acting of Freeman and the expanded dialogue of Smaug. Freeman and Cumberbatch clearly work well together.
The barrel scene was hilarious. I laughed so hard I cried. It was a wierd combo of interesting things happening with a comically bad set up presented very ernestly as pure entertainment. Not sure if I was laughing at the movie or with it, but I loved it.

On the bad side:
A big problem was the music. Instead of the grand themes that set tones for the scenes that we got from the LotR trilogy, we get a mostly dull and heavy soundtrack that stole little cues from the LotR to make us think it had just as good a score.
The ending was awful. An overlong climax that was changed from the book just for the sake of another action scene. I don't think a change is an inherently bad thing, but this was done very poorly. Beyond the Smaug climax, we also had story lines with Legolas and Tauriel, other dwarves, Bard, and Gandalf. With all the different threads hopping around there was no tone for the climax because they were all vastly different. Then during the climax it fades to black and ends the movie with no resolution.
The acting of the King of the Woodland Realm. He overacted so much. It was terrible and should have never been in the film.
The scene where Gandalf sees Sauron and the camera zooms Sauron's eye 5 or 6 times felt jarring and the cinematography didn't mesh with the rest of the film.

On the didn't stand out as good or bad side:
The dialogue waivered between good and bad.
The inclusion of Legolas and Tauriel. Unnecessary? Yes. But At bare minimum the inclusion in Mirkwood felt natural (minus their over the top appearance). The love triangle didn't bother me. Tauriels interest in Kili felt like a more natural intrigue than an over the top love-at-first-sight thing. The two elves following the group felt a bit forced but at the same time led to some interesting action that balanced it out.
The Gandalf side story was pretty good up until the end. They could have tweaked his encounter with the Necromancer a bit and then concluded his story before the clmiax and it would have been good.
The CGI most of the time looked pretty good, a couple times looked outright bad, but simply couldn't live up to the brilliant makeup and costumes that we saw in LotR.

Overall I enjoyed myself but after it all ended I couldn't help but feel the negatives kept this from really being worth the 3 hours. If it were cut down to 2 then it definitely would have been great. Also of note, found it to be better than the first.

Other peoples thoughts?

[Stewball]

I had a very hard time staying awake. In 2 words, uninspired an boring. And enough with the pathetic, invented names. 5/10

[Dunder74]

Good enough to keep the audience and Petey Jackson's bank account going

6/10

[Stewball]

Good enough to keep the audience and Petey Jackson's bank account going

6/10

Yes, the proof is in the pudding. It may look pretty, but buckwheat and tree bark still suck--sprig of holly notwithstanding.

[martryn]

I enjoyed the movie, despite the glaring plot holes and unnecessary changes to the story. Since I'm a complainer, I'll complain:

*What the fuck was Gandalf doing going after Sauron alone? Like, he knew it was a trap. Was he hoping to be able to solo the dark lord before he had regained his full strength, or... what? Wish there was some exposition to explain that.
*It seemed like albino orc just could teleport freely from Beorn's house to Sauron house. Did he make that trip in a few hours because it looked like he left after the dwarves had bedded down, and he had his convo with Sauron before the dwarves woke up the next morning. What gives?
*Mirkwood seemed like it was a mile or two wide. Did the dwarves make that trip overnight? And man, that travel montage scene, you could tell where PJ went from the natural beauty of New Zealand to some pretty shitty sets.
*Beorn. PJ made him seem weak, and they neglected his part in the novel in the film, which is disappointing because he plays a large part in the Battle of Five Armies.
*Thorin is a fucking dick. He moves quickly between dick Thorin and drinking buddy Thorin. They didn't even attempt to make his character someone you could root for. And why would he just give up on his secret door and quest thing after five minutes of work? You're a fucking dwarf. You've got several centuries of life in you. Save the map. Save the key. Wait for Gandalf and try again next autumn. What the fuck is wrong with you, Thorin?
*Legolas action scenes. Did he have to skateboard down every fucking sloped set containing a dead body? Why not make the elves seem believable, like Legolas appeared in the battle of Balin's Tomb. This is Legolas here, not Glorfindel.
*The Tauriel love triangle worked fine up until the very end, when Fili(?) woke up and started spouting some very non-dwarfish shit.
*Why was Bard arrested at the end of the film? He was at the town hall meeting or whatever, and they let him go home. Then he leaves his house, and all of a sudden they want to arrest him for absolutely no reason. Why?

Still, I enjoyed the movie. Some great special effects. Some nice action sequences. Most of the changes they made to the story worked within the context of the film. I'm a huge fan of Tolkien, and I'm not necessarily a purist, so I'm happy seeing the story come to life in a non-animated way. And the film ended on such a high note, it was hard not to leave the theater happy and excited for the finale.

[shotton25]

I thought the action sequences were brilliant especially the spider scene, and to see Bibo as a character change because of the ring.
I disagree with you that the ending wasn't very good. I thought it was a perfect way to end the film, everything about Smaug was epic. I can not wait to see the destruction in which he brings to Laketown.