Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy puffs on, while Spike Lee botches a remake and Tbilisi teenagers come of age convincingly
Unless he has an eight-part adaptation of The Silmarillion in the works, Peter Jackson will bid adieu to Middle Earth this Christmas, when the final part of his Hobbit trilogy wheezes its way into cinemas. Whatever its individual merits, it won't be a moment too soon. *The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug* (Warner, 12) represents a beefy improvement on 2012's turgid kickoff, An Unexpected Journey like any second act, it's unburdened by groundwork but still exposes the craven pointlessness of trisecting JRR Tolkien's slim fantasy yarn.
Covering the further travails of Bilbo Baggins and a lairy pack of dwarves as they trudge through Mirkwood in pursuit of guarded treasure, it should remain the plottiest entry in the series, yet at 160 effects-stuffed minutes still feels over-extended, with Jackson concocting redundant subplots of his own to pass the time. (No one, least of all Tolkien himself, called for the return of Orlando Bloom's insipid elf Legolas.) As the cuddly, beleaguered Bilbo, Martin Freeman remains the series' chief delight; if only Jackson would stick to him with more conviction. Still, fans will revel again in the most dazzling set pieces (the climactic liquid-gold battle against Benedict Cumberbatch's eponymous dragon is narratively arbitrary, but still a wow), and the Blu-ray bulges with almost enough extra features to keep them occupied until December.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.
Unless he has an eight-part adaptation of The Silmarillion in the works, Peter Jackson will bid adieu to Middle Earth this Christmas, when the final part of his Hobbit trilogy wheezes its way into cinemas. Whatever its individual merits, it won't be a moment too soon. *The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug* (Warner, 12) represents a beefy improvement on 2012's turgid kickoff, An Unexpected Journey like any second act, it's unburdened by groundwork but still exposes the craven pointlessness of trisecting JRR Tolkien's slim fantasy yarn.
Covering the further travails of Bilbo Baggins and a lairy pack of dwarves as they trudge through Mirkwood in pursuit of guarded treasure, it should remain the plottiest entry in the series, yet at 160 effects-stuffed minutes still feels over-extended, with Jackson concocting redundant subplots of his own to pass the time. (No one, least of all Tolkien himself, called for the return of Orlando Bloom's insipid elf Legolas.) As the cuddly, beleaguered Bilbo, Martin Freeman remains the series' chief delight; if only Jackson would stick to him with more conviction. Still, fans will revel again in the most dazzling set pieces (the climactic liquid-gold battle against Benedict Cumberbatch's eponymous dragon is narratively arbitrary, but still a wow), and the Blu-ray bulges with almost enough extra features to keep them occupied until December.
Continue reading... Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.