The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug

 I went to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug which is the second film of the three-part series based on J.R.R Tolkien's book The Hobbit yesterday. I have never read any of Tolkien's book. I wished I had, because reading the book first would have enabled me to grasp the depth and emotion of the characters better.  Most of the time you will feel the storyline and

characters have been slightly bent here and there in movies as compared to the actual books. Well, never mind the book and the mixed reviews about this film so far, I loved the movie! Seen in in 3D and the epic fantasy adventure was just fantastic and never

boring for me despite the fact it was a 161-minute long movie. Should have seen it in IMax but then I was lazy to go to Times Square or Sunway Pyramid.
As continued from the first part The Unexpected Journey, the story went on with the many adventures of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), the      

wizard Gandalf The Grey (Ian Mckellen) and the thirteen dwarfs with their leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage). Remember that Thorin was heir to the Erebor kingdom in the Lonely Mountain which was seized by Smaug the dragon. Gandalf had told Thorin to recruit Bilbo to help him steal the Arkenstone gem from the dragon because only with the stone could he rule Erebor again (I'm a little lost as to the significance of that particular stone).

So the group trudged along through Mirkwood, Esgaroth and Dale to get to Lonely Mountain to defeat Smaug. They encountered the giant spiders along the way and would have been eaten by them if not for Bilbo rescuing them using the ring. On another occasion the dwarfs were captured by the wood-elf king Thranduil and his son Legolas (Orlando Bloom). Yes, it was the same Thranduil and Legolas who refused to help the dwarfs when their kingdom was being destroyed by Smaug in the first part. Using the ring Bilbo was able to rescue the dwarfs by stealing the keys of their lock-ups and then hiding them in wine barrels that floated down a river. The fight scenes along the river between orcs and elves and dwarfs and hobbit were indeed spectacular.
The two characters I love in the movie were Bilbo Bagins and Smaug. Bilbo was brave, cool and collected, even a little comical at times. He was supposed to be a stealthy thief but I feel he was one of the few good guys in the group. The other one was the wise old dwarf Balin who often gently reprimanded Thorin of his greed and arrogance while on the quest to reclaim his homeland from Smaug.
Guess whose voice was behind the dragon? None other than Benedict Cumberbatch of the Star Trek Into The Darkness fame. Smaug was intelligent, articulate, vindictive, narcissistic, manipulative and even used psychology to confuse Bilbo.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me not spoil your anticipation and expectation by telling too much. For me it was a good movie that was worth going to the cinema!