Great movie. I might go again tonight. Howard Shore's score is as good as always. Anyone else see it?

Updated 14 December 2013 (23:05)

I have. Twice. This is the first movie I've seen that makes me want to see it in 3D (just for Smaug if nothing else!). High points for me:1. "I have the only right." I think if Tolkien had thought of that line he'd have used it. It's very Thorin. 2. The reactions of Thorin and Balin at the entrance of the hidden door. 3. Fili's choice to stay with Kili. 4. The way Smaug moves. Where DID they manage to find a real dragon to film? 5. How you can tell Smaug is about to start flaming! Quibbles: 1. Calculation of "the last light" on Durin's Day. 2. If you're going to throw in one female elf you might as well thrown in two dozen so it doesn't look like a token female to not look like you're being discriminatory. 3. Too much of fighting orcs. Get on with the story already! 4. Smaug wasn't red-gold enough (except in one scene). 5. (Applies to the 1st movie, too) If you're going to subtitle the Sindarin, you should also subtitle the Khuzdul. It's a movie about Dwarves, right??

I just saw it in 3D. Ye dragon did NOT disappoint! I'm glad I didn't listen to my friends who were putting it down because they are book-purists and I decided to go anyway. I agree with Kitharsis about those high points. Thorin and Balin really shined in this one and stole the spotlight from Bilbo and the others. There were also many little things I loved about the movie but it would be hard to list them all. However, his only quibble I agreed with was #3. I really could have done without all the orc decapitations and impalements. They all add up to a subtle glorification of violence, and that always puts a foul taste in my mouth. My main gripe? There were definitely a few scenes that felt weak to me as far as just not making any sense. Like the things Smaug knew that he could not have had any way of possibly knowing. Or when Bard steps out of his house and all the sudden he has to be arrested immediately... just to increase the dramatic tension? Apparently all the town's guard forgot where he lived up until that precise moment. Speaking of Bard's house: you know that thing that was hanging over us night and day and meant so much to your heritage, kids? Yeah I just decided not to tell you about it. Whatever. I still definitely recommend it. See it in 3D if you can, the movie makes full use of it. I have a feeling that the Desolation of Smaug will be the best of the three.

Took my spawn to show this weekend. It's a great movie. Only somewhat related to the book, but, whatever. Books and movies are different things. I don't think anything happened that was contra to the spirit of the world Tolkien created. I think more could have been made of Thranduil's racism and where it came from. There's a very interesting story there. But then, if we all got what we wanted out of this movie, it would have been 3 hours longer, and yet still more succinct.

...and what about tolkien?

...how Smaug looks likes, and how does it moves, and so on, and so on and blah-blah...and what about Tolkien, if i dare to ask?

The film is GREAT, eventually, for all of us...

I have it on DVD now, and I never get tired of watching that barrel-riding scene. There are still a few parts I cringe at where they strayed from the book in ways that made little sense, and the dragon is a lot less impressive on the small screen without 3D, but overall it is still a great, very enjoyable movie, and well worth several re-watches. Oh, and by the way, I still think Kevin Nealon would have made a great Bard. If only I got to make the casting decisions. Ah well.

Updated 22 April 2014 (08:04)

Seems to be a better movie than the first part, but I'm still upset (and will be till the next movie ) that they ended it just before the end - I mean, come on, the 3rd movie will be based on how many pages from the book? Two? Three?

Well, they have three battles to show -- Smaug vs Laketown, the Battle of Five Armies, and tossing the Necromancer out of Dol Guldur. I REALLY hope Jackson doesn't cut the homecoming or Balin's visit.

Finally saw the film yesterday. Overall, it was entertaining and audiovisually very impressive. I raised an eyebrow at some of the divergences from the book, but they didn't ruin the experience. I'm definitely going to watch it again someday, but not the very next day like I did the first film. I agree about the protracted Orcslaying scenes being excessive. The one-sidedness rendered the fights downright boring and trivialized the violence of them in a way that goes against Tolkien's tendency to emphasize the cost of war. What's worse, though, and is my greatest complaint about the film, is the hectic pacing imposed upon the story. The psychological subtleties of travelling through Mirkwood had been mutilated into a clumsy snippet, apparently just to have more screentime to spend on slaughtering various critters. The first film was far superior in this regard, for there places - like Bag End, Mirkwood, the Misty Mountains and Dol Guldur - were characters in their own right, which is also a chief characteristic of Tolkien's writing. In the first film it seemed to me that the film's creators were holding the spirit of Tolkien clasped close to their hearts, while in this one they absentmindedly dangled it in one hand while the other was busy hacking Orcs and spiders to bits. As an action film Desolation of Smaug works very well - wherein lies the catch: its predecessor and the book that inspired them both are not about battles or bloodletting, but about courage and cunning on a journey through perilous lands. I watched Unexpected Journey again before Desolation of Smaug, and I must say I found the difference in tone somewhat jarring. tl;dr: A nice film that would have been truly great if the characters, the setting and the story hadn't been swamped with corpses.

Posted by MuadMousetl;dr:

Too short actually, You got some nice observations.