Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Yesterday Toni and I went to Stockholm to see the second Hobbit movie. We had to see it on the premiere date, especially since a movie premieres earlier in Sweden for once. Premiere date in the US is the 13th I think... I feel special now :P

I really liked it, but I don't think it was as amazing as the first one.

I'm not sure about Beorn. I thought he was kind of cool, but I didn't get to see him enough to form an opinion. I'm told he features more in the next movie so I might form an opinion of him then. Then there's also the fact that the actor playing Beorn, Mikael Persbrandt, sounded so terribly Swedish in his spoken English. I did, however, love Beorn's house :)

Then the elves. I've never liked Legolas (but it may be because I've never liked Orlando Bloom) and I thought Thranduil was an ass, but I guess he's supposed to be that way. For a really long time I thought Tauriel was Arwen, but they never called her that. And finally I realised that Tauriel was a new character xD Then it bothered me for ages that I recognised the actress playing Tauriel but I didn't know from where until the credits (Evangeline Lilly from Lost!). I think the love story between Tauriel and Kili is incredibly sweet and I want it to evolve more in the next movie. If one of them dies I'll be so sad :(

Other than Kili I think Balin and Bombur are my favourite dwarves. Sure Thorin has a certain powerful aura, but he's so narrow-minded. Balin is great and Bombur is so funny! I loved Bombur's fighting scene among the orcs! And then the mention of Gimli! :D

I thought Gandalf did wrong to leave the group, but since he's in LotR it's obvious he'll survive his imprisonment. While he was snooping around Dol Guldur I just sat on the edge waiting for Sauron to appear. Cause I knew way before they said so in the movie that this growing enemy was Sauron. How wasn't it obvious?

I also like Bilbo a lot. And he's a much better main character than Frodo ever was. Bilbo grows into his role and finds his place among the dwarves and in his adventure. Frodo is just a big pouting clumsy baby throughout all of LotR.

Then of course there's Smaug. Pretty dragon :D And the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch gave me chills. I'm sure they enhanced it someway to make it grand enough for the dragon, but his voice is so amazing :3 And in the next movie he'll be both Smaug and the Necromancer! Gotta look forward to that :D

Stephen Fry was a pleasant surprise. The Master of Laketown. I had no idea Stephen Fry was going to be in this movie and seeing him was a lot of fun :) Although his moustache looked like whiskers :P

And then there's Bard. I'm totally convinced that either he or his son will be the one to defeat Smaug and regain the honour to their family lost by Girion.

The fact that Radagast is played by the 7th Doctor makes me smile every time I see him :)

I wanted to add some clips from the movie, but since it hasn't premiered in the US yet there are none on Youtube :/ Except for the trailer.