If you’re among those campaigning for studios to cut shorter trailers for their tentpole releases, then the newest trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug may cut harshly across your grain. At the same time, three minutes feels almost appropriate; Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth opuses never last less than two and a half hours, so perhaps there’s a sense of obligation to make promo footage for the picture feel proportionately epic in scope. Look at it this way, though – it only takes them less than a third of that time to work the title of the film into the mix!
That’s probably small consolation. At any rate, The Hobbit: Hobbit Harder looks like a lot of the same as last year’s kickstarting enterprise in Jackson’s bid to adapt everything J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote to the screen; whimsy, fun, and portentousness. (Maybe not those first two things, if you share Bill’s opinion about the movie, or if you can only be bothered enough to write it off as a cheap, soulless cash-grab.) This time around, the world expands beyond that of the dwarves and Bilbo – now we meet Men, Elves, a certain titular dragon, a host of creepy crawlies and beasts, and new locations that our heroes must traverse and contend with in their bid to make it to the Misty Mountain.
If you’re familiar with the book, then you know well enough where things will come to an end this time around. The specifics are slightly foggier; there’s going to be a great deal of fan speculation about how The Desolation of Smaug concludes, though I’ll refrain from delving into details for those who haven’t managed to pick up the novel and breezed through it. But it’s clear enough that there’s going to be far more action and far less set up, a change in design that might make this entry in the new trilogy slightly more palatable for An Unexpected Journey‘s detractors.
Then again, maybe not. By now you’re either on board with this sort of thing or you aren’t, and it’s likely too late for anyone to have their minds changed. But count me excited. It’d be nothing but a pleasure to see Jackson fully recapture the adventure and excitement of the Lord of the Rings films and bond that to the tone of The Hobbit; he got there last year, but only just, so here’s hoping he goes to the hilt in just over a month from now.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug arrives in theaters December 13th, 2013.
