The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

This second installment is a slight improvement over the first, even if some of the reasons it's better will upset Tolkien purists; some new characters were nowhere to be found in the book. But let's just say this and move on: The Hobbit three-parter is not The Lord of the Rings, and it will forever confound some critics as to why it a standalone book was divided into three nearly three-hour films, when one would've done just fine. One of the fundamental problems with The Hobbit is that there is a lot of traveling and not enough relationship building. There's not a sense of camaraderie and friendship the way there was in the nine-member Fellowship of the Ring.

But what does work in this film is the stopover at the Mirkwood, where the startlingly beautiful but cold elvenking Thranduil (Lee Pace) is a lovely foil to his hot-headed son Legolas (Orlando Bloom), who has an obvious crush on the gorgeous (and completely new to the world of Tolkien) captain of the guard Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly). Laketown's heroic everyman Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) is well cast. The fight scenes (particularly those with Legolas and Tauriel) are, as always, one of Jackson's specialties, as are the middle-earth landscapes by his long-time cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, who knows how to immerse audiences into the beloved universe. Lastly, one cannot write a review of this movie without mentioning Cumberbatch's motion-capture performance as Smaug. With his resonant baritone (reminiscent of James Earl Jones), Cumberbatch imbues Smaug with an imperious, psychopathic rage and arrogance. It's fascinating and chilling and proof that these sorts of performances demand the finest of actors.