The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug!!!!

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug.

It has to be said The Lord Of The Rings trilogy of films was a massive success and many a Tolkien fan rejoiced at the films and finally saw the books on a big screen. Peter Jackson was of course to decide to adapt this time round The Hobbit book, with the news that he was to spread the film across three films and also add characters of his own creation fans were sceptical.

Second time round and we see the story continue with the dwarves and hobbit carry on their journey to the lonely mountain to slay the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). As the group continue their journey they venture into places that they shouldn't go and get into all sorts of situations. 

Being chased by giant spiders and getting caught up in their giant webs, floating down a river in wooden barrels fighting off Azog's orc's with the help of the elves, to  escpaing from the Woodland realm of the Elves the small dwarf group get into different predicaments. 

Of course Gandalf has his own small quest as well to speak with Radaghast and find out what is going on in the old ruins, finding a darkness he soon enough sees the all seeing firey one eye of Sauron. I obviously have to mention the hobbit in this story Bilbo, having found the one ring he toys with it and soon learns of its power of making him invisible and something he can use against Smaug. Entering the mountain you see the interaction between the two and how Smaug can see the hobbit even with the on ring. 

Back story's of Laketown and Bard the Bowman and his role within the movie comes clear and no doubt you will see him in a more important role in the third film. An added thread in the film is of course adding Legolas and a new character called Tauriel is something interesting and to show a love triangle situation between those two and a dwarf is interesting. 

The action comes thick and fast in the film and it covers alot of ground and locations which keeps the film fresh and interesting. Splitting the film into what is at times two storylines, that of Bilbo and the group and Gandalf and Radaghast I liked as again it kept things interesting and gave an insight into what is yet to come. 

I felt the love triangle and adding Legolas to the film had no real impact, he ran about with his bow and arrow, killed a few orcs along the way and then drifted off which was not very good. Showing Beorn and also Bard to bowman was a great decision as many Tolkien fans will know Bard's real involvement with the book. Smaug is of course massive and certainly a force to be reconned with and Bilbo definitely has alot of work to do in order to help the Dwarves reclaim their home.

The only downside I found was that the film was a little bit long and for a younger audience they certainly would drift and maybe at times get bored. For any Tolkien fans this will be something to rejoice over as it is the second installment of a popular classic book loved by many. 

With the third and final film to come at the end of the year it will definitely be something everyone will want to see, especially anyone in the Tolkien fandom. 

8/10.

Pacific Rim!!!!

Pacific Rim.

I have to say I am kind of biased when it comes to reviewing this film because of one reason, Guillermo Del Toro. The ever so imaginative and amazing director of some of my favourite movies from Pans Labyrinth to Blade 2 to Hellboy 1+2 he is an amazing creative genius in my eyes.

So anyway onto Pacific Rim which is GoT's first major budget film in five years and in which has been a long time coming. With a sneak peak trailer being aired at Comic Con in 2012 fans have been waiting to see the giant Jaeger's and Kaiju's in action and battle it out on the big screen in all it's glory. 

Set in a world where a rift opens up in the Pacific ocean and giant Kaiju monsters come through the rift and decide to attack the city's around the world as Sydney, Manila and China are all attacked in a matter of months which calls for decisive action. As the country's of the world call a truce to fight a greater evil together the Jaeger program is put in place to build giant mechanical robot's to fight the Kaiju's and to stop them from destroying the world. 

As we see our first two characters on screen Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and his brother Yancy Becket (Diego Klattenhoff) are alerted to a Kaiju attack they must deploy their Jaeger Gyspy Danger and kill the Kaiju. As the brother's fight the Kaiju at first the brother's are cofident but soon enough catastrophic events take place and Gyspy Danger is soon enough flat on it's face on a near by beach defeated with an injured Raleigh. Fast forward a couple of years and we see Raleigh working on the Canadian Kaiju defence wall, now not a Jaeger pilot he moves from city to city to keep working and his mind of that catastrophic event.

Soon enough the Kaiju's are becoming stronger and are breaking through the defence walls like knives through butter and so the government has no choice but to close and shut down the Jaeger initiative. With their leader Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) given only a time frame of funding for another six months he must find a way to stop the Kaiju's once and for all and quickly. Visited by Stacker Raleigh makes the decision to re-enter the Jaeger initiative and pilot Gyspy Danger once more with a new co-pilot Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi). 

As we see the process of finding his co-pilot the rivalry between Jaeger pilots and the imminent danger of the Kaiju every day it is a race against time for the team to finish this war. As day by day more Jaeger's are taken down and destroyed by the Kaiju the team is cut down to just four Jaeger's. The Australian speedy fighting Striker Eureka piloted by Herc Hansen (Max Martini) and his son Chuck Hansen (Robert Kazinsky). The three armed Chinese all fighting Crimson Typhoon piloted by the Wei Tang triplets (Charles, Mark and Lance Luu). The heavyweight Russian Cherno Alpha piloted by husband and wife Lt. S+A Kaidanovsky (Robert Maillet and Heather Doerksen). 

As the pilots fight the Kaiju's out in the world the Shatterdome (home of the team) scientists try to work out how the Kaiju work and how they communicate. Dr Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) and Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) work together to try and learn about the Kaiju, even approaching Hannibal Chau (Ron Perlman) a back street underground Kaiju dealer in parts the try to find out information to defeat the Kaiju anyway possible. 

With the imminent threat of a high class of Kaiju to come through the rift and destroy the rest of life on earth the team must form a plan and follow through quick but what will happen?!

Overall a great film especially if you love Transformers, Godzilla and the whole Gundam Wing franchise as this film has a great mix of all three with some massive fight scenes added on top. The Jaeger's on screen look daunting and yet powerful and forceful, the Kaiju look again massive, impressive and at times scary as well. I could go into detail about the lighting and how well it was used, the sound effects and little touches of western spurs chinking on boots to how impresive the sets look but I could be here for hours. 

The characters were believable and really brought the story forward, a downside was that of Stacker Penetcost as he just felt a little bit too overly cold in my opinion and the film could have slowed down a little bit in order to take all the information in. But I have to say this is impressive film making from GoT and I really hope that we don't have to wait another five years for another film from him.

So if you want to see a film with massive robot's versus giant Kaiju monsters with an emotive underlying theme then check this film out as it is in my eyes an amazing film that is not to be missed. Welcome back Guillermo Del Toro........Pacific Rim 2 now, PLEASE??!

9/10.