Movie: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Well it’s long.I look forward to long films ordinarily, I like the idea of sitting in one place, not responding to emails and generally giving my brain a rest. I like escaping into a film once a week if I can but half an hour of adverts and trailers followed by a fantasy adventure that’s the best part of three hours, took its toll. That adds up to long time sitting in one seat. As I wasn’t as enamored with the first Hobbit as I was with the Lord of the Rings trilogy – which I adored at the cinema, I’d already planned a full on coffee break right in the middle of it. The whole cinema was snacking away too and the audience was more forgiving of them than they would have been for the Mandela film, say (where no-one made a sound).I was desperate to get out sooner as I’d fancied a coffee the minute I’d taken my seat but figured it would be better to ‘break up the film’ by getting one midway. As it happens, that’s the point they put on one of the best battles I’d seen in a while with the even uglier orcs taking on dwarfs and elves alike.I’d forgotten the point of this particular journey across more treacherous lands, evil mountains and this time, bumping into a skin-changer, the last of its kind, a bit like the last Time Lord, the Doctor, I thought. But the point was the needed the expert burglar (perhaps Statham in the group would have made it a bit faster) to reclaim some lost jewel back from the evil (are there any other kind) dragon, Smaug.Gandalf disappears for a big chunk of this, which is a shame.Having said all that, I’ll look forward to next year’s Tolkien adventure just as much and a jolly time was had with a large comforting coffee, doughnuts and assorted snacks. I came out feeling pretty full.7/10Smile factor 7/10Coffee rating Latte