Film:The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug isn't showing in the Cineworld Fulham except in 3D, which I don't watch, but it is showing in 2D in the Odeon Kensington, so that's where I headed today. I checked how much they're charging in points these days, since I have a fair amount saved in my Odeon Premiere membership, and discovered that they've increased the quota for a peak-time film ticket from 800 to 1200 points. By 'eck, that's quite a bit above inflation.. however, the price for a super-saver ticket, such as for the matinee today, is only 600. Now, I had over 1200, so I was sure to get a free ticket. Yay!

Google Maps estimated that it would only take 1 minute longer to walk there than to Cineworld Fulham, so I determined that was what I would do. The weather was decent, so off I set. The route took me past a Nando's, then an Oxfam shop on the other side. Could prove useful for Secret Santa.. and in due course, I had no problem in finding the cinema. End of Earl's Court Road and turn left, basically.

There was a queue at the box office, so I said I'd try my luck with the machine. :-) Well, I got my ticket. In the end. But what a palaver! You start with the normal specification of the day, film, time, seat type (standard or premium), then you say how you'd like to pay. So far, so much the same as ever. They have an option for paying by membership card. Good! Insert card, withdraw. Then they must needs ask again whether you want to pay by points or with money. Points, please. Then they have to ask, again, how many tickets you want (I could have bought two to that showing with my points total). Then you have to confirm, again. The whole process must have taken five minutes!

I sat three rows from the front, and was happily ensconsed watching ads and waiting, when a veritable army of small boys appeared. O no! That's what you get for going to a matinee! And, of course, they sat themselves in the front two rows. I dreaded what this was going to be like. But, to be fair, they were quite well behaved.

And so we launched into The Hobbit (2). One reviewer described it as not as sophisticated as Lord of the Rings, in that the baddies are more easily despatched and the goodies are immune from being killed. This is true. Also true is that those of us of a certain age are inclined to get a teensy bit tired of the parade of dwarves, elves, and orcs at the start of the film. But.. well, this is Peter Jackson territory, and you will not be disappointed. The scenery is as stunning as ever, the dwarves grow on you. I found the Elvish king a bit camp, but my goodness, there was a great Legolas (played by Orlando Bloom) fan club in front of me, judging by the reaction every time he came onscreen! Never could see the attraction, m'self..

That reviewer was right - the spiders will send the fear of God into anyone with a touch of arachnophobia. But the great crowning glory of the film is the title character. I defy anyone - of any age - not to gape at the glory that is the dragon, Smaug! (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, of all people. He really is everywhere.) This is what I call a dragon! Once he appears, you can forget everything else that's going on. His great tail appearing from under the mounds of gold.. his great snout poking around pillars, in search of Bilbo (Martin Freeman), come to steal from him.. and the end of the film has him flying off to lay waste to the town, thus setting the scene for the final film of the series. I'm already looking forward to that opening scene!

So, who else is involved in this? Cate Blanchett makes a cameo appearance in one scene, as the Elvish queen, Galadriel. Sir Ian McKellen is back, as the wizard, Gandalf the Grey, of course. Stephen Fry is excellent as the Master of Lake Town, and James Nesbitt does his obligatory Irish turn of being the dwarf that gets drunk and is left behind. Aidan Turner, another Irish dwarf, is quite the hottie as the dwarf romantic lead. Billy Connolly does an uncredited turn as another dwarf.

And I ate in Nando's on the way home, to escape the rain that was by now falling, and still is.

For tomorrow, I'm heading to the theatre again, to a performance of Fred and Mary, the final part of the trilogy of stage adaptations of the novel Middlemarch, showing at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond. It's a long while since I've been out there - I would have liked to see the other parts of the trilogy, but Part 1, Dorothea's Story, is sold out tomorrow, and Part 2, The Doctor's Story, isn't showing tomorrow. Still, they say that each is self-contained.