Hobbit stars 'relieved' by strong Desolation of Smaug reviews (exclusive)

After 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' was met with a muted critical response last year, the stars of sequel 'The Desolation of Smaug' were relieved ratings had improved this time around.

“Thank god the reviews are good!” said Richard Armitage, who plays Dwarven king Thorin. “You know what, it sounds egotistical of me, but I don’t know if our audience is swayed by the critics too much, I really don’t know.”

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He suggested many critics focused on the High Frame Rate technology (the film is projected at a quicker 48 frames per second) to give ‘An Unexpected Journey’ a kicking first time around.

“I feel like with the first film, a lot of the writing was about the new technology that still feels very new. It was an experiment and it still is, but I think the main thrust of Peter’s ambition is to get people into the cinema for this ‘event’.”

Martin Freeman, who plays hobbit Bilbo Baggins, wasn’t surprised that reviews had improved for the second film.
 
“You know, I really liked the first film and I think this one is possibly even better, so that would make sense to me,” the actor. “I think it’s got better pace. I love the action, I think it’s beautifully executed. I think there are more layers to it.”

[Second Hobbit film more warmly received by critics]
 
“Plus it’s got a f*****g great dragon in it and it’s got the barrels, there’s loads of really good set pieces in it. Most films would be happy to have just one of them, not five!”

The first film of the planned trilogy currently sits at a 65% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes’, a site which which aggregates hundreds of critical reviews from press around the world.
 
While not a terrible score, it’s not a patch on the original trilogy’s hat-trick of 91 per cent, 96 per cent, and 94 per cent ratings respectively (plus the series' 17 Oscar wins).

So far 'Desolation' is at 77 per cent, with Empire proclaiming: “Middle-earth's got its mojo back”.

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Luke Evans who takes on the pivotal role of Bard The Bowman in the final two 'Hobbit' films also agreed that the improved pace of ‘Desolation of Smaug’ was a factor. “Unlike the first movie where there was a lot of exposition… In this one it just feels like – keep up – we’re on this journey and it’s not slowing down.”

Director Peter Jackson thinks the new settings in 'Desolation', such as the previously unseen Laketown and Erebor, differentiate the film from 'The Lord of the Rings'.

“A lot of the first film was going over familiar ground that we’d already seen in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ like Bag End, Hobbiton, Elrond, Rivendell,” the Kiwi film-maker explained, “So now, in this we’re finally into new places of Middle-earth that we haven’t gone to yet, we’re able to bring in extra complications and dangers.”

Philippa Boyens, the screenwriter who has worked on every ‘Rings’ and ‘Hobbit’ film alongside Jackson, acknowledges problems with adapting the books.

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“Starting this story was really difficult. You’re introducing thirteen dwarves, it is a children’s tale very much so at the beginning,” Boyens stated, “They’re not setting off to save the world, which Frodo is in ‘The Lord of the Rings’, so making you care about those characters was always going to be difficult to do.”
 
So is the second part of the trilogy an improvement on the first? You can find out for yourself when ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ hits cinemas worldwide from December 13th.

Watch director Peter Jackson bid farewell to Middle-earth on his last day on set below...