The morning of truth arrives. I’m off to see The Desolation of Smaug.
I’m not quite sure what to do with my expectations. On the one hand, An Unexpected Journey set them very, very low. And reviews from some friends and others confirm this. On the other hand, I now know not to expect anything remotely faithful to Tolkien, and still have good reason to expect Lee Pace’s Thranduil to be amazing. Some other reviews have indicated that the pacing — one of the first film’s major flaws — is much sharper this time around, and that the action and drama are more effective. These give me hope for an enjoyable experience, if one that is divorced from my book experience.
Or maybe the purist in me will get all mad regardless of what I already know. We shall see, my friends, we shall see.
The Warden's Walk 
I’m sure you’ll enjoy it! If not, there’s always the book 😉
There most certainly is! After all, I know better to go to these movies expecting “The Hobbit” by now… ‘-)
I just thought Thranduil was a little…weird, so I’m interested in seeing what you think!
Hopefully I’ll complete a full review relatively soon, as I think I can write about this one much easier than the last. Gladly, I was adequately prepared this time and suffered no depression and anguish, as I did before. As to Thranduil, there were a couple weird things about him, but overall I think he was great and pretty much how I hoped he would be. However, I may be overly biased towards Lee Pace, after seeing him in “The Fall” (2006). He’s a great casting choice for Thranduil. I only wish they had featured his elk!