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Armitage has what I think is the most difficult role in the film, and I love the way he is handling all the subtle detail work of the various forces at work within him. He is a born leader, and in those moments where he stops thinking about it and starts simply doing what must be done, people fall in behind him willingly. He's also wracked with self-doubt, though, and he is damaged by what he knows has happened to his race since the fall of Erebor. The paranoia, the anger, the hatred… all of that is eating him alive even as he struggles to play the role of the returned King, and Armitage brings it all together.
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But that’s the most breathless part of the story. Bilbo (still Martin Freeman, still excellent) and the band of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshild (still Richard Armitage, still excellent) are dashing off to The Misty Mountain to reclaim their kingdom and its riches from Smaug, The Great Calamity, a.k.a. a big ass dragon.

While I would love to go through all of the performances of the main characters in this, there just isn’t time. I’ll simply focus on some of the stand-outs for me. Richard Armitage and Martin Freeman both turn in exceptional performances as Thorin and Bilbo. The big theme with both of them in this movie is corruption – Thorin by the Arkenstone and Bilbo by the Ring. As the Company gets closer and closer to the Lonely Mountain, we see Thorin’s growing desperation to claim the Arkenstone. We also see Bilbo starting to slowly lose control of himself as he uses the Ring more and more. Both of them portray their individual slides with exceptional subtlety.

Overwhelmingly, though, the film belongs to Martin Freeman and Richard Armstrong as Bilbo and Thorin. With both characters compromised in some way by their own agendas - Bilbo’s now starting to feel the full, seductive effect of the ring he stole from Gollum in the first film, while Thorin is more grimly dedicated than ever to his recovery of the Arkenstone at any cost - the skills of their respective actors really begin to come into their own. Freeman’s performance is full of wit, comic timing and nervous energy (plus a new hint of aggression), while Armstrong is reliably grim-faced and unpredictable.

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"Armitage Portrays the Role Incredibly Well"

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Review
December 8, 2013 By Stefan Pape