Just in case you don’t feel like you’ve already seen most of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug,” the latest 3-minute trailer will fill in most of the gaps.
It opens with typically haunting Tolkien images set to some poetry by the Bard (not Shakespeare), played by “Fast & Furious 6” baddie Luke Evans. Soon, viewers are reunited with Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, and the rest of their fellowship as they scheme to rid the one-time dwarf kingdom from the titular dragon.
The adventure looks a step above the previous film, Evangeline Lilly and Orlando Bloom (we missed you, dude) provide the Hot Elf Action, the first film’s nasty albino orc returns and even the Eye of Sauron makes a quick cameo.
There’s also a much better villain this time around. The fire-breathing dragon Smaug — voiced menacingly by Benedict Cumberbatch — was briefly glimpsed in “An Unexpected Journey,” but will be fully unleashed in the upcoming film. Will the heroes stand a chance against Smaug, who threateningly intones, “I am king under the mountain”?
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” opens December 13.