Rowan’s notes
If you ask me what a dragon should feel like on screen, I’ll point at Smaug. Clever, vain, enormous and completely in love with the sound of his own voice — and Benedict Cumberbatch gave him a voice that seems to come up through the floor.
This teaser is a lesson in holding back. You get Bilbo, the dwarves, Mirkwood, the elves, Lake-town… and the dragon himself is barely shown, just enough to make you lean towards the screen. I spent far too long in 2013 pausing it frame by frame.
It’s the oldest trailer in the catalogue and it still holds up. If you’ve only seen the films once, the Lonely Mountain scenes deserve a rewatch on the biggest screen you can find.
Stills from the teaser
What to watch for
- Mirkwood and the river — the most fun stretch of the film.
- Lake-town, grey and cold, in the shadow of the mountain.
- The gold. So much gold.
