Fantasy....meh

Happy Winter Solstice!  Or almost Merry Christmas!

Saw the Hobbit 2 today, the Desolation of Smaug.  It's a fine film with some amazing effects.  However, I found myself just being bored with the film.  I would say most people know this is the second film of a trilogy and the unwritten Lucas Law states that the bad guys seem to win in #2.  You know, one hero is removed from fighting (Han Solo in Empire Strikes Back), one suffers a shock to his beliefs (Luke) and our group of rag tag scruffy heroes suffer some losses (though usually not death except for minor characters).  Funny, I didn't realize how much Smaug was like Empire.  More than I thought...
Anyways, my main issue was the one after another implausible escapes, the utterly unbelievable fighting skills and the utterly worthless wizard.  Honestly, I think I've played too much D&D and other fantasy role playing games to enjoy these films anymore.  We know that certain characters will not die (Gandalf, Bilbo), we know that eventually the good guys will defeat evil (no mention of Smaug in LOTR, Sauron/the Necromancer being the villain) and that eventually everyone learns their lesson and life will go on.  That's the tricky part of doing a prequel with characters who we see alive in later films.  There is little or no suspense in any danger you put those characters in, we know they will get out of it. 
Plus the fact I have had my fill of fantasy for a while now.  (I'm talking elves & dwarves with magic swords here, not the other stuff!!)  I just kept wishing someone would pull out a bazooka or M-60 and go to business on the dragon.  I think I'm just tired of seeing it all, seemingly endless variations on the same theme. Most of these 'epic quest' movies seem to have the same issue.  75-90% of the story is build up.  Seemingly every epic quest goes out of it's way to take as much damn time as they can to wrap up the story.  Since Professor Tolkien did it, I guess all the other writers feel they have to also. It's kind of like the later Roger Moore James Bond films.  You come into a scene and have forgotten how the heck the story got there.  It's just been over done soooo much, it's boring. 
Don't get me wrong, it's a visually stunning film and part of the true beginnings of fantasy literature.  I don't want to take a giant crap on the hard work of lots of people starting with Prof Tolkien & Peter Jackson.  It's just.... I'm tired of it.  Maybe I'm just stuck in a modern day world flavor.  But honestly, right now, if the Hobbit 3 were to come out in a few months, I really wouldn't care.  I would probably wait for it to come to Redbox.