The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom
Directed by Peter Jackson

Synopsis:
Having regained their mountain, the Dwarfs, led by Thorin (Richard Armitage), are basking in the glow of their victory, while Thorin basks in the vast gold found within the mountain, which turns him into a greedy backstabber.  Bilbo (Martin Freeman) senses this change and goes to Bard (Luke Evans) and the Elvin king Thranduil (Lee Pace), who are planning on waging war against the Dwarfs for their share of the gold.

Meanwhile, after escaping Sauron, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) learns of an Orc army that is marching toward the Lonely Mountain, and also travels there to warn everyone of the upcoming battle, but it's too late as armies of Dwarfs, Men, Elves and Orcs have converged on the site, for one final battle for control of the Mountain - and the gold inside.

Review:
"The Lord of the Rings" is my favorite movie series of all time, and I strongly feel it will withstand the test of time as one of this generations' most defining movies.  Everything about it - the directing, the acting, the story, the lush scenery, everything - is pitch perfect, a truly compelling story delivered by one of today's most respected and revered directors.

Then he decided to do "The Hobbit."

At first I was very excited, because "The Hobbit" is one of the most endearing novels of all time, but my excitement started to wane when I heard they were splitting it into three movies instead of two.  "The Lord of the Rings" had such a vast expansive narrative that three movies could easily be done, but "The Hobbit" wasn't nearly as long.

The first two "Hobbit" films were alright, there wasn't anything spectacular or special about them, and it seemed like Jackson bit off more than he could chew with them, or the moviegoing public were tired of Middle Earth.  Either way, "The Hobbit" movie series accumulated less money than LOTR by a large margin, and it seemed that with this final film, instead of excitement and anticipation, it was more like "finally, it's ending!"

"The Battle of the Five Armies" wasn't a bad film by any stretch of the imagination.  It was pretty much nonstop action from start to finish, with an amazing battle between the armies.  It kept my attention from start to finish, but as it wrapped up I didn't have the same sadness I felt when "Return of the King" ended, I was just relieved it was over.

Peter Jackson seemed to abandon the characterization for glittery action sequences (ironically, the actual Battle only lasted one chapter in the book), and instead of traveling the beautiful New Zealand countryside, most of the film takes place in one location, with an overuse of CGI and effects that wasn't seen in the original LOTR movies.

The only person who had a character arc was Thorin, who becomes a power hungry gold seeker seemingly overnight, and struggles with returning to the man he used to be, which takes up a good portion of the movie.  As far as Bilbo goes, he's surprisingly not seen much in the film, considering the title is "The Hobbit."  He does what he does, and it's good, but there's nothing much more than that.

Summary:
While "The Battle of the Five Armies" is nowhere near a terrible film, the magic and wonder of the story has been removed, replaced by brilliant battle sequences and heavily used CGI effects that makes the ultimate conclusion less emotional and more of a relief that it's finally over.

My Rating: A-

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