The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Warner Bros./New Line Cinema/MGM) By Lucas Allen After all the debating and polarizing from both critics and fans, The Hobbit Trilogy remains a highly entertaining epic fantasy trilogy despite being under the shadow of its predecessor The Lord of the Rings. The third and last film The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies not only ends the trilogy on a high note, but also displays an important chapter in the history of Middle-Earth that paves the way towards to the War of the Ring. Though the shortest of all the movies so far, it still achieves the epic scope director Peter Jackson has become known for. You may remember at the end of The Desolation of Smaug that Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) teamed up with Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and the thirteen dwarfs to defeat the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) and reclaim the Lonely Mountain of Erebor. However, nothing ends happily for the company. Smaug soon unleashed a fiery wrath on Laketown before the brave bowman Bard (Luke Evans) took it down with a black metal arrow. Then Thorin suffers from the same sickness that plagues his grandfather by becoming overly obsessed with his gold causing a friction between him and his dwarf friends. After he kills Smaug, Bard leads the towns survivors to shelter in a nearby desolate town near the mountain. But then, a large army of woodland elves led by Thranduil (Lee Pace) stops by in the same town. The two of them agree that they each need a good portion of the mountains treasures for their own needs. But when the paranoid Thorin refuses to give in, it causes further friction that could lead to war. Meanwhile, the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) is trapped in the stronghold of the evil Sauron (Cumberbatch), but he is then free by Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Saruman (Christopher Lee), and Radagast (Sylvester McCoy). The grey wizard has to warn the arguing parties at the Lonely Mountain that the orc army led by Azog the Defiler (Manu Bennett) will lay siege on all of Middle-Earth. It all culminates in an epic battle that will turn the tide on history, and change one hobbits life forever. Naturally for those who dont see Jacksons intent of adapting J.R.R. Tolkiens short novel into three movies as a good thing, this film can be seen as just a third act in which plot points are wrapped up without much use of structure. To be fair, those who still enjoyed the first two movies can see this film as a satisfying conclusion to a well-told epic story. In fact, Jackson and company did an excellent job giving audiences exactly what they wanted, while managing to keep things consistent with the other films. Some may not still appreciate the additions of Azog, Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) since they werent in the original book. But these additions help add more detail to the already extensive world of Middle-Earth and brings greater conflict to the story. The battle itself is seen throughout much of the movie. Its a spectacular sequence, but the filmmakers were wise enough to give us room to breathe with some quite scenes spread across the battle. It makes the whole experience feel less crowded and more exciting. As always, the cast is amazing. McKellen, Freeman, and Armitage lead the way as does the other dwarfs and elves. There are some rather unintentionally hilarious moments including the arrival of the dwarf general Dain (Scottish funnyman Billy Connolly) and the orc armys unusual arrival to battle with the help of giant earthworms. These minor head-scratching moments fortunately dont ruin the overall experience. Now with that all said and done, how does this trilogy stack up with The Lord of the Rings? Though it shares the same filmmaking qualities that made those movies great, it suffers a bit from being a prequel where as we knew what happened afterwards. Other than that, Jackson and company made the return to Middle-Earth in all three films most worthwhile. If all goes well, there are other Tolkien stories yet to receive the big screen treatment like The Silmarillion that should excite fans. In the meantime, the entire Hobbit trilogy is highly recommended. THE MOVIES RATING: PG-13 (for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence and frightening images) THE CRITICS RATING: 3.75 Stars (Out of Four)
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 02:58:25 +0000
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