The Hobbit – The Battle Of The Five Armies: Review
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance.
Ok, I just want to start off by saying that I’m a bad film fan. I don’t know how in God’s green Earth it happened but I hadn’t seen ANY of The Hobbit films so last week consisted of a double feature and with that being said I HAD to see the final chapter ASAP. The film started out really strong and continued exactly where The Desolation Of Smaug left off. I watched the film in 3D so seeing Smaug flying around and setting everything ablaze was extraordinary. I know there are plenty of people that were unhappy with the film being filmed and presented in 48fps but I actually don’t mind it. I thought it brought a lot more to the experience and especially with it being in 3D it made me feel like I was there with the characters. I wouldn’t mind seeing it in the usual 24fps as well but I do feel like an epic film such as this is deserving of an enhanced experience. I liked the fact they there were little nods here and there as to what would be coming in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and it did it in a way that didn’t feel pressured or cheap. The one thing that honestly got on my nerves was the way that IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE they kept calling for each other and they would pause for a dramatic moment. At one point two dwarves even HUG! That, to me made no sense in the midst of a huge group of Orcs. All of the action scenes are what you would come to expect from its predecessors. They were intense but less violent (if that makes sense) than what I remember the LOTR being. The culmination of Thorin’s quest for the Arkenstone lead him to practical insanity and his transformation proved to be compelling enough to keep me interested. There was something about the feel to this film though that didn’t grab me the way the original trilogy did. There were a few deaths in the film that were a bit surprising (because I haven’t read the book) but they didn’t fill me with emotion. It just felt emotionally dry to me. That doesn’t mean that it made the film horrible though. In fact this closed out The Hobbit trilogy beautifully and when the final song (Billy Boyd: The Last Goodbye) hit that’s when it really got me that this was indeed the end. It really is hard to believe that we have gone through two Middle-Earth trilogies and I’m happy to say that I enjoyed both and this film itself was the superior one of The Hobbit films. 8/10
