Movie Review: BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES May Entertain, But Is Mostly Unnecessary.

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Director: Peter Jackson
Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lily, and Cate Blanchett.
Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.

The Hobbit should never have been three movies. I could get behind the idea of two, but alas the studios won that battle. Peter Jackson is well equipped to make Middle-Earth movies for the rest of his career, but that doesn't mean he should. The Battle of the Five Armies still has many elements that made the Lord of the Rings so successful, yet it still pales in comparison.


BOTFA picks up right after the events of The Desolation of Smaug, beginning with the defeat of the mighty Smaug (which makes me wonder why not make that the climax of the last movie, but I'll get to that). The dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage), have reclaimed their kingdom under the Lonely Mountain and now sit upon an enormous wealth of gold. Now, armies of orcs, dwarves, elves, and men have gathered to stake their claim to the piles of riches within the mountain.

I simply don't understand why they did not include the death of Smaug in the last movie. It would have made the perfect climax for that installment. Instead, we get a major cliffhanging ending in the second movie that resolves itself within the first 15 minutes of this movie. This film is simply one giant battle scene. There is some buildup through the first 40 minutes, but then it's just pure action. Sure, there are some exciting sequences and choreography, but all the while you can feel as if Peter Jackson and team are trying to match anything they did in the original trilogy, and never quite living up to it.

The Good:
Martin Freeman is solid as Bilbo and slips into the role with great ease. Armitage plays a great conflicted Thorin and is a force to be reckoned with despite being a dwarf. The cinematography is beautiful, even if it does rely on too much CGI, and watching any elf in action is loads of fun to behold.

The Bad:
It's not Lord of the Rings as much as it tries to be. You can feel the desperation in trying to connect this trilogy to LOTR as much as possible, simply because deep down everyone involved in the film no that this trilogy is adequate, but would not stand with its predecessor. Many intriguing characters, such as Bard (Luke Evans), are not given any sort of resolution. Some time could have been cut from the plethora of battle sequences to devote more time to concluding some of these characters' arcs.

The Worst:

This guy! Alfrid, or Lord Unibrow Pansyass as I like to call him (pardon the term), is so useless that his only purpose in the movie is to be as annoying as possible. Jackson and team even try to use him as comic relief despite his horrible character; it fails miserably. Somehow he survives, gets way too many scenes, and seemingly smarter characters like Gandalf and Bard continue to trust him and give him assignments. I'm so glad we stretched this story into three movies so we can get more time with this idiot.

I know it probably sounds like I hated this movie, which is not accurate. It's just that I love LOTR so much and this is not that. The truth is that this is still a Middle-Earth movie directed by Jackson and that alone makes it entertaining. There's enough here to like for any LOTR fan, but ultimately you're going to walk out and wish you felt like you did after leaving Fellowship, Two Towers, or Return.

RATING: B-