Since 2001, cinema audiences have been drenching themselves in all things Middle Earth and now Peter Jackson’s second and final trilogy from the Shire, is coming to an end, with the third and final part of The Hobbit. Aptly titled The Battle Of The Five Armies. And yes, it does exactly what it says on the tin. A big epic battle with more armies than you shake a spear at.
Jackson’s Hobbit movies were always criticised for being stretched into 3 movies. Up until now, it was hard to see why that criticism was warranted. An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug were wonderful films. An Unexpected Journey set the series up perfectly and finished with a wonderful glimpse of Smaug. Then The Desolation Of Smaug provided another fantastic cinematic outing with a phenomenal digital interpretation of Smaug the Dragon and finished with a nail biting cliff hanger.
The Battle Of The Five Armies kicks off right where Desolation ended. Smaug is about to rain down fiery death and destruction of the residents of Laketown. This is a wonderfully realised set piece which climaxes in a fantastic face off between Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) and Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). But it all feels a bit anti climatic as brilliantly realised as it is on screen, it’s rather short and could have easily been tacked onto Desolation of Smaug. The fire and destruction aside, there is more than enough material here excluding Smaug to keep the movie ticking over. However, with the dragon beginning crowbarred in, the movie runs at least 20-30 minutes too long and as a result it feels very tired.
While the actual Battle of the Five armies takes up the majority of the movie, complete with astonishing set pieces, it’s marred by rushed visual effects in places with horrific green screen doing a great job of instantly removing you from the movie. The closing chapter also suffers at the hands of rushed visual effects in places, in particular Legolas jumps across a collapsing tower and it looks absolutely brutal. How Peter Jackson could have left this in is beyond comprehension and does a complete disservice to the other phenomenal (and in places jaw dropping) visual effects. That said though, the positives far outweigh the negatives in the visuals. The might and disciple of the elven army is a sight to behold and the battles are some of the biggest ever committed to film with insane set pieces throughout.
That said, there are plenty of positives here with the cast doing a wonderful job in their final outing with a particularly impressive performance from Richard Armitage and a rather inspired and comedic piece of acting from Stephen Fry. Everybody is so comfortable in their roles at this stage that their performances are flawless. Be warned though, those of you not familiar with the story of The Hobbit will be constantly shocked by the amount of deaths here, especially of certain beloved characters.
That said, there are plenty of positives here with the cast doing a wonderful job in their final outing with a particularly impressive performance from Richard Armitage and a rather inspired and comedic piece of acting from Stephen Fry. Everybody is so comfortable in their roles at this stage that their performances are flawless. Be warned though, those of you not familiar with the story of The Hobbit will be constantly shocked by the amount of deaths here, especially of certain beloved characters.
Howard Shore completes a great trilogy of scores with some familiar themes running throughout, all the time adding to the drama and excitement on screen.
Ultimately though, the final visit to Middle Earth for audiences is not exactly the swan song Peter Jackson would have hoped for. It feels tired in places and besides the aforementioned running time issues with Smaug, a few dodgy special effects and the occasional pointless scene (Thorin’s meltdown and realisation of sorts is poorly done and looks more like something a first year film student would have churned out) The Hobbit The Battle Of The Five Armies is still a good movie and is definitely worth a watch.
