Anthony Stark Reviews: THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
Yesterday, Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth finale hit the big screen worldwide, and is considered by some the best, and by some the worst movie in the Hobbit franchise. Hit the Jump, and check out my spoiler-free thoughts on the film!
The sixth and supposed "last" film in the Lord of the Rings universe has just made it's way to the big screen, so I took a bunch of friends and fellow nerds to check it out and see if it was worth the watch. Scroll down below to check out my spoiler-free thoughts on the plot, the characters, action and more!
By now, most of you know that the film is shorter than any of the other films in Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth universe. So with a final battle around 45 minutes long, you already know that the plot is pretty weak compared to the previous films. Unlike most films in a franchise, this one picks up right after the ending of The Desolation of Smaug, making it a lot easier to marathon the trilogy. But the first two had so much story and not that much action, that this one makes up for them. Which brings us to our next topic, the action.
As I previously stated, the action wasn't much in An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug, so they make up for it, bringing us one of the coolest scenes in the Hobbit franchise by kicking it off with Smaug. The REAL Desolation this time. And they didn't stop there. The entire film built up to a huge scaled finale, featuring no long, boring scenes, and keeping you excited with plenty of battles between good and evil. So the action was one of the best elements of the film, but what's action without the characters?
In the book and the previous films, it seemed as if it was "Bilbo's movie", focusing only on him with everyone else as side characters. The Battle of the Five Armies nearly reversed the roles, giving everyone else that needed to a chance to shine, which was needed and appreciated, yet still giving Bilbo some focus.
If you know anything of the Hobbit movies, you know that Legolas and other characters that weren't in the book were brought into the films. In the second film heroes such as him and Evangeline Lilly's 'Tauriel' seemed as if they didn't belong in the film, but their roles were more fitting in this one, and the film wouldn't be the same without them.
Normally I discuss the graphics, but if you've seen the other two films, you'll know that the graphics pretty well stay equal through the series, so they're great, but not really anything new or spectacular.
So to sum up the film, it was great. It was a well-made finale to a well-made film series, And quite likely the best of the trilogy. It certainly needed more plot and like the other films, featured some silly and unnecessary moments, as well as some hints to the original franchise, but definitely showed emotion when it wanted to. I give The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies 4 stars.
Thanks for reading, and as always, be sure to drop a comment below!