The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies

I went into this movie half-expecting a "Return of the King" experience. I was let down but it could have been worse. I should take my own advice however and remember that this trilogy was never made to replace "The Lord of the Rings". I will say that "An Unexpected Journey" set up an adventure with not much of a payoff at the end. The story structure of "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies" wasn't strong and I believe that came out of the decision to release three films instead of just two. Much of the story of this final movie also doesn't affect what takes place sixty years in the future. I was impressed by the look of the film in IMAX HFR 3D and maybe all the criticisms I have with this movie are due to the fact that I had the book read to me as a kid unlike with "The Lord of the Rings" so I knew the ending of this movie already. Action was the central feature of this show but the movie was better the second time. I enjoyed the extended version on Blu-ray

In the original book, Smaug's death was in many ways the climatic high point of the whole story. While I liked the cliffhanger ending of "The Desolation of Smaug", I was at the same time hoping for a great opening to "The Battle of Five Armies" so that our yearlong wait would not be in vain. I feel that Smaug's attack should have been twice as long in duration and included a larger retaliation by Laketown. Unfortunately, Laketown was established in the previous movie as poor and struggling to survive. It is no fortress and the people have no means to fight back. Even though Kili, Fili, Oin and Bofur are fighters, there are no defenses for them to utilize in the town. Despite all this, there was dramatic potential to be had in the fact that Bard has the only way to kill the dragon. This drama regrettably was not developed to its full potential. I did get a kick out of Bard's escape from jail however as well as the way he fires the black arrow. I guess I was hoping that Smaug's end would be as sudden and as powerful as Rothbart's end was in "The Swan Princess". The point I am trying to make is that cliffhanger ending at the end of "Desolation" did not accomplish anything. Putting the assault on Laketown at the end of the second movie wouldn't have done much good either because this movie would have been robbed story-wise. This is yet another example of a film franchise that probably did not need a third film. "The Lord of the Rings" worked as a trilogy because the books were three in number and just one of those books all on its own is longer than the entire "Hobbit" novel. I know that director Peter Jackson incorporated parts of Tolkien's appendices to extend the story of "The Hobbit" but it seemed like the further we went in the trilogy, the less dramatic the story became. The scene where Gandalf is rescued was cool and a nice lead-in to the story of the original trilogy but the rest of the scenes that connected the two trilogies felt somewhat forced. I felt that Legolas fit nicely into "The Desolation of Smaug" but I thought otherwise for this film. His final scene with his father was too obvious in foretelling his fate, something we already know. The conversation should have ended with the advice to find the Dunedain. I did like hearing the musical theme for the Fellowship in this moment however. When it comes to this character, Legolas is more entertaining when he is paired with Gimli. There were other tie-ins with "The Lord of the Rings" such as the Mithril shirt but if it was truly "a kingly gift", it sure wasn't depicted as such in this film. I was expecting that Bard would become king over his people after the manner of Aragorn but then I remembered that in the book, Bard becomes king after the battle. It was back in the early 90's when the book was read to me so I couldn't remember everything such as what happens with the Arkenstone. Since the end of the second film, I had a hunch as to what happened to it and I was happy to be proved right. The relationship between Tauriel and Kili that was begun in the previous movie lost its sincerity and sweetness. The battle and tragedy got in the way of its further development when in fact those parts of the story could have just as easily created more sincere drama between the two. If there was any sincere drama to be had in this final movie, it was mostly found between Bilbo and Thorin so that counts for something. I also liked how Thranduil acknowledged the love between Tauriel and Kili as real.

The movie is aptly named "The Battle of Five Armies" because that what most of the movie is: one big battle. You have men, Wood-elves, Dwarfs, Orcs and a fifth army that barely gets any time at all on screen unlike the Army of the Dead in "The Return of the King". Some might argue that "The Return of the King" also felt like one big fight on a huge scale but that Oscar-winning film was more than the Battle of Minas Tirith. That show was long enough to contain not only a massive battle but also dramatic subtext and rising action. The Battle of Five Armies also reminded me of the First Battle of Geonosis from "Star Wars: Episode II" because the scale escalates and changes locations as more participants arrive. George Lucas I feel did a better job with this kind of battle because his climax started out as a gladiator-type fight and became a full-scale war. In the Hobbit Trilogy though, a standoff is the only prelude we get before the massive fight. In the book, the Orc army was actually Goblins but I don't mind this change because it makes more sense in this film franchise. I was grateful that Thorin overcomes the "dragon sickness" in the end but he seemed to change back and forth like a light switch. Compare that to Frodo's corruption by the One Ring and you get one more tally point for the original films. Alfrid did not get his comeuppance in the theatrical version and that bothered me. To be honest, I hated him more than Azog. The extended version of "The Battle of Five Armies" thankfully provided a very entertaining end to Alfrid, just like with Saurman in the extended version of "The Return of the King". I was impressed by how Thorin seemingly defeats Azog on the ice. One moment in the climax that all die-hard fans notice is when Legolas runs out of arrows. Jokingly speaking, logic finally makes an appearance. Prequels are fun to watch when there are a lot of unknowns or when relationships that are paramount in the original films are initiated and/or developed. The end battle has indirect consequences on the story of "The Lord of the Rings" as opposed to direct consequences. Going in, I knew that the battle for Erebor wasn't all too influential over what would happen sixty years later. The indirect consequences include Sauron needing more time to rebuild an Orc army in Mordor and that certain characters survive to reappear decades later when Frodo sets out from the Shire with Sam. The events at the end of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy on the other hand had direct consequences on the story of the original films of that franchise. That makes those prequels quite a bit more entertaining. I was impressed with the scene when Bilbo says goodbye to the remaining members of the company. That was the best example of resolution in this trilogy. One line at the end that almost makes up for all the shortcomings of this movie is: "If more of us valued home above gold, it would be a merrier world." I believe that with all my heart. When Bilbo returns to Bag End, the Shine is not as welcoming as I was hoping it to be due to the auction. I was left to wonder whether the Hobbits returned all of the Bilbo's stuff or if Bilbo spent the next sixty years rebuilding his comfortable life. That counteracted the resolving scene with the dwarfs. I would have to bet that Biblo did get all of his things back. Those actors who appear only in this trilogy did their jobs just fine. Martin Freeman was consistent in all three films and that is saying something because he was filming "Sherlock" part way through. While my favorite Bilbo Baggins will always be Ian Holm, Freeman was still able to act in such a way that we accepted his performance. I also liked Richard Armitage, Ken Stott and Lee Pace in all three shows. Out of all the actors in "The Battle of Five Armies", I was so pleased to see Billy Connolly. He sounds as much like a dwarf as John Rhys-Davis. Did Benedict Cumberbatch have a cameo at the start of the movie as a citizen in Laketown?

I will now take my own advice when it comes to prequels. If I were to judge the Hobbit Trilogy without making comparisons, the story over the course of three movies had falling action as opposed to rising action. I know this because when I first saw "The Battle of Five Armies", I had watched the previous two films earlier in the day. After the scene with Gollum in the first movie, the trilogy kept falling short of the expectations of sincere drama that I was hoping for. "An Unexpected Journey" had an upbeat mood, featured dramatic relationships between characters and felt so much like the Middle-Earth I have come to love since 2001. When you watch this final film separate from its predecessors however, it seems better. The same goes for the extended version. One reason why I had trouble becoming emotionally invested in this movie was that I knew the ending beforehand. You must appeal to old and new fans in order to successfully adapt a book to film and in this lone case, Peter Jackson fell short. Do I wish that Guillermo del Toro would have stayed on as director? No because then I would have spent the rest of my life wondering what the trilogy would have been like under Jackson's direction. Sincere drama is what would have made this movie better but action overshadowed much of the drama that existed. I think I would have preferred two Hobbit films because that would have made for a better structuring of the story. The HFR 3D was even better this time around though and that made me happy. As I predicted in 2012 with the release of the first Hobbit film, the kinks are being fixed. The film was memorizing to watch as a result. It is a little surprising that this movie received only one Oscar nomination for Best Sound Editing but then again, we all known that quantity doesn't necessarily translate into quality. I sort of wish that Billy Boyd's "The Last Goodbye" had received a nomination. After all the seemingly negative evaluations I have written, one might ask why do I still rate this movie four out of five stars? Why do I not sound more disappointed? My answer is threefold. Firstly, I acknowledge that I am being picky. This film could have been worse as I said. Secondly, the story of Middle Earth is not over as evidenced by the final scene. We will always have the three original films to watch after watching "The Hobbit" trilogy. Finally, Peter Jackson's interpretation of Tolkien may be over but his adaptation of Herge is just getting started.

4 Stars