THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (PG-13)
Released by Warner Brothers
Review by Adam Mast
Peter Jackson has spent nearly 15 years of his life in Middle Earth. He watched his children grow up on set and forged several personal and professional friendships while working on “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.” Now, six movies and all these years later, it looks like his time in the Tolkien universe has finally come to an end.
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” begins right where “The Desolation of Smaug” ended: with the fierce, fire breathing dragon wreaking havoc on the Esgaroth. The only thing that stands between Smaug and the complete annihilation of Lake-Town is stoic Bard (played by a solid Luke Evans). I’ll refrain from spoiling the outcome of man vs. beast for the few of you who haven’t read Tolkien’s legendary book but what I will say is that Smaug proves to be the least of anyone’s worries as a massive army of Orcs quickly make their way to Erebor to wage war in a bid for supremacy.
As was the case with “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, these three “Hobbit” films are actually one continuous story, and even though “The Battle of the Five Armies” moves at a quicker clip and is the shortest entry in both sets of films, it further leads one to question why the hell Jackson would split one book into three cinematic chapters in the first place. General wisdom suggests it was for the almighty dollar and if that’s the case, it’s a real shame because “The Hobbit” would have worked to stronger affect had it been one three hour movie.
As a stand alone, “The Battle of the Five Armies” certainly offers up the most action of the trilogy. Jackson is a wizard with set pieces. The battles aren’t only epic, but his action sequences are easy to follow because Jackson is a master when it comes to the geography of a set piece. Furthermore, the final 50 minutes or so of this 2 hour and 25 minute movie is essentially a collection of massive action sequences so I certainly wasn’t bored by the spectacle of it all. I wish I could say I was completely invested in what was going on here though. There are certainly timely themes in “The Hobbit” series, many of them political in nature, but it’s the spectacle that rules Middle Earth in this particular series of films.
Many will argue that it isn’t fair to compare “The Hobbit” films to the “Lord of the Rings” films, but it’s hard not to. Had “The Hobbit” movies come out first, this series might have been more eventful. Alas, it didn’t come out first, it came out after. And while “The Hobbit” is hardly a disappointment of “Star Wars” prequel proportions, it suffers in similar ways. Namely, over-bloated tendencies, spectacle over character, and smaller stakes. In the end, it’s clear that even Tolkien himself wasn’t completely satisfied with “The Hobbit”. If he was, he never would have gone on to write “Lord of the Rings”.
As a book, “The Hobbit” was much more youth friendly in nature, and the films are more akin to the “Lord of the Rings” in terms of battle carnage. Furthermore, Jackson and his screenwriting team have taken liberties with the source material going so far as to even write in a new character in the form of Tauriel (played by Evangeline Lilly). Lilly is outstanding as an elf warrior who finds herself in a bit of a love triangle with dwarf Thranduil (Lee Pace) and fellow elf warrior Legolas (Orlando Bloom). Lilly has real dramatic chops but the writing lets her down because her “love” for Thranduil doesn’t feel earned. Throughout the course of three films, the emotions on screen feel more like puppy love or a crush as opposed to real love; so when this so-called triangle comes to a boiling point in the final act of “The Battle of Five Armies”, it all feels sorely undercooked.
The love triangle is almost as undercooked as lead dwarf Thorin’s bout with the apparent dragon sickness that was brought on by the re-claiming of his riches at Erebor. Jackson attempts to juxtapose Thorin’s subsequent psychotic break and obsession with a gem called the Arkenstone, with the power the ring starts to have over Bilbo Baggins (played by Martin Freeman), but quite frankly, it doesn’t really work. It’s simply too much.
As for Thorin (played by Richard Armitage), his dragon sickness arc in “The Battle of the Five Armies” lacks depth and seemingly comes out of nowhere, and the defining moment when he regains his clarity feels unearned. Unfortunate because Armitage brought a fierceness to this series that’s just about undercut in this movie. Happily, Thorin does kick some major ass in the final act.
Perhaps the biggest problem with “The Hobbit” as a series though, is Bilbo Baggins himself. Yes, the Hobbit that “The Hobbit” refers to. Bilbo comes across as a supporting character in his own series and there’s something really strange about that. True, “Lord of the Rings” was an ensemble too but Frodo, Samwise, Pippin, and Merry felt every bit as vital to the adventure as Gandalf, Aragorn, and Arwen– in most respects, even more so. It’s an absolute shame, because Freeman has a real wit and charm here and he isn’t given nearly enough screen time to truly show off what he’s capable of.
The final act of “The Battle of the Five Armies” works hard to tie in to the dark adventures that lay ahead and I really liked that about it. I wish I could say that these films resonated with me in the same way that “Lord of the Rings” did though. Sadly, they don’t. And that’s not me being a stuffy critic. I’m a fan first and foremost. “The Lord of the Rings” was all about characters and relationships. It was punctuated by breathtaking visual effects. In film form “The Hobbit” feels like the opposite. It’s spectacle and CG overload with only small glimpses at the characters and relationships that make up Tolkien’s magical universe. I commend Jackson and crew for dedicating 15 years of their lives to Middle Earth, but because “Lord of the Rings”successfully made it to the big screen first, a big part of me wishes that “The Hobbit” would have been left as a literary classic instead of being adapted into two movies too many.
Again, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” is hardly a disaster. It offers up showmanship and entertainment value to spare. It certainly was entertaining while I was watching it, but overall, it is ultimately a sad reminder that “The Hobbit” series as a whole is over bloated popcorn entertainment when it could have been so much more.
