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Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Count me among the people who regret that The Hobbit films were stretched out into a trilogy. There is so much unnecessary filler and extra nonsense in these movies, and in The Battle of the Five Armies especially, that this third movie is all third act. There’s not enough material for The Battle of the Five Armies to stand on its own, with nearly everything – especially the emotional impact – tied to the first two films. And since an entire year has passed, none of that emotion or interest has carried over.
The Battle of the Five Armies is entertaining at the barest, baseline level, because it’s still a well-made film telling a story that I like. But The Hobbit trilogy has been stretched too thin, like butter scraped over too much bread.
Movie Review: 5/10 – Alright.
I suppose in one long, 9-hour viewing, The Hobbit as a whole might be a good movie. But who has the time or energy to watch that sort of thing? Who could have the desire? I’ve never read any of author J.R.R. Tolkien’s original works, so I don’t speak from a literary perspective. As a movie-goer, as someone who loves The Lord of the Rings movies deeply, I feel that The Hobbit was just too jammed up with nonsense. Fights were long, characters were uninteresting, story arcs were uninspired, and nothing hit with the same impact as The Lord of the Rings. Director Peter Jackson tried to make too much out of too little, simple as that.
Personally, I’m more than willing to blame the studio, which probably pushed for the trilogy in order to make more money. Cynical things like that definitely happen. And I suppose Jackson and his team of writers, actors and producers did their best to make this trilogy work. But The Battle of the Five Armies is a slog. They don’t even try to make it it’s own movie.
Join me after the jump for the full review! There will be SPOILERS from The Battle of the Five Armies!
Here’s an Official Final Trailer to The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
For some reason, this doesn’t really feel like a goodbye to me. I bet it’s going to be a fun movie to watch in theaters. And I doubt they’ll ever make anymore. But something tells me The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, is just going to be too big and bombastic to be a very good bye. But maybe I’m wrong! At least they always make good trailers!
Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
We all knew a cliffhanger was coming, but this was a bad one. The theater I was in erupted in groans, and I can’t say as how I’ve ever seen that happen at a movie before. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a nearly three-hour film, and it would be inappropriate to start talking about the ending first. But I can’t help it. As much as I enjoyed 99% of the movie, that cliffhanger overshadows everything. It deserved every groan it got. Even though director Peter Jackson has been dealing with this trilogy thing for several movies now, he picked the absolute worst time to leave us hanging.
At least the rest of the movie was very good.
Movie Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
Much was said during production of this Hobbit sequel that Jackson and the studio decided to stretch two films into three, and while I’m not complaining, because I like spending as much time as possible with these movies, the stretch is obvious in The Desolation of Smaug. We’ve been in this situation before, with The Two Towers in the middle of the Lord of the Rings, but The Two Towers had a proper ending with its own closure. There was Sam’s big speech to Frodo about hope, and the entire battle for Helm’s Deep. The Desolation of Smaug ends with a battle against the titular dragon, but the film cuts off before the battle is over, robbing us of closure and excitement. Not only that, but the movie shoots itself in the foot by foreshadowing the stilted ending, turning the movie’s climax into an effort in futility.
Fortunately for all of us, by this time next year, we’ll get The Hobbit: There and Back Again, and this cliffhanger ending will be a moot point.
The Desolation of Smaug is a movie for LOTR fans. To really enjoy this film, I would recommend knowing the characters, knowing the world and knowing the adventure, because this film is mostly ‘more of the same’ of the previous films in the franchise. It’s got exciting, CGI’d fantasy action, a rich mythology and the comedic stylings of a band of dwarves. The characters all carry over from the first film and remain largely the same, which isn’t a bad thing. Most of the dwarven band remain anonymous, and the few standouts continue to carry the film – though none of them are as heroic or memorable as Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas from the first trilogy. Gandalf seems to get a reduced role, but he has his own fun adventure. New characters, like Smaug the dragon, Tauriel the she-elf, Bard the human and a guest-appearance by Legolas are all strong, especially Evangeline Lily as Tauriel, who gets the best sub-plot in the film.
The real standout remains Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, the titular hobbit. He’s clever and heroic, and the influence of the One Ring starts its mind-boggling effects on the poor guy in this film. Freeman handles the acting challenge well. He’s a very different sort of hobbit from Frodo, even where the ring is concerned, and it’s rather cool.
Join me after the jump for the full review. There will be SPOILERS, so tread carefully.
A Day of Hobbit Humor!
The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug comes out today, and I’ll be seeing it in my local multiplex tomorrow. So for now, why not enjoy some much loved Internet parody-artists taking the previous movies down a few notches? Here is the Honest Trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
All credit goes to the Screen Junkies for that awesomeness. And tune in later today for Everything Wrong with the Lord of the Rings trilogy!
Hobbit 2: The Desolation of Smaug Still Looks Awesome
New Hobbit sequel trailer for our viewing pleasure!
Yep, pretty damn awesome trailer. Exciting character moments, thrilling music, a few plot details, and the usual epic LOTR charm thrown in for good measure. Say what you will about Peter Jackson’s opuses, but they have always had good trailers. I’m very excited for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, no matter how many times they use the word ‘the’ in the title.
And that dragon sounds pretty awesome.
Henchman-4-Hire 