Movie Reveiw - The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

by Jen

Let’s start with some brief background information to give you a bit of perspective on this review.  Tolkien’s The Hobbit is one of my favorite books of all time; I read it to my children two years ago when they were far too young to truly understand it, much less grasp its significance as a work of high fantasy or appreciate the depth of Tolkien’s world-building genius.  I adored what Peter Jackson did with the LOTR trilogy, and was thrilled when I heard he would be filming The Hobbit.

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I got a little worried when I heard he was making it into two movies, and became even more concerned when I heard he’d split it into not two but three parts.

And then the first movie came out...

As a fairly maniacal Tolkien fan who had very recently re-read The Hobbit, I was less than thrilled with all the excess crap Tolkien had packed into that film.  While I enjoyed parts of it, I had expected to be wowed on the level of the LOTR movies, and I felt quite a bit let down.

The Desolation of Smaug didn’t do much to improve my feelings on the “trilogy” concept.  Yes, it was packed full of talented British actors (and anyone who knows me knows how much I adore British actors), but still… 

And really?  Who was this Tauriel person, and why was Legolas in this movie at all?  Ick. 

So I went into The Battle of the Five Armies reluctantly.  I considered waiting to see it until it came out on DVD, but a friend asked me to go see it with her tonight.  My expectations were so low that I was actually grouchy this afternoon at the prospect of spending two and a half hours in a movie theater when I have so much to do at home to prepare for Christmas next week.

I must say that Jackson very nearly redeemed himself with this final installment.  

While I’m still irritated that my favorite Tolkien tome, which is far shorter than any of the LOTR novels, was packed full of extraneous material and stretched into three long films, I must say that Jackson very nearly redeemed himself with this final installment.  

Not completely - there were moments in the heat of battle when I had to giggle, and one or two when I actually burst out laughing - but there were also moments which took my breath away.

As with all of Jackson’s Tolkien movies, the cinematography was gorgeous.  New Zealand might possibly be the most beautiful place on Earth…

The real-life location for Laketown, Lake Pukaki and Mt. Cook

The plot flowed very well overall, and even the characters that I found less than believable in early movies were slightly more endearing in this film.   Despite a few odd scenes, like one with Thorin on a gold background that reminded me of the weird white scene with Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, the movie was fun to watch and kept me invested.  Best of all, it didn’t feel like almost three hours. 

I don’t want to say too much about the actual plot of the film, as I don’t want to spoil it - but I would definitely encourage even reluctant fans to go see it.  

Overall, I think it’s worth seeing on the big screen.  I’m not sure if IMAX or 3D would be worth the extra money - I personally don’t care much for 3D, so I saw it in regular 2D tonight.  

I would definitely encourage even reluctant fans to go see it.

Of course, there are deaths - some expected and some not.  But there were also some lovely bits of foreshadowing as various storylines wrapped up, and I loved watching Bilbo return to the Shire - and of course, seeing it come full circle with Gandalf knocking on his door on his eleventy-first birthday.

Seriously, though - get thee to a movie theater to see this film.  If you need me, I’ll be designing my dream home, which has a round door and may in fact be built into a hillside.