Review: The Hobbit:The Battle of the Five Armies

Review: The Hobbit:The Battle of the Five Armies
*Mild Spoilers Alert
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Official 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' Poster.

      The Middle-Earth movies finally come to a fantastic end with a movie that will prove to be entertaining and better than its predecessor installments, but short of matching the glory of 'Lord of the Rings' franchise.

"Cate Blanchette" and
"Ian McKellen".

"Martin Freeman".

      Following the events of 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug', the incredible 'Smaug' has now fled 'Erebor' in order to unleash his wrath and fiery vengeance on the people of 'Lake Town', who he believes helped 'Thorin'(Richard Armitage) and his fellow dwarf companions to enter their lost city. After the events in 'Lake Town', 'Bard'(Luke Evans) the Bowman is now in charge of the people of 'Lake Town' and heads to 'Erebor' in order to claim part of their share that they were promised to rebuild their town. But greed and sickness has befallen 'Thorin' who is now obsessed in finding the 'Arkenstone', which is starting to scare the dwarfs and 'Bilbo Baggins'(Martin Freeman). But the news of the freeing of 'Erebor' has spread across the realms, and armies are beginning to head there in order to claim its riches. 'Thranduil'(Lee Pace) has taken his elf army in order to reclaim his ancestor jewels trying along with the people of 'Lake Town' to reason with 'Thorin'. But amongst their bickering a larger threat is looming, that has been witnessed by 'Gandalf'(Ian McKellen), who rushes back to warn them. Other major characters include Elvin prince 'Legolas'(Orlando Bloom), chief guard of the Elvenking 'Tauriel'(Evangeline Lilly), the dwarves: 'Dwalin'(Graham McTavish), 'Balin'(Ken Scott), 'Kili'(Aiden Turner), 'Fili'(Dean O'Gorman), 'Dori'(Mark Hadlow), 'Nori'(Jed Brophy), 'Ori'(Adam Brown), 'Oin'(John Callen), 'Gloin'(Peter Hambleton), 'Bifur'(William Kircher), 'Bofur'(James Nesbitt) and 'Bombur'(Stephen Hunter). We also have 'Azog'(Manu Bennett) the Defiler, his henchman 'Bolg'(John Tui),"Benedict Cumberbatch" as both 'Smaug' and the 'Necromancer', 'Alfrid'(Ryan Cage) and Lake Town master(Stephen Fry). We also have the return of ’Galadriel’(Cate Blanchette) elf and co-ruler of 'Lothlorein', 'Lord Elrond'(Hugo Weaving) the Elvin Master of 'Rivendell, 'Sarauman'(Christopher Lee) and 'Radagast'(Sylvester McCoy).

"Richard Armitage".

"Luke Evans".

      The journey of adapting 'The Hobbit' beloved book into the big screen has been a tough one to say the least. Mixed reactions accompanied the ride from whether Hollywood needed to adapt this movie, to whether it will actually be able to match the glory of its big sister franchise. And more came when it was decided that the franchise will be extended to a trilogy. The problem with the audience is the preconceived notion that 'The Hobbit' will be at the same level as that of 'LOTR', which was absolutely absurd seeing the difference between the two stories, their themes and even their position. Eventually when being compared to the exceptional and non-reachable level of a magnificent piece of art, the odds of not reaching to this high expectation is inevitable. Nevertheless, 'The Hobbit' movies were able to stand tall and proud of what they achieved from box office successes to acceptable critical acclaim. The release of 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' is both the end of a gratifying prequel trilogy and the end of an era of Middle Earth, which marked the last Middle-Earth movie (at least for a while), an emotional and sad moment for the gigantic fan base of this substantially incredible world that was created by a genius director, incredible production crew and talented group of actors.

"Benedict Cumberbatch".

"Evageline Lilly" and
"Orlando Bloom".

      "Peter Jackson" concluded this last chapter and era with a worthy movie. The experience that he garnered from all the previous Middle-Earth movies and the criticism that he got from 'An Unexpected Journey' and 'TheDesolation of Smaug', allowed him to present us with a stupendous and non-stop end movie that was unimaginably heavy on action sequences, that successfully balanced the emotional weight that accompanied it. "Peter", along with "Fran Walsh"('The Return of the King'), "Philippa Boyens"('King Kong') and "Guillermo Del Toro"('Pacific Rim') crafted a satisfactory trilogy, knowing the hardships and criticism they were getting. This third installment for sure was the darkest of the three, while still maintaining its ability to balance a lot of humorous moments and big moments within the larger narrative. The link created between 'The Hobbit' and 'Lord of the Rings' movies felt natural for most of it, and never felt forced or unnecessary. The trilogy relied much on the new technology that was available, and its usage felt more consistent this time around, thanks to the amazing visual effects, stunning direction and clever camera angles to highlight the important moments. Composer "Howard Shore" creates a breathtaking score, while still utilizing his out of this world music from 'Lord of The Rings' trilogy to spawn the viewers with emotional and nostalgic moments.

"Dean O'Gorman", "Richard Armitage"
and "Aiden Scott".

"Lee Pace" and "Ian McKellen".

      In parallel to being compared with its bigger sister, 'The Battle of the Five Armies' takes the same path as that of 'The Return of the King', bringing forth the penultimate chapter of the trilogy in a gigantic and immense manner. But the movie unfortunately falls short of reaching the brilliance of 'The Return of the Kings', a film that mixed the huge action sequences with character development that marches alongside the narrative that continues in moving forward. 'The Battle of the Five Armies' does perform the main function that was mentioned but not in the full manner that the latter proved to do 11 years ago. The action sequences, where the stunning visual effects and camera work were used, was top notch proving the actual battle sequence to be thoroughly entertaining with its shining moments. The first action sequence including 'Smaug' included new elements, such as water and fire, bringing freshness to this world in terms of film-making. 'Dol Guldur' sequence also was a defining moment bringing characters we love and working as the main link with 'LOTR''s story. The middle part of the movie covered the most of the emotional baggage and advancement, though not in the most subtle and exceptional way that one might hope to. Nostalgia was a recurring part and theme throughout the movie, whether in terms of music or even certain moments that reminds you of the greatness of 'LOTR', where a middle-earth fan will feel the sadness for reaching the end. And the final scene was both a metaphoric and actual ending to the trilogy and the Middle-Earth cinematic era.

"Manu Bennett".

'Battle of the Five Armies'.

      The brilliant cast does elevate eventually the movie and the moments that needed to be polished in order to reach perfection. The role of 'Bilbo Baggins' in my opinion did take a turn after 'An Unexpected Journey', where he was more of tool to advance the story and the internal conflict he is living for having the ring. "Martin Freeman" excels in showing us one of the light and funniest characters of this trilogy, proving his immense ability. "Ian McKellen" once again displays the importance of 'Gandalf' within the series and the reason he is the fan favorite. 'Thorin''s conflict with power was depicted in a pleasing manner but the defining point that we must witness the change felt a bit rushed. Still "Richard Armitrage"'s brilliant and captivating performance managed the execution, where he marvelously portrayed the leadership and kindness characteristics of 'Thorin', and created an unbelievable chemistry with 'Bilbo'. "Aidan Scott" and "Dean O'Gorman" shined when the opportunity presented itself, as their characters 'Kili' and 'Fili' were the ones who were given more work to do amongst the remaining dwarfs. "Ken Scott" and "Graham McTavish", who played 'Balin' and 'Dwalin' respectively, were relegated this time around in terms of screen time and importance."Orlando Bloom "'s return is proven to be beneficial and semi-mandatory, seeing the positives that he was able to add in the action sequences.

"Richard Armitage"
and "Martin Freeman".

The Dwarfs.

      "Evangeline Lilly" is able to hold her own as the sole female lead amongst the various male actors. She depicted a female heroine that was able to take care of herself. And alongside "Ken Scott", both managed to move forward this tiny sub-plot love story, which really didn't take its right or volume it needed. "Lee Pace" gives complexity to 'Thranduil', given the limited space he was provided with. "Benedict Cumberbatch" still manages to shine as 'Smaug' and the 'Necromancer' seeing the brief yet vital appearance of both characters. "Cate Blanchette" manages to beautifully and effortlessly portray 'Galadriel' and the complexity of the character, while having a small role to play within the movie. The return of "Hugo Weaving" and "Christopher Lee" as 'Elrond' and 'Sarauman' respectively in this pivotal scene was a welcomed one. This particular scene archived the best moment where the linkage between 'LOTR' and 'The Hobbit' was created. "Manu Bennett" as 'Azog' and 'John Tiu' as 'Bolg', were both convincing but were mostly used as evil tools and never got the chance to be fully developed, while ''Ryan Cage'' many of the funniest moments. provides  Appearances by "Sylvester McCoy", "Mikael Persbrandt" and "Stephen Fry", who played 'Radagast the Brown', 'Beorn' and 'Master of Laketown' were entertaining.

      'The Battle of the Five Armies' was a commendable final ride into the Middle-Earth world that defined the status quo: 'The Hobbit' was surely an entertaining and fun ride but one that never managed to reach the glory of 'Lord of the Rings'.

Official 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' Poster.

-'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' Info:

-Based on: 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkein.

-Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Cate Blanchette, Lee Pace, Graham McTavish, Ken Scott, Aiden Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Ryan Cage, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, William Kircher, James Nesbitt,  Stephen Hunter, Manu Bennett ,John Tiu, Mikael Persbrandt, Lawrence Maloare, Stephen Fry, Sylvester McCoy, Hugo Weaving, and Christopher Lee.

-Studio(s): New Line Cinema, MGM, WingNut Films and Warner Bros. Pictures.

-Directed by: Peter Jackson.

-Screenplay by: Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro.

-Music by: Howard Shore.

-Running Time: 144 minutes.

-Budget: $ 250,000,000.

-Box Office: -Domestic(US): $ 253,161,689.

                   -Foreign: $ 697,000,000.

-Ratings: -IMdb: 8.4/10.

              -Rotten Tomatoes: 71%.

              -Metacritic: Not Released Yet.

              -PERSONAL RATING: 9.4/10.

-'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' Trailer: