The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

This review may contain spoilers!

This film makes me think of the fabled tale of Star Wars, to which the lesson was do not make a prequel trilogy. I would give The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies a 7/10.

The last installment in the Hobbit trilogy offered up nothing short of the best it could give in terms of visual effects; it was certainly an unforgettable epic in terms of how much post production effort had been put in. I was also a huge fan of the cinematography and editing, you felt the grand scale of this project in how it was shown truly an amazing feat. And then to really top off the battle royale experience the stunts were incredibly well choreographed and while they didn't hold as much gravitas as some of the moments from the past two films they were still of high caliber. The musical score was another great piece that made the experience all the better, and that final piece by Billy Boyd was really just something out of this world.

Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf, was an absolutely amazing role to watch onscreen; I genuinely don't think the magic of that character could ever fade. Martin Freeman, who played Bilbo Baggins, was really made for the role; he meets the legacy of Ian Holm perfectly. Richard Armitage, who played Thorin, gave a great show of character development in this film; a real parting credit to his fantastic work as Oakenshield. Ken Stott, who played Balin, returned as one of my favourite dwarves; every scene he's in he always hits his mark emotionally. Graham McTavish, who played Dwalin, really came into his own this film; I did not expect such an incredibly outstanding presence this film but I welcomed it. Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, really returned at his peak; a little steely with some amazing action moments. Evangeline Lilly, who played Tauriel, brings a lot of emotional depth to her character; she has one of the best endings in this film and I really enjoyed her time onscreen. Lee Pace, who played Thranduil, brings a lot of gravitas to his role; it's easy to see how he's become a fan favourite. Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Christopher Lee, who played Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman respectively, shared in one of my favourite scenes of the film; seriously these guys are grade A and they overshadow most other actors in this cast easily. Luke Evans, who played Bard, became a strong major character in this film; carrying a lot of the action along really well.

However it was Billy Connolly, who played Dain, that I most enjoyed within this film. The Hobbit trilogy brought in a new favourite character for me each film and Dain really stoof out in this one. He made an entrance, he brought a lot of power to his role and really he mixed comedy and dwarven gruffness to a point that really made the film. I will never forget Dain riding in and if you see this film you won't either.

Now to talk why this let the trilogy down a bit as an end film and was by no means another Return of the King. First up I cannot get over the excessive use of slow motion or strange cutting around Thorin in this film; we get it he's gone nuts don't beat it to death. Secondly the pacing is screwy; Smaug dies in ten minutes yet the final battle spans 45, while Thorin having a gold induced mental breakdown and Alfrid crossdressing eats up precious screen time. Let's not forget that the plot was thrown aside in large quantities for gratuitous action scenes. Then the fact the film itself was anti-climatic and predictable; I mean every death in the film was predicted: Bard was destined to slay Smaug and Azog listed Fili, Kili and Thorin's deaths in the order that they happened. Really this was a poor film in terms of plot and I expected a bit more from Peter Jackson.

William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, Jed Brophy, Mark hadlow and Adam Brown, who played Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori and Ori respectively, are not given any real screen time or importance in this film; and so our departure is remembering these guys as nothing more than ensemble. Dean O'Gorman, who played Fili, had very little screen presence; as such his death had very little impact within the film. Aidan Turner, who played Kili, felt incredibly insignificant in this film; even his relationship with Tauriel felt weaker than the last film. The novelty of seeing Ian Holm, who played Old Bilbo, has really worn off and the impact is by no means as strong. Sylvester McCoy, who played Radagast, had a diminished screen presence and felt like he lacked any real purpose within this film. Stephen Fry, who played Master of Laketown, gave an overexaggerated performance that was really quite two dimensional and uninteresting. Ryan Gage, who played Alfrid, really got far more screen time than he deserved; his place as comedic relief was weak and his impact on the film was minuscule. John Bell, who played Bain, wasn't a great child actor and wasn't very interesting to watch. Benedict Cumberbatch, who voiced Smaug and Necromancer, had a diminished presence in the film and frankly they wasted his talent.