The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies English Movie
Before proceeding to critique The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies, let's hold a 2-minute silence for Middle Earth and it's bevy of absurd yet charming characters, who we will probably never see again. Unless director Peter Jackson decides to make a film (trilogy) chronicling Gandalf The Grey's younger days, the idea of which frankly sounds even more absurd than converting a single Hobbit novel into 3 full-length films.
The Battle of The Five Armies has been labeled as the defining chapter of The Hobbit trilogy, a chapter that'll tie up all loose ends and stay strands that were set up in the previous films and act as a true prelude to The Lord of The Rings trilogy. As far as those responsibilities go, it does a fair job of it. All characters reach their conclusions, some naturally and some forced, and all subplots are suitably dealt with. But the worrisome aspect is that the film never really manages to be more than the sum of its parts. Add to that, it is in the unfortunate position of having its every single scene and word scrutinized in comparison to the almost 15 hours of the Middle Earth saga that came before it.
The film kicks off from the cliffhanger The Desolation of Smaug ended on, with Smaug on the loose and raring to wreck havoc on Lake Town. The thought of that gorgeous, gorgeous dragon (mouthed and enacted by Benedict Cumberbatch) literally breathing fire upon innocent residents of the town was enough to make you all warm and fuzzy with excitement. But it doesn't last long, and Smaug is dealt with in the very beginning of the film. In a well-choreographed sequence, I might add.
From that point on, the film sets off on a journey that is at times thrilling, sometimes frustrating and illogical, and many times strongly reminiscent of the 5 Middle Earth films preceding it.
Director Peter Jackson, along with his undoubtedly massive team, proves to you that he still has a few tricks left up his sleeve. Despite 5 films and innumerable action pieces and full-scale battles, the film at times still manages to do something fresh in terms of the action, never mind if it's believable or not. The takedown of the Necromancer is especially imaginatively conceived and executed.
On the downside, the film turns Legolas into a superhuman being, who flies with the birds, makes jumps of extraordinary length and climbs the falling rocks of a bridge like the steps of a staircase. The descent of Thorin into a literal gold-digger is interesting to watch, but is quite similarly done to Frodo's lust for the power of the ring in The Lord Of The Rings. As is the prolonged final battle, that is stylistically similar but much inferior to corresponding sequences before.
The film is suitably dark and grim, but it focuses too much on melodrama rather than making the film worthwhile for the audience. The final battle commences on a promising note, but midway through, it completely abandons the actual battleground and follows a bunch of characters to a different location for the sole purpose of creating some emotional drama to give those characters more weight. Love is found, redemption is attained, armies and people and animals arrive just in time to save important characters. Despite thousands of deaths in the battle, almost nobody of any prominence dies.
Despite your love for Peter Jackson and all the characters that we've come to know so well, you cannot help but feel a tad disappointed with the outcome that is the film. Jackson has been living and breathing in this world for the last 15 years or so. He probably sleeps in an armor and chops vegetables with a sword at home. He knows this world better than almost anyone, save J. R. R. Tolkien perhaps. But the fact is, he doesn't have that much left to say, as is evident from the film's lean 144-minutes long runtime, which is much shorter than all the films that came before it. There just isn't enough left for his characters to do, as they end up wandering around the film aimlessly.
Jackson does his best to salvage the proceedings by focusing on love stories and friendships and father-son relationships, but that ends up taking the steam out of the film and sinking it further. Jackson and his fellow writers (including filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro) aren't able to come up with any more thrilling adventures or globe-trotting (so to speak), instead concentrating all the action and almost the entire film around one place, The Lonely Mountain.
It doesn't help that none of the performances actually stand out. Everyone plays their part well, but there are no histrionics. Martin Freeman, as the eponymous Hobbit, gets a much shorter screen time this time around. Same goes for Ian McKellen's Gandalf, who appears every now and then to helplessly give advice that is staunchly disregarded by everyone. Many characters, including Hugo Weaving's Elrond, are there just to establish the fact that the film is indeed a prequel to The Lord Of The Rings. Benedict Cumberbatch is once again fascinating as Smaug, but the his role is short lived.
Despite the film's inconsistencies and many, many follies, you cannot help but feel an emotional attachment to it, almost like maternal love for her faltering child. We've spent too much time in Middle Earth and had too much fun to completely dismiss this final foray of ours into this mystical land. Even if it isn't quite the finale that you imagined and deserved, it is still worth the price of an admission ticket, if only to say your final goodbyes.
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