The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The final instalment is a good addition to the trilogy, but it has its flaws.

Director: Peter Jackson
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 141 minutes

We're finally there, 'The Battle of the Five Armies' is the final instalment in the prequel series to the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, and boy does it feel like a long time coming. I thought 'An Unexpected Journey' was long winded, but a good movie overall, and the follow up was an improvement. It was obvious from the start that 'The Hobbit' should never have been a trilogy, and watching this has not changed that, in many ways it has cemented it.

The film starts off where 'The Desolation of Smaug' left off. With the dragon Smaug setting aflame Lake-town, and the opening of the movie is amazing, and there is a lot of satisfaction in seeing Smaug come to his death. But it does feel like it should be at the end of a movie rather than the beginning.

From then on, the movie spends about forty five minutes building up to the final battle, as all of the different sides want to lay claim to the treasure in Erebor, that was left dormant by Smaug. We watch as Thorin (Richard Armitage) becomes paranoid and corrupted by his new power as the King, and in his search for the Arkenstone. Until he eventually redeems himself.

When the battle plays out, it is relentless, as one army after another enters to fight the Orcs. The battle is epic and thoroughly entertaining, and the final fight scenes between the main protagonists and villains is a joy to watch. However, for all its size and scope, the battle never reaches the level of greatness of the battle of Helm's Deep in 'The Two Towers' or the last battle in 'Return of the King'.

One of the reasons for this is that there was real tension in the lead up to those battles, it also helped that the Orcs were not computer generated characters, they were real people in practical make up and costumes. It made them so much more intimidating, the Orcs are now so much more disposable, as one by one they get slayed so effortlessly. There is also far too much overhead shots swooping by as the battle goes on, making the whole thing look and feel like a video game cutscene.

The cast is a positive for the film, the majority of the casting throughout the whole trilogy has been stellar, Martin Freeman has really nailed down the part of Bilbo Baggins, and Luke Evans really shines in this movie as Bard. But there is one negative, the character Alfrid (assistant to the master of Lake-town) is there for comic relief, but he just ends up being a huge distraction, it really is jarring when you consider that this is a really dark movie, for the most part.

Things get a little emotional as the movie comes to its conclusion, which is satisfyingly good, and it also links well with the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. But, I can't help but feel the Hobbit trilogy is a massive climbdown from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It might be unfair to compare the two, but they both exist in the same universe and have the same director, so I think it's fair game.

The original Lord of the Rings trilogy set the benchmark for Fantasy cinema, and it will forever be hard to live up to. But with the original trilogy, they were films intended to be more than just the sum of their parts, they weren't just blockbuster movies. In other words, they were not made just for the sake of money making. Which I do not believe is the case with 'The Hobbit' trilogy, but they have just felt kind of like by the numbers blockbuster movies, and not much else.

Verdict- 'The Battle of the Five Armies' is a pleasing conclusion, and well worth your time and money. I would rank it on equal footing as 'An Unexpected Journey', but not quite as thrilling as 'The Desolation of Smaug.

3.5/5