The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) Review

 

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

The Battle of the Five Armies follows Bilbo and Thorin, who have retaken Erebor, but must brace themselves for an impending war and the consequences of freeing Smaug. 

I’d say out of the three movies, this is certainly the biggest, but yet it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Aside from the orcs, which actually have a purpose this time, the lines between who is right and wrong are blurred heavily. In some respects, Thorin is right to be angry with those who turned their backs on the dwarves but it comes at the cost of undoing so much character development against the contrary.

The movie does a remarkable job in making you hate the ones you want to like, thus making so much of their sacrifice and pain feel emotionless, which is sad considering we’ve now spent 3 movies with them. It also tonally shifts big time after the opening with Smaug, which is such an important moment that hits hard early but then gets overshadowed by everything that follows. That personally should have belonged to The Desolation of Smaug instead of this one. 

With no real score that stands out to set the tone and energy of the massive battle the takes up the rest of the movie, we’re left with a bit of an uninspired battle that only shines in it’s singular fights between Legolas & Bolg and Thorin and Azog, with the latter not meaning much aside from Thorin’s sacrifice. 

This is also just a minor gripe from me but having the eagles swoop in is the most deus ex machina thing to happen since the last time the eagles showed up. I love em but c’mon man! It’s practically the only reason the armies of elves, dwarves, and man won. 

We get a great cast again, featuring Ian McKellen, Lee Pace, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Martin Freeman, & Richard Armitage. Armitage really comes into his own here and he plays of the hatred and valiance really well, to truly come to embody a king. Evans also finally gets a chance to shine, being the probably the one unmorally compromised, genuine "hero" in the movie.

The Battle of the Five Armies, directed by Peter Jackson, is a grander, more expansive film that sees Thorin rival Smaug and overcome to take the crown, but falls flat in a battle, three movies in the making, ending with a dull cap to a severely dragged out trilogy.

7.6/10