“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
Critics are supposed to be unbiased, dispassionate and able to distance their childhood loves from their professional life. That is easier said than done.
To those who do not know me, I’m a fan of “The Lord of the Rings” Movie Trilogy. So needless to say the biggest thing on my mind in the past 4 years has been the production of a “prequel” trilogy of movies based on J.R.R Tolkien’s earlier work, “The Hobbit” by the same director as the three movies I fell in love when I was younger.
And now it is over, with the sixth and final (for now at least) film in the now called “Middle Earth Saga” on the big screen. So how does this classic story of Bilbo and a band of dwarves hold up?
I have no idea what impartiality means!
Director Peter Jackson does OTT action that somehow you can still take seriously excellently and this movie which is mainly a big battle, he doesn’t disappoint. The more mature part of me will look at these CGI minutes of pure violence with a bit of apprehension, but it is exactly the same thing which made me adore LOTR.
You can’t watch this film without seeing the previous two “Hobbit” films, it jumps straight into the action. However, you could watch the whole trilogy without having seen “Rings” and get the little references after the fact.
A large area of discussion is the fact that the original book, which was smaller than the three volumes of the LOTR book trilogy, has been split into THREE parts. I have heard people criticize the pacing of the film and the feel that it was a cash-grab. I feel that if the movie was kept as one, I would have noticed a pace that was far too quick. Maybe I’m being a fan-boy.
The acting in the saga is very good and this has some of the most underrated writing of any film series and this final chapter is no exception. Of course, the story is classically brilliant, based upon one of the best-selling novels ever written..
There are two problems however with “The Battle of the Five Armies”. For one, I feel that the romance story they build in, though it had some potential, should have stuck to an unlikely friendship between two people of different races, which it was to begin with. I feel it would have been more fitting to the character of the female elf involved.
Another problem that I noticed was that there seemed to be scenes missing. As I went over the film in my head before writing this, I felt that any issues I had with something not being explained as much as it could, might have been fixed with an extra 5-10 minutes of footage. Luckily, as with all the other Middle Earth movies, an extended edition home release is coming in late 2015 and I’d imagine at least some of these gaps shall be filled.
I have been waiting for these movies for a long time and now it is over. These are not perfect movies and as I grow older and watch them more, I shall spot more and more errors. But this was the series which inspired me to become a film maker/reviewer. I am very grateful that it has come to such a satisfactory conclusion and I am grateful for being able to experience this ground-breaking series of films.
Recommended Scenario: If you have seen the first two hobbit movies. Otherwise it’s pretty much impossible.
If what I have written tells you that you would like this film, you can book tickets to see it at your local Cineworld here. 
Craig's Movie Reviews 
Nowhere near as good as you think it is
LikeLike