The final installment of The Hobbit trilogy, the three-part installment to J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy novel, battles its way through flames and bloodshed. The prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy continues its clash with flames amid the fiery destruction on Lake-town. This time, Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) incinerates most of the town, after the Dwarves’ attempts at slaying him in the previous film, driving him out of The Lonely Mountain. After about 10 minutes of fiery havoc, Bard, the bargeman, takes his last arrow, The Black Arrow, and fires it into Smaug’s weak spot, saving The Lonely Mountain and Laketown (what’s left of it). The whole scenario felt like it would have fit more in The Desolation of Smaug, rather than drag it onto the final film. However, it reminded us of the fate that would become of The Lonely Mountain, where a once reigning dragon is no more and now armies await to claim its treasures.
And then came war. Although the war is not on a scale as immense as The Return of the King,
The Battle of the Five Armies gives us incredibly gorgeous CGI used in every scene.
From the armies in numbers to the grand
fight between Thorin (Richard Armitage) and Azog. I won’t complain about the excessive use of CGI (as other critics out there), seeing as this is a fantasy film with creatures and quasi-humans like the Orcs and Dwarves, and therefore, it is very much welcomed.
There are great performances from Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel and a small, but notable performance by Christopher Lee as Saruman (come on, he’s all sorts of badass!) Richard Armitage as Thorin did not go unnoticed either. His depiction of a great Dwarf leader in the first two films and decline into the disease of the treasure’s spoils, is remarkable. As he falls victim to the treasure, so does his sanity. Lastly, Martin Freeman gives us an exceptional and comic Bilbo Baggins. The biggest gripe, however, and anyone can agree with me, is the lack of the titular character himself. There were three ladies sitting near me, who after exiting the movie theater, found it to be a big flaw in the film. The film did not do much to focus on Bilbo himself, and instead, he felt like a supporting character. Given that, Freeman still gave it his best. In fact, the film throughout felt as if it was given a bit too much to laugh about. Alfrid Lickspittle (Ryan Gage) was the class clown, even in scenes that screamed danger and death. He didn’t add anything to the film other than laughs, however, that wasn’t much of a bad thing as it was a bit excessive. There are occasions in which supporting storylines were used effectively, withal.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was certainly a spectacular film with much left to be desired.
For instance, the love story between the Woodland Elf, Tauriel, and the Dwarf, Kili, gave us characters to root for. Much of the film lacked emotion, however, Evangeline Lilly and Aidan Turner filled some of that gap. And let’s not forget about Luke Evans, who again, gave us a heroic and humane Bard.
The final installment didn’t feel so, final. As a matter of fact, it gave us the feeling (and possibly hope) that another film is in store for the future; one connecting both trilogies.
