The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Review

"I will have WAR!"

Pretty much sums up the plot of this entire movie.

The Plot

After Bard (Luke Evans) successfully slays the dragon, Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch), the people of Lake-town are left without a home and seek to find shelter. Their only option is The Lonely Mountain. There, the dwarf king, Thorin (Richard Armitage), has succumbed to Dragon Sickness and refuses to let the refugees enter. With an army of elves lead by Thranduil (Lee Pace) arriving to lay claim to some of the mountain's treasure; Bard wanting to ensure the livelihood of his people; and an army of Orcs wanting to claim the mountain for a strategic holding; the dwarves and Bilbo (Martin Freeman) find themselves in the middle of a massive war that can only continue to escalate.

How will this day end?

Review

Well I'll give it this. I wasn't bored as much as the previous two installments. But I can't help but feeling that this film just proves that what I've been saying (and what many others have been saying) about splitting this story into three movies was too much. Case in point, this entire film feels like the battle of Helms Deep stretched out for two hours. I compare the battle to Helms Deep because to compare it to the Battle of Minas Tirith in The Return of the King would be a compliment. And that is not to knock on the Battle of Helms Deep, because I have stated in my review of The Two Towers that it is one of the best battles ever filmed in modern cinema. But my reason for comparison is that The Battle of the Five Armies feels like it should've lasted the same amount of time that the Battle of Helms Deep did. In which case it should've been 40-45 minutes in length. Not over two hours. Because everything just felt so unnecessary.

Richard Armitage's Thorin once again becomes a dick. He gets afflicted with Dragon Sickness, which is a fancy way of saying someone is greedy, and doesn't want to share the wealth. Even though he promised the people of Lake-town that he would. And he probably should've shared the wealth to them because their resident Bard played by Luke Evans is responsible for getting rid of the dragon that stole the dwarf kingdom in the first place. But at least in this film there is part of his development from the previous film still in tact. Thorin's trust of Bilbo is still there, and I'm so glad it is because it was pretty much the most redeeming part in the film.

As Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins is one of the highlights of this trilogy, he's highlighted even more as being paired with an opposing force in each film. Unlike the previous films where my favorite highlights have been a single scene involving Bilbo and one other person, in this film it is Bilbo's scenes with Thorin throughout the movie that are truly remarkable. Finally, a relationship between characters works throughout the course of an entire film. And I am so glad that it is between these two. And if you really think about it, had this trilogy been a singular film, their interaction would appear more tighter and a more cohesive growth of relationship rather than an overly long spread out growth. It's good that what was built in the second movie is paid off in here, but it could've been handled better. I wish I can say the same for the rest of this movie.

The subplot that was prominent in the previous film about Gandalf finding Sauron was put to an end rather abruptly. While it was cool to see Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Saruman (Christopher Lee) go ape shit crazy against Sauron and the ghosts who will become the Black Riders, it seemed like an abrupt end to a subplot that ultimately has no major consequences to the main plot of The Hobbit. I understand the need to explain how everything ties in to The Lord of the Rings, but all out honesty, this scene could've easily been added to The Desolation of Smaug. Because there, it would seem more relevant, and give Gandalf more room to recover for this film.

Then there's the forced romance in this saga. The subplot between Kili (Aidan Turner) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) is resolved here. While the love story is a little bit more believable in this film than the very sad attempt to make it seem cute in the previous one, it felt totally unnecessary. It once again only serves as a way to develop Legolas (Orlando Bloom) into the character people will know from the original trilogy. I'm almost certain that if this trilogy was just one film, there would be no romance and Legolas would just be a nice little role that appears here and there. I would've preferred that instead of this forced development when we already know the end result.

And then here comes my big complaint that I have been complaining about for a long time: the overuse of CGI. I didn't feel like I was watching a film that takes place in Middle-Earth anymore once the battle started. In fact it looked more like a console game cinematic that I'm watching on screen. Not once did I believe any of what I was seeing is real. But within that CGI overload, there are some bright spots. Scenes involving Luke Evans' Bard and his people fighting Orcs was actually real. I'm glad that most of the Orcs they faced off with were guys in makeup and not CGI. It recalled memories of the previous films that showed real people fighting in the close shots, only resulting into CGI if it is a wide shot. But unfortunately, the practical guys are swallowed up by the amount of CGI put on screen to the point where it becomes very off putting. 

I admire Peter Jackson's attempts of trying to replicate the grittiness of war he had in the previous trilogy, but in here it just doesn't work. A large battle happens for the first hour then all of a sudden the large battle doesn't seem to matter anymore in the second hour. It is not very well paced, badly edited, and very spotty. I was even wondering at points, "where the f**k did those rams come from?" It just tried to outstretch something that is not meant to be this long into something that is inevitably bloated and in the end very underwhelming. Especially when the giant worms from Dune make a cameo.

Final Thoughts

If you'll notice, not once did I praise the ensemble. Because while everyone is giving it their all, the terrible writing and overload of filler material weighs down on anything that would make them appear to be a perfect ensemble. Which is a shame because I really like Luke Evans and Lee Pace, but in the end they seem more like background characters in this film than important key players. And I feel even more sorry for the ensemble of the Dwarves because other than Armitage's Thorin, I could care less about the rest of them. Martin Freeman is definitely the best highlight of this series and I couldn't have asked for a better person to play Bilbo Baggins. It was nice walking down memory lane, but in the end this is an underwhelming ending to a very disappointing trilogy.

SCORE: 5/10 - This should've been the last 40 minutes of a singular Hobbit movie

For a review of the previous film, CLICK HERE

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Review

"I am fire! I am... DEATH!"

Famous last words.

The Plot

After braving through the treacherous lands of the Goblins, Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and the Dwarves must make their way through Mirkwood Forest. But to do so, they must get out of the clutches of its Elven King, Thranduil (Lee Pace). And if they are lucky, they'll then have to make it to Lake-town, a human settlement near the edge of The Lonely Mountain. Inside the mountain is the kingdom of Erebor, the dwarves home. Inside is the coveted Arkenstone of the dwarves that Bilbo must steal from Erebor's current king, the dragon, Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch)!

Meanwhile Gandalf (Ian McKellan) is investigating a possible dark conspiracy being perpetrated by a mysterious Necromancer (Benedict Cumberbatch...again).

Review

Okay now, this is much better!.... by a very small margin. And I mean a very small margin. I'll just start with the positives.

The best part of the entire movie is definitely the one that fans have been waiting for: Bilbo (Martin Freeman) versus Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a battle of wits! A hobbit talking his way out of getting killed by a dragon! What is not to like about that? The Sherlock duo is reunited in probably the most ingenious way possible. Cumberbatch is terrifying as a villain. Just look at his portrayal of Khan... I mean John Harrison (really?) in Stark Trek Into Darkness. He just does it so well, and he is even more terrifying as a highly intelligent dragon the size of Godzilla. The sheer vastness and most of the film's CGI budget is definitely shown on screen. He is probably the most realistically rendered creature in this trilogy besides Gollum, and it is completely necessary. The detail of Smaug helps sell that this massive thing is having a conversation with a tiny Bilbo, who is made even tinier because he's a hobbit. Freeman and Cumberbatch are excellent as dueling and complimenting personalities on Sherlock, but in here they are even more incredible as extreme rivals. I find it funny that they did not actually interact with each other on set, but it feels just as natural as they do on Sherlock. These two are pure gold in this movie, and the fact that they're conversation takes place on mountains of gold helps too.

Then there's Gandalf and Radagast's story about finding a Necromancer that is supposedly stirring things up. I guess I just like the wizard characters so much because I found what they're doing to be a lot more interesting than what the actual plot of the movie is. This is probably because I always wondered why does Gandalf keep disappearing in the book and Tolkien fans have also wondered what the f**k happened to Radagast? While I know the Radagast portion of his involvement is made up in the film, Gandalf's search for the Necromancer (also played by Cumberbatch) is canon in the Appendices. Though as much as I like this story, it does seem to be a little bit out of place in this film and does not flow smoothly with the main plot. But there is an upgrade to the main plot.

One of them being Luke Evans as Bard, a man who has to live with his forefather's disgrace of being unable to kill a dragon. Which if you know how big Smaug is compared to a regular human, I think his fellow Lake-town people are over exaggerating how easy it should be to kill one. Because it's not. Though he serves only to be the one guy who helps the dwarves, he doesn't really have much going for him other than a weighted backstory. In fact it really is the only thing that drives him, which I'm sure will follow through in the next film. Evans is a highly underrated actor who makes even the worst roles in terrible movies far more compelling and memorable than they have any right to be. The same goes for this movie. But for now he's just a tool to help the dwarves. And speaking of dwarves...

Richard Armitage's Thorin Oakenshield is starting to become a sympathetic character. Hints of it were shown at the end of the previous movie, but in here is where we really start to see the strong no nonsense king start to break out of his shell. It shows both the best and worst qualities of Thorin, giving Armitage a lot of room to show off why he's casted in this movie. However what I'm afraid of is that this will be the movie where ALL of his character development happens given that the story was unnecessarily stretched out to three movies. Hopefully the next film has more to offer for Thorin.

As for the other dwarves, they don't really change that much. With the exception of Kili (Aidan Turner) who is given the role of giving this movie a love story. Who is the lucky lady? An elf. In fact, a completely original character created for this movie. Because there needs to be another woman in this movie who seems important, but really isn't.

I'm talking about Evangeline Lily as Tauriel, an elven warrior of a lower caste in the kingdom of Mirkwood. She has the luxury of being the woman of Legolas's desire. Yup, Orlando Bloom is here again playing Legolas. While some are wondering why is he in the movie, for fans it makes sense. Why? Because his father, Thranduil played by Lee Pace, is one of the anti-villains in the book. So it would be kind of weird if the filmmakers didn't take an opportunity to sneak Orlando Bloom back into the franchise. Though I was just hoping for a small role, his role has been expanded in order to explain why Tauriel is important. And Tauriel's purpose is solely to make Kili important. When really the one who should be important is Thranduil, the most assholish elf ever put on film. Pace does an excellent job playing a dick, but I keep referring to him as wasted talent. There is so much that could've been done with this character, but he comes off as a one dimensional dick. And people wonder why Legolas hates dwarves initially in The Lord of the Rings? For one: his father was a dick to them. And two: a dwarf is pretty much sending him to the friend zone. Him! So if you really think about it, Tauriel and Kili's love story is only meant to explain this initial animosity between Legolas and Gimli in the trilogy. There really is no other reason to have her or this sub plot in the movie other than that. But on the subject of Pace's Thranduil, he's still a far more compelling one dimensional dick than anyone else in the film. I'm looking at you, CGI orcs.

I'm once again really irked by the overuse of CGI. It is not just the orcs this time, it is the action scenes as well. There was something real about the original trilogy's action because it actually dealt with real people in costumes and make up fighting each other. In here it is mainly CGI guys doing all the action sequences. And this would look incredible in a Pixar or Dreamworks animated movie, but this isn't an animated movie. The hyper stylized action in the movie is just way too over the top compared to the more toned down fighting that happened in the original trilogy. Though people would point to Legolas as doing some pretty over the top things in the original films, I'd argue that those moments were earned because of how cool and collected Legolas is. In this film, Legolas does some ultra ridiculous stuff that makes people wonder why he hasn't done of that stuff in the original. I like Orlando Bloom as Legolas, but in this film I don't like his CGI stunt double. And it's a real shame again that I have to cluster Manu Bennet into this category because he's compelling, but I just wished he wasn't a CGI character. Just thinking about CGI reminds me of how awful the final act of the film involving the dwarves attacking Smaug was, especially when Smaug is much more highly rendered compared to the other crappy CGI that he's surrounded by.

Final Thoughts

While the confrontation between Bilbo and Smaug does not disappoint, and Thorin becomes a more compelling character, that doesn't mean the movie has vastly improved. Instead I find myself complaining about the same things that I did in the last movie. Too much CGI, uneven pacing, and ultimately a large ensemble of forgettable characters. Just now I remembered that Beorn and a guy played by Stephen Fry was in the movie, and I didn't even mention them in the main review. That just tells me that this film trilogy should not have been a trilogy and instead just two movies. Hell, I think it should only be one movie. Because everything is so spread out that it is killing any excitement in the film. Yet part of me still wants to enjoy it because of that one scene between Bilbo and Smaug, but really it isn't enough.

SCORE: 6.2/10 - It gets slightly better, while at the same time gets slightly worse.

For a review of the previous film, CLICK HERE
For a review of the next film, CLICK HERE

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Review

"I'm going on an ADVENTURE!"

Those were words that I could definitely relate to prior to seeing the first of The Hobbit films. Middle-Earth was my home as a child and so to go back to it again as a young adult in his 20s was like a dream trip down memory lane. But sometimes going back to your past can have two different conclusions: you either relive the old days or you regret coming back because the magic is gone. Well...

The Plot

When the Grey Wizard, Gandalf (Ian McKellan), offers a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), the chance to go on an adventure, he quickly refuses. But when 13 dwarves arrive at his doorstep led by the rightful King Under the Mountain, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), Biblo finds himself being dashed away from the comfortable life of Bag End to the dangerous journey to the Lonely Mountain. Their mission? Retake The Lonely Mountain from the Great Wyrm, Smaug.

And that is only the beginning of their journey...

Review

As a Lord of the Rings fan and a Peter Jackson fan... I was disappointed. Was it because I have high expectations? No. My main problem with the film is how it follows the trend of splitting singular books into multiple films. I was completely fine when Jackson and his team announced the film was going to be split into two movies. I was certain there was enough material in there that can be stretched that long without resulting to fatigue. But when it was announced that so much was filmed that they can now turn it into three movies, that's when I started lowering my expectations. And my biggest fears were right.

I should be used to having an over 2 hour yet under 3 hour Middle-Earth film by now but for some reason, this movie doesn't do it for me. I just kept thinking to myself a lot of what happens in this movie is extremely unnecessary as it takes nearly an hour, maybe less but almost an hour, for Biblo to decide that going on an adventure with Gandalf and the Dwarves is a good idea. It just really feels like a very slow drag and not the type of drag that happens occasionally in movies. This entire movie is just one huge drag. And this is mainly due to the very sad attempt of trying to flush out the personalities of ALL the dwarves that go on this journey.

I'm not a hardcore Tolkien fan who knows all the names of the dwarves, but if a movie is effective in making everyone's introduction memorable then I should remember most of them. Unfortunately, I don't. I don't even remember the names of the ones played by James Nesbitt and the other dwarf who seems to be friendly towards Freeman's Bilbo. The only ones I remember clearly are Kili (the one who seems too good looking for a dwarf), Bombur (the obnoxiously fat dwarf with the crazy beard) and of course Richard Armitage's Thorin (this story's Aragorn but not as noble). Those three dwarves had something distinct about them that made them standout more so than the others. Don't get me wrong, they all look visually distinct from one another. But as far as being visually distinct and having personalities, that goes to Thorin, Kili and Bombur. But then again, Thorin should be the one with the most personality. But unfortunately he comes off as the most unlikeable dwarf amongst the crew, and this guy is suppose to be a main character. It is not Armitage's fault, the character was just written that way.

Then there's the returning cast members who mostly comprise The White Council. These being McKellan's Gandalf, Cate Blanchett's Galadriel, Hugo Weaving's Elrond and Christopher Lee's Saruman. They are all very welcoming returns and in fact probably one of the few things I liked most in the movie. Though Gandalf and Elrond are players in the book, the addition of Galadriel and Saruman was definitely meant as a way to tie in to The Lord of the Rings. There really isn't much to say about their performances because they're in it for a short while, but they are good. But there is a new member amongst the White Council who proved to be another highlight I enjoyed about the movie. That character is Radagast the Brown played by former Doctor Who, Sylvester McCoy. It's always refreshing to see another wizard in the mix, even though he's not in the book. Amazingly he's not involved in this story at all, but it was nice seeing someone crazier than Gandalf.

But if we're going to talk about the old and the new cast there are definitely two standouts of this film.  That being Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Andy Serkis as Gollum. Freeman is just perfect as Bilbo and he completely owns the role as his own. He doesn't feel beholden to Ian Holm's small portrayal of him in The Lord of the Rings, but it definitely feels like his Bilbo could grow up to become Holm's Bilbo. And what more can be said about Andy Serkis as Gollum. He's perfection, and is definitely one of the fond memories of Middle-Earth you'll be happy to revisit. Their pivotal meeting appropriately known as "Riddles in the Dark," is hands down the best scene in the film. Freeman is excellent and the effects on Gollum are outstanding. If only the rest can be said about the other effects in the film.

Peter Jackson pulls a George Lucas by overusing CGI in this movie. Sure there are lots of nice wide shots New Zealand here and there, but for some reason the overtly CG gloss on the creatures and the locations comes off as...off putting. It doesn't have the same grit that the previous trilogy had, and this is pretty disappointing for someone who loved the use of practical and CG effects. But in here, even if there are practical effects, they are completely overshadowed by an overload of CGI. One of the most jarring ones for me was noticing that the Orcs and Goblins were no longer guys in costumes. Apparently Jackson had filmed them with guys in makeup and costumes, but was so dissatisfied that he had them all replaced with CGI monsters that he finds more appealing. While that explains why someone as imposing as Manu Bennet is playing the White Orc, Azog, as a CGI character, it seems sad that Bennet is doing motion capture for a role that doesn't require motion capture. I mean, the guy was in Spartacus for crying out loud! But alas, he was a last minute replacement so he had to be CGI. But that doesn't excuse the excessive nature that Jackson and his team have thrown into this movie.

Final Thoughts

This trip down memory lane has proven to be a disappointing one. While it is great to see some solid performances by newcomers Martin Freeman and Sylvester McCoy alongside old timers such as Ian McKellan and Hugo Weaving, that isn't enough to save the film. Too much CGI in a film franchise that was praised for being the perfect balance of practical and CGI. Poor attempts at trying to develop a huge number of dwarves that we don't really care about, and that includes the one who is suppose to be the main character, Thorin. And this movie is pretty much the living proof of the Clerks 2 complaint: THIS MOVIE IS NOTHING BUT TWO AND A HALF HOURS OF WALKING! WALKING! And not the interesting kind like in Fellowship. I mean the boring kind. 

SCORE: 6/10 - There's still wonder, but a lot of it seems to be missing...and boring

For a review of the next film, CLICK HERE