Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth Adventures finally come to a close. During the making of the Hobbit films, many had mixed feelings on the idea that a book smaller than any of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books was going to be stretched into three movies.
Three years after the announcement, critics and audiences are still divided on how the franchise was handled. Some dislike the additions Jackson and the writers brought to the story, while some believe the original story was too bare and demanded expansion. Does The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies end the trilogy on a high note, or should it have even been a trilogy?
After The Desolation of Smaug, the dragon attacks Laketown until it is saved by Bard, who becomes the new leader of the town. Bard and the town seek refuge in the ruins of Dale, Gandalf confronts Sauron, and the elves arrive to reclaim treasure from the mountain. With Smaug dead, the treasure for the mountain is now more available for the other races.
Unfortunately, Thorin has contracted “dragon sickness”, becoming too greedy for any agreement with Bard or the elves. He is too busy searching for the legendary Arkenstone. Seeing his friend act selfish encourages Bilbo to give the Arkenstone to the elves in an attempt to force Thorin to negotiate, but it backfires and a war ensues between the dwarves, elves, orcs, and men for the treasure under the mountain.
A common criticism of the previous Hobbit films was the run time. While the Lord of the Rings films also had this problem, they had the right amount of balance between intense action and intriguing characters. In the third installment, the run time is shortened and there is a lot more action, as to be expected when “battle” is in the title.
The writers also faced the challenge of creating conclusions to the plotlines they introduced, and deciding what happened during the war since Biblo was knocked out for much of the battle in the book. While it was interesting to see the filmmaker’s take on character deaths and plotlines, not all of them felt satisfactory. I will give the producers credit for is that the character deaths hold weight-not just an afterthought.
As usual, the acting is good. It is a shame to think that we’ll never see Ian Mckellen’s Gandalf again. I also enjoyed Martin Freeman’s mild-mannered and outspoken performance of Bilbo, and it’s a shame that when you think of the three films individually and the trilogy as a whole, he is not as emphasized as other characters.
As for the fights themselves, it’s no Return of the King, but there certainly are some fun and memorable action set pieces. The Computer generated Images felt hit or miss at times. Admittedly, it felt like I was spoiled from Smaug’s portrayal in the last movie that the other CGI looked obvious, but it felt at times I was watching a video game cut scene in the fights.
Overall, the Hobbit trilogy doesn’t end on the strongest note, but it is still fun to watch. It’s enjoyable to visit Middle Earth one last time and see these characters, great performances, and fun action set pieces, in this slightly shorter and balanced last installment of the trilogy.
However, the problems the last films faced such as obvious CGI, drawn out scenes, and unnecessary additions can still plague the experience. Perhaps the films might have been better received if it was originally in two parts like Jackson envisioned, but we’ll never know. The trilogy is finished, and hopefully Jackson can observe what went right and wrong with these adaptations to improve his projects in the future.
-Brady Lass