Goodbye, Middle-Earth.
Writer and Director Peter Jackson has dedicated 14 years of his life bringing Middle-Earth to life on the big screen with hopes of having us audience engage on this phenomenal journey on a personal level as if we are part of this fantasy world. After 5 films, we have now come to this point where we have to see Peter Jackson's final last journey to Middle-Earth. The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies has duties to accomplish..
- The film has to be a fitting ending to The Hobbit trilogy
- The film has to tie-in very well with The Lord of The Rings trilogy
- The film has to be a satisfying end to Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth saga
- The film has to be amazingly entertaining in itself
Biggest question, is The Battle of The Five Armies a fitting end to The Hobbit trilogy? Yes and no. The film did what it could to end on a really high note. Every story arc that we've explored in the preceding films at least had an emotional and satisfying closure in them. Perhaps the arc with Bilbo Baggins and Thorin are the most emotional ones. The film is relatively short, which makes us feel the the first two films should have been a lot shorter, making the trilogy less over stuffed.
The one character who surprisingly shined out the most was Luke Evan's Bard, making him the equivalent of Aragorn from The Lord of The Rings. For a film that is called The Hobbit, Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins took a back seat on this film though he made the most out of the screen time he has and so does other main characters.
Many criticize the film for being a bit cartoon-y compared to The Lord of The Rings movies and while it's true it's a bit unfair to judge it that way since this is a film that is adapted from a children's novel, so it's expected to be more colorful than the much darker LOTR films. Though it;s hard not to miss the practical effects the previous LOTR films since this film is over-packed with CGI. I never saw the film in 48fps and it still looks shinier than any LOTR films.
The main highlights of this movie though is the battle of the five armies which takes up half the run time of the film, give or take. There's never a shortage of it in this film, but at the same time it won't tire the viewers like other action packed films. When the brief build-up moves out of the way, everyone and everything goes to war.
How does it stack up as ending to both a saga though? Not much since it's both the ending to The Hobbit trilogy and the bridge to The Lord of The Rings films. Return of The Kings might seem more of a fitting ending to the saga than this film.
In its own The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies has it's shortcomings that prevented it from being as epic as The Return Of The King, but it is a great ending for The Hobbit trilogy and surely is the best of the three and if this is Peter Jackson's swan song to Middle-Earth, then he sure did went out with a bang.
Many criticize the film for being a bit cartoon-y compared to The Lord of The Rings movies and while it's true it's a bit unfair to judge it that way since this is a film that is adapted from a children's novel, so it's expected to be more colorful than the much darker LOTR films. Though it;s hard not to miss the practical effects the previous LOTR films since this film is over-packed with CGI. I never saw the film in 48fps and it still looks shinier than any LOTR films.
The main highlights of this movie though is the battle of the five armies which takes up half the run time of the film, give or take. There's never a shortage of it in this film, but at the same time it won't tire the viewers like other action packed films. When the brief build-up moves out of the way, everyone and everything goes to war.
How does it stack up as ending to both a saga though? Not much since it's both the ending to The Hobbit trilogy and the bridge to The Lord of The Rings films. Return of The Kings might seem more of a fitting ending to the saga than this film.
In its own The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies has it's shortcomings that prevented it from being as epic as The Return Of The King, but it is a great ending for The Hobbit trilogy and surely is the best of the three and if this is Peter Jackson's swan song to Middle-Earth, then he sure did went out with a bang.
(+)
Great character/arcs
Brief build up
Everything else goes to war
(-)
Sudden ending
Weighed down by its predecessors
Score: A-
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| The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies now in theaters. |
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