The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Opening where the second film left off, Smaug’s attack on Laketown, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the last (as far as we know) of Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth fantasy films. The Second in the series of incredibly long names (with running times to match), The Desolation of Smaug, was infinitely better than the first (despite the unnecessarily-long barrel sequence) but stretching an epic trilogy out of a book shorter than any of the Lord of the Rings novels has always been a concern. Now, with the blockbuster release of the third Hobbit, it’s up to Jackson to tie it all together. 

Jumping straight into the action, the dragon, Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) inflicts brutal destruction on Laketown as the residents flee, with only Bard (Luke Evans) left to fight the beast. Up at the Lonely Mountain, the leader of the dwarves, Thorin (Richard Armitage) is inflicted with Smaug's "dragon sickness", a powerful urge to find the Arkenstone, which is affecting his sanity. Bilbo (Martin Freeman), who is aware of Thorin’s state, continues to hide the Arkenstone from him. Gandalf (Ian McKellen) remains imprisoned by the Necromancer (Also Benedict Cumberbatch) in Dol Guldur, until Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), with help from Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Saruman (Christopher Lee), frees Gandalf. Whilst others are gathering their forces to raid the Lonely Mountain, Gandalf rushes back to warn of the approaching Orc army. The battle for Smaug's lair of gold is about to begin.

Epic in visual scope, The Battle of the Five Armies is, as the name would suggest, brimming with action. The battle sequences which dominate the second half of the film are impeccably choreographed and are exceedingly stunning, with effects-heavy visuals that justify the $250 million budget. However, whilst these sequences do try to draw some points about the lives lost in the useless battle for gold, they are basically just excessive battles. This is where the flaws of the trilogy format slide through the cracks. What could have been two very solid movies, have been extended to three, and whilst the running time of this third instalment is blissfully shorter at a not-unreasonable 144-minutes, there doesn't seem to be enough plot left to justify a full movie. This sees much of the second-half of The Battle of the Five Armies stretched out into an unnecessary display of mindless battling, only marginally justified by the strong first half of the film.

Whilst the already well-established characters don't exactly require much more development, the strained story would certainly benefit from it. Thorin is the only one that really evolves in any way, inhibited by his changing states of sanity. However it must be said that the performances certainly stand up to the calibre of the first films (as well as the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the characters that appear in both). Freeman is very good as Bilbo, although he doesn't get as much screen-time as I would have liked. Richard Armitage shines as Thorin, and it's always fun to see the 75-year old Ian McKellen and 92-year old Christopher Lee involved in some battles. The only real issue with the characters is in the various death scenes (which you ought to expect in the final instalment), which are heavily clichéd, with slow motion and somber music that somewhat undermines the emotions that are being put forth. 

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies finally wraps up a trilogy that should really have been concluded in two films, and hence there are certainly some issues with stretching it out into a third. But it does seem, in many ways, a fitting conclusion for the series, with big-budget action and strong performances. I'm sure that long time fans will enjoy this film.