Neither Ending in a Whimper or a Bang: A Review of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The first scenes show death. A dragon, with wings that span forever and teeth sharper than razors, swoops from above and spews fire from its mouth. The village that incurs its ire is decimated.

The ensuing inferno kills most of the community’s inhabitants. The few that survive wish they are dead. The cries of the dying torture them; the smell of burned flesh permeates their nostrils.

The dragon, however, isn’t satisfied. It boasts that it will end the existence of the town. So, it attacks again and blasts the hamlet with hellfire. The casualties double in an instant; from a thousand dwellers, only hundreds are left.

But, hope has not abandoned the village; it didn’t cower at the sight of the winged lizard. When all seemed lost, a bowman musters enough courage and shoots a metal arrow to the belly of the beast. The dragon cringes, screams, and squirms; for the first time, it feels piercing pain.

The creature battles some more and tries to deny the inevitable. But, in the end, the monster succumbs. Life leaves the winged horror; death claims the beast. The dragon plummets to the ground with a thundering thud.

Whew! Quite the opening, right? If the film, i.e., The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, at this point is this good then the rest must be better. This is a reasonable presumption.

But, after a few more scenes, the presumption proved false. The only impressive part of the movie, as it turned out, were its first few minutes. If the initial sequences flew right off the screen, the rest of the film descended. The beginning captured my interest; the middle and end barely aroused any feeling in me.

I was disappointed because I felt I was watching a rehash of sorts. Mr. Peter Jackson did not surprise or offer anything new in terms of style or method. Watching The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies looked like an imitation of Mr. Jackson’s Lord of the Rings (LOTR) movies. You know the Hobbit films and LOTR motion pictures are supposed to be from the same universe, but The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies looked different; it felt like a knockoff. It wanted to emulate scale of the LOTR films, but in the end it fell short.

LOTR could never be replicated. Even Mr. Jackson, like what George Lucas learned when he directed his Star Wars prequels, could not top his earlier masterpiece. What he did in the LOTR motion pictures were almost revolutionary. In The Hobbit, his effort and output proved run-of-the-mill.

I also found The Hobbit less interesting because it lacked a substantial story. In fact, the plot of this movie could be encapsulated in one sentence: Smaug died; thus, the dwarves, men, elves, and orcs engaged in a free-for-all over Erebor.

The story’s deficiency, or lacked thereof, could be traced from the studio’s decision to make J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit into a three part extravaganza. This in turn led in making the story of the final act thin and shallow. With nothing more to say, the only task that remained to be done was to show how the five armies battled. That won’t do, especially for those looking for concrete and complete tales.

But, the film is not total loss. The fight sequences, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies reason for being, are thrilling. Though in some cases the stunts and fights can be a bit comedic, like when Legolas uses falling bricks in mid-air as stairs, in any case they are worth watching. Action junkies, especially those who patronize epic fantasy, won’t be disappointed.
The cinematography also is first rate. New Zealand again proved to be an indispensable part of the motion picture.

But, for me the redeemable feature of this movie is the lesson that it aims to teach: greed brings out the worst in men. So, people regardless of stature should take heed of this.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Armies, in the end, is an average film. While it does not have a substantial story, it still has redeeming qualities. It may not be a masterpiece like its LOTR predecessors, but watching it won’t be a waste of time. Some parts of the film will awe; the rest won’t blow you away. The key therefore is to manage your expectations. Do that and you won’t regret seeing this film.

A Tedious and Predictable Hobbit

The poster comes from http://www.filmofilia.com/new-poster-for-the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey-116306/

“I am going on an adventure!” shouts Bilbo Baggins as he darts out of his house and races across the Shire in order to catch up with a questing group of dwarves. This piece of dialogue acts as a pivotal turning point, but aside from that it also serves as an invitation.

Nine years after the release of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, viewers once again are invited to go back to Middle-earth, a world composed of goblins, orcs, trolls, dwarves, elves, and wizards.  So now playing in cinemas this week is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (The Hobbit), the prequel to the Lords of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy.

In this movie, the wizard Gandalf the Grey goads Bilbo Baggins to join the former’s quest with a group of dwarves. The objective of the mission is to reclaim Erebor, the dwarves’ kingdom. At first Bilbo hesitates, but he later on relents and joins the pack. After this, he meets elves, almost gets crushed by stone giants, goes up against goblins, fights orcs, and faces Gollum. Bilbo, therefore, gets the adventure of his life.

Speaking of Bilbo, Mr. Martin Freeman, the actor who also plays John Watson in the hit BBC series Sherlock, plays the role perfectly. For all intents and purposes HE IS Bilbo Baggins. Indeed, Mr. Freeman effectively shows that Bilbo, though heroic at heart, can generally be insecure of himself. No other thespian can probably replicate the performance that he exhibited in the movie.

As for the other notable portrayals, Richard Armitage deserves praise for his take on dwarf king Thorin. Till the end, Mr. Armitage consistently exhibited the traits needed from the dwarf king: courageous, noble, and confident. There is also Andy Serkis, who again takes on the role of Gollum. Suffice it to say, that he is the only one destined to play that character.

Though the acting in the film is laudable and the special effects are generally impressive, The Hobbit cannot be considered as a masterpiece. It does possess evident flaws.

For instance, the movie needlessly serves as the first installment of a new trilogy. Mr. Jackson, just like with the LOTR franchise, wants to have three movies notwithstanding that the source material itself consists of one volume only. The Hobbit, therefore, was never meant to be told in three parts.

So by dividing The Hobbit into three acts, every installment will have a tendency to be too long. And this became evident in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

The film runs at 2 hours and 50 minutes. As a result of this, battle sequences are too long. Too many back stories fill up most of the excess time. Thus, instead of making the film enjoyable to watch, there were times that viewing it was tedious.

But, the film’s most evident failing is its inability to provide moviegoers with an adventure.

An adventure, by nature, should be a novel experience. The Hobbit, unfortunately, does not show anything new. While watching it, one gets a feeling that everything being exhibited is familiar, known, or unsurprising. This comment does not mean to disparage Peter Jackson. But with him having directed LOTR already, viewers know what to expect from him. His work with The Hobbit does not anymore elicit wonder and awe. No jaws will hit the floor in amazement. Fan boys won’t salivate. The applause will be there, but it will be more perfunctory than congratulatory.

Perhaps, The Hobbit, as a franchise, should have been passed on to a new director (Guillermo del Toro was supposed to direct it, but backed out.). In that case, The Hobbit would have been presented in a different manner or at least not via the Peter Jackson way. A new director would have undoubtedly treated the material from a fresh perspective.

Be that as it may, Peter Jackson now helms The Hobbit franchise. For better or worse, avid fans, moviegoers, and casual viewers are stuck with him. Though Mr. Jackson did a fairly good job with The Hobbit, hopefully he’ll do better with the next installments. After all, he has to fortunately or unfortunately have to live up to his LOTR trilogy. The adventure, though rocky at the start, has just begun.