The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) - Movie Review

In all my years of watching movies, I have never waited so long and with such great anticipation for a conclusion to such a mediocre series as I have for The Battle of the Five Armies. To be honest, I didn't love the first two films of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy all that much. They were overly long and quite poorly paced, making the short length of its source material obvious. However, they were good entertainment and definitely deserving of being seen in a theater, and because I loved Tolkien's novel so much I decided to give this final installment a chance.

Similar to both An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug, The Battle of the Five Armies is well-written and almost replicates Tolkien's novel on screen. However, Peter Jackson has added a lot of material and back story to the original to fill in the two hour running time; but this does not distract from the story as much as the previous films. This is mostly because this installment of the trilogy is mostly a climax and not setup. Also, I felt that the pacing of Battle of the Five Armies was far better. Granted, making a film into one really long battle sequence adds a lot of excitement, but what surprised me was how interested I remained in this film. The battle is broken up enough by some slower portions to remain palatable overall. The ending is also very emotionally satisfying, wrapping up every storyline gracefully and sufficiently. You can still tell that this series should have been shorter; however, this movie is by far the best installment of storytelling that Peter Jackson has given us in The Hobbit.

Visually, The Battle of the Five Armies is spectacular. Peter Jackson's direction has always been visually impressive, and this film is no different. The effects are plentiful and for the most part look great. Sets are grand and quite realistic, while the costuming is on point. I will say that there is an abundance of CG in this film, and after seeing how good practical effects can be in my recent rewatching of the original Star Wars trilogy, I wish there was less. The orcs in particular would look much more fearsome if they would have been actors in make-up instead of purely computerized. However, this is good CG, so it wasn't as big of a distraction as it could have been. Another thing I will mention is that I did not see this installment or any of The Hobbit trilogy in high frame rate. I do see how Jackson intended this trilogy to be seen in that format, as many wide pans across the landscape and several action shots seem a little choppy. However, as a rule the cinematography was well done and immersive with its perception of Middle-Earth.

The acting in The Battle of the Five Armies in some ways is better than the previous two installments of The Hobbit trilogy. Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen I felt deserved more screen time towards the beginning of the film, as most of what we see are shots of Smaug destroying Laketown and the people there; however, we do get a lot more towards the end, which is very redeeming. The true standout in this movie is Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. His portrayal of what it is like to be infected with dragon sickness is incredible and very moving, almost shifting the message of this film to being about a lust for money, and should be considered for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The rest of the ensemble cast does very well as a whole, perhaps with just a little more emotion than the previous installments. There's a lot to like about the various performances here, with most being very nuanced and dynamic. You can tell that these actors got and applied some good direction about their work here.

Overall, The Battle of the Five Armies is the best installment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy by a mile due to its better pacing and emotional involvement. I'm glad that it's over because it was way too long to begin with; however, it is somewhat saddening to think of this being the last time Peter Jackson will go to Middle-Earth. There's a lot to like here with the impressive visuals and Richard Armitage's impressive performance, but what sends this final chapter over the top is the emotional aspect that will strike the viewers who have kept up with the franchise for the past couple years.

Rating: 8/10

Summary: By far the best of the trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies overcomes the pacing flaws of its predecessors and delivers enough action to give an emotionally satisfying conclusion to Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth saga.