What an end!

Rating: 10/10 (15 December 2014)

Tears were falling from my eyes as the end credits rolled. The theater was in full delight and sorrow, both because of a grand movie and the fact that the Middle-Earth saga is over. The battle of the five armies is in fact the best Hobbit, it is an end that stands, by it's quality, far beyond all of the other Hobbit movies, but is still far from the masterpiece of LOTR. This movie showed us that Peter Jackson still knows how to make a grand epic movie that will shatter our nerves and make us laugh and cry, fill us with adrenaline and emotions. From the very start, and the true desolation, to the very end credits we are presented with, I dare say, the most complete hobbit movie. The characters were well placed, the actors did a great job (especially Luke Evans and Lee Pace), the story was nicely told and the ending was as spectacular as the title suggests. The pace of the movie is, in comparison to the last two movies, an absolute win. Just as the audience starts to be impatient and wants to scream at the screen for the battle, the battle begins. Just as one wants something to happen, it happens. It really is Christmass time, and Jackson fulfills all wishes of the audience. But, the thing that makes this movie so great is the fact that Jackson created an epic scale battle lasting over two hours that went parallel with the minimalistic duels of the main protagonists and antagonists. The comparison of the two, shows us that the magnitude of the grand battle is in the numbers fighting, and the magnitude of the duels is in the emotions the characters feel, but the feeling of grandeur while watching both is the same. This is, by far, the best element of The battle of the five armies. Do not get me wrong, this movie has it's flaws (as do all the hobbit movies) but in this movie they sort of seize to matter. One really doesn't care that Azog or Bolg are so CGI that one feels as if watching a video game, because the battle of Thorin and Legolas with the two is so fierce and tense that one really doesn't care. One of the most interesting parts are the roles of Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman. The fight at Dol Guldur made the theater shiver in fear. The voice of Sauron (brilliantly done by Cumberbatch) whose words echo in the darkness resemble demons in horror movies. But that fear is (as usual) remedied by light and good - just in time to give the audience a break from the darkness (and the battle itself is impressive).
Looking back, the hobbit trilogy never really stood a chance against the LOTR trilogy. The complexity of the book is far less than the LOTR books, and that is why these movies never really could be as grand and epic as LOTR. Still, I believe more could have been done, less CGI should have been used and the outcome would have been better. But, it all starts and ends with what Jackson had as a literary background. The trilogy is enjoyable, entertaining, truly grand and beautiful, and a really perfect way to introduce us into the LOTR. I fear that this might be the last Jackson makes of Middle-Earth, the end credit song does go in that direction, but do not lose hope. Whenever one feels the need to slip away into this land, all you have to do is play the movies. Jackson changed the world and made history, and even though there are bad things that could be said about these movies, in the end it really doesn't matter - they are as grand as the tales they were based on.