A Missed Opportunity That Started With Promise

Rating: 5/10 (6 April 2015)

Thirteen years. That's the time gap between 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' and the release of 'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies'. It is impossible for the Hobbit trilogy to avoid comparisons with its book written by J. R. R. Tolkien and 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy.
Since the age of six I have had an investment in this series in particular; its characters, story and world. As time passes by I feel my attachment lessen not for 'The Lord of the Rings' (my love only grows) but for 'The Hobbit'. I consider 'Rings' to be a flawless trilogy and one of the best, which stands alongside the original 'Star Wars' Trilogy and 'The Dark Knight' Series. So let's discuss 'The Hobbit'. The book written in 1937 is little more than 200 pages in comparison to 'Rings' which is over 1000. This extension from one book being split into three films is almost heart-breaking. But I do not hate the films.
'An Unexpected Journey' is a slog, but it does have its moments. It is without a doubt far too long, although we do see the return of Bilbo, Gandalf and Gollum. For me this is enough, even if we catch only a fleeting glimpse of the Dragon Smaug. I consider it adequate, but still partially a let-down.
'The Desolation of Smaug' raises the stakes and is just a black arrow shy of the masterful trilogy that preceded it. The characters are better realised, the action is more cohesive and the scene between Bilbo and Smaug is one of the greatest confrontations in cinema history.
'The Battle of the Five Armies' is in fact an altogether different beast. A strong start only makes it so much more of a shame, when the whole story comes cascading down into fiery oblivion. In this instalment we continue the story mere minutes after the last film ended. This is disorientating as Smaug has already begun his destruction of Lake Town. While this scene could have easily been the ending of the second it still works. Benedict Cumberbatch is aggressive and his temperament matches Smaug's wit and skill. However, the first fifteen minutes is not enough and cannot single handedly save the film from betraying its origins.
This film sees a massive Battle of the Five Armies. This includes the dwarfs, elves, eagles and orcs; so even the title is misplaced. Instead a Battle of Four Armies takes place. Bilbo is stuck in the middle of all of this, whilst Thorin Oakenshield upon acquiring the Arkenstone loses his mind faster than you can say "my precious". The battle can be described using these words; convoluted, repetitive, long, drawn out and no fun. It drags for over an hour and contains more CGI effects than you can shake Gandalf's staff at. But all of them save for Smaug, look tacky and worse than they did in 2001.
Martin Freeman as the anxious Bilbo tries to steer the film away from badness. You can tell he is trying his best. Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee have less to do this time around, but they are at least never less than captivating and draw our attention on screen when the battle sequences cannot.
The score sounds suitably epic by series regular Howard Shore. The film looks neat, when CGI is not filling the screen, granted this is rare. What is most unforgivable though is the direction Peter Jackson takes with his limited source material to work from. In the book, the battle happens, but Bilbo is knocked out and therefore we only see how it starts and ends. Roughly 75% of 'Battle of the Five Armies' is Jackson's imagination. We find ourselves lost. Character development is thrown out of the window. We can no longer tell who is fighting who; elves defy physics worse than Neo in 'The Matrix' and a plethora of characters are killed off without the audience shedding a single tear. You end up rooting for the orcs instead; especially when Alfrid is on screen in supposedly comical scenes. Amounting to cringe inducing awfulness. That provides no function for the story. Alas, the love story here is worse than before and shows that Jackson should have stuck to his source and not have become high off of fumes of his own imagination.
'The Battle of the Five Armies' acts as a conclusion to 'The Hobbit' Trilogy and brings the Saga full circle. If 'An Unexpected Journey' was 'The Phantom Menace', 'The Desolation of Smaug'; 'Revenge of the Sith'. Then this instalment is certainly 'Attack of the Clones' with further unthinkable flaws. I advise you watch the previous two films and stick to the book. It is exciting and not at all painful like the film.