"Will You Follow Me...One Last Time?" Of course, we will

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2015)

4 books by J.R.R. Tolkien. 6 films. 2 trilogies. And they were made by one director. Plus, it took 17 years to create these films. Has there ever been a time in which Peter Jackson needed to take a break? After creating "The Hobbit" trilogy, maybe he can. In one of the quieter moments of "The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies", Bilbo Baggins reminisces to Thorin Oakenshield about their journey that led them to the Dwarfs' Kingdom of Erebor, but also "The good, the bad and how lucky I am that I made it home." There is a lot to remember in the final Hobbit film, especially in the entire Middle-Earth saga. There are moments of light humor, thrilling action sequences that includes marvelous special effects as well as some awesome orc and goblin beheadings, powerful drama and of course, the enchantment that started with the imagination of an amazing author and an amazing filmmaker as well. In "The Battle of The Five Armies", the best of "The Hobbit" films, the stakes are high and our hobbit Bilbo along with our heroes are faced with deadly obstacles, not to mention that they discover something a whole lot more that could change Middle-Earth forever and will also lead into the events in "The Lord of the Rings". Now, of course, "The Battle of The Five Armies" immediately picks up right where "The Desolation of Smaug" left off. Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Thorin (Richard Armitage) and the Dwarfs has unintentionally let the dragon out of its cage. Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) has left Erebor, and now terrorizes Lake-town. What happens to him and Lake-town is an astonishing sight to witness. Meanwhile, Gandalf (Ian McKellan) was captured by The Necromancer now revealing itself as Sauron and is now discovering that Sauron has built up an Army or two lead by Azog the Defiler (Manu Bennett) and his co-hort Bolg (John Tui) so they can cause and create hell on Middle-Earth. Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and the remaining dwarfs including Kili (Aidan Turner), Fili (Dean O'Gorman) and Bofur (James Nesbitt) has survived the attack on Lake-town. And the Elvenking Thranduil (Lee Pace) wants nothing more but to reclaim his own treasure. In the kingdom of Erebor, as predicted before, Thorin "can't see beyond his own desire", as he is suffering from Dragon-Sickness. Bilbo and the Dwarfs slowly starts to notice it, which leads to Bilbo to commit one fateful act to save Middle-Earth. If only that would be the case. Then, it leads to the subtitle of this film, in which Orcs, Men, Dwarfs, Elves and Eagles fight to the death in the ultimate battle of good vs. evil in the entire trilogy. Being the shortest of the entire Middle-Earth Saga (It's only 144 minutes), "The Battle of the Five Armies" has moments in which the characters realizing that something is worth fighting for rather than each other. They also commit (and sacrifice) themselves to find their place in this world. Because Jackson has a knack of creating the world of Middle-Earth with breathtaking special effects and a big cast, the films give each of the actors their moments to shine even if their moments are not as big as the others. For example, look at Martin Freeman. He caught my eye, surprisingly, as the lead in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and now, with the help of "Sherlock", the first season of FX's "Fargo" and with "The Hobbit" trilogy, he's becoming an top-notch, A-list star. His performance as Bilbo through these three films is remarkable, creating humanity as well as developing a surprisingly emotional side to him. I guess you can say he is becoming more like Bilbo, as well. Armitage's Shakespearian-like Thorin is scary-great. He creates a incredibly tragic character who slowly starts to care more about the journey, his kingdom, the Arkenstone and the gold, rather than the people guiding him on that quest, until he sees the dangers of falling into what his father and grandfather has done before, even when he says he doesn't want to be like them. Plus, it can be the last time we see some of the returning regulars like Ian McKellan as Gandalf the Grey, Cate Blanchett as Lady Galadriel, Christopher Lee as Saruman the Wise and Hugo Weaving as Lord Elrond as they strike back and make magic one last time. But, as I stated before, the supporting players like Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Ken Stott (as Balin), Graham McTavish (as Dwalin) and Ryan Gage (as the slimy and greedy Alfrid) add a lot more sting and more emotional depth to their performances. "The Battle of the Five Armies" brings back some of the magic and greatness of "The Lord of the Rings" mainly because it adds a bit more substance to the films and it also moves in a more quicker pace. Plus, the action is more intense, the drama is more emotional, the love story between Kili and Tauriel is more stronger and there is some quirky humor snuck in there even when the tone has gotten more darker. These movies captivated me for so many years and it's rather fitting to say farewell to the cast and crew for bringing Tolkien's world of Middle-Earth to the screen with the last installment of the series. Like "Harry Potter", "The Chronicles of Narnia", and "The Hunger Games", their stories will (and have) become classics and once you viewed or read "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" as one equal, it all connects. Sometimes the best one is the last one worth waiting for.