Time to bring some other fantasy epics to the screen.

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2015)

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES is the end of the line for Peter Jackson and Tolkein's Middle Earth, which is just as well because with this third installment of his adaption of The Hobbit, he has finally run out of story. As everyone points out, Tolkein's book is actually a rather modest children's story, stretched until it breaks by Jackson for the silver screen, with epic battle scenes and a dwarf/elf love story shoe horned into the narrative. The result is a great looking fantasy whose effects and action overpower the story completely.
Martin Freeman's Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit of the title is relegated to a supporting character, leaving Richard Armitage's Thorin, the leader of the dwarfs who succumbs to his lust for gold now that they have taken Erebor, the most compelling person on the screen. The story picks up where THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG left off with the dragon laying waste to Laketown, it is also the moment when Luke Evans's Bard steps up and proves himself the hero; a thrillingly done sequence. But once the business with Smaug is done with, the movie settles into a siege with the Elves, Laketowners, Dwarfs, and Orcs squaring off for the mountain filled with gold. Along the way there is betrayal, suspicion, spite, grudges, envy and greed; all of which leads to lot's and lot's and lot's of fighting, before we get to a finale filled with changes of heart, regret and redemption. We also have to spend some time picking up where we left off with a vast cast of characters, some of whom may leave the casual viewer scratching their heads as to who is who and why they matter to the story.
And while the final scene may be satisfying to Tolkein fans, you can literally count on both hands all the plot threads left hanging: what becomes of all that gold that everyone was laying claim to? What becomes of Bard and the good people of Laketown who suffer so much in the course of the movie? So too the fate of Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel and Lee Pace's Thandriel? Where'd those big worms go? (Their appearance made me think of TREMORS and took me utterly out of the movie) Is the dwarfs homeland Scotland? (Billy Connolly's accent suggests it is.) Not to mention the cohort of dwarfs who have followed Thorin through so much? And does that despicable Albert get what is coming to him? Then there is the Arkenstone? We don't even see a proper funeral for Thorin; no Bilbo just walks off with the Ring in his pocket, heading back to the Shire.
The CGI is terrific and is the main reason why this film should be seen in on the big screen; Jackson has truly succeeded in bringing Middle Earth to life, a universe like those of Star Wars and Star Trek which has become a truly real place to its many, many fans. The acting is first rate, although I can never see Martin Freeman now and not think of his devious Lester Nygaard of FARGO. All the old favorites from LOTR show up: Ian McKellan's Gandalf; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; and it is always something special to see Christopher Lee in anything. This man who was a great Dracula long ago, and was also in Star Wars, he reprises his Saruman portrayal here; unfortunately some of them are barely in this movie, only punching in on their way to the bigger story yet to come. But for us Manu Bennett fans, his Azrog gets a lot of time and is one more of his great villains.
I think the ultimate flaw in THE HOBBIT is that for all the sound and the fury, there really is not that much on the line, that real epic story will come later with LOTR, and for this reason this movie just does not resonate like it should. There are so many other great fantasy worlds that should now get their chance at the silver screen now; how about Stephen Kings's THE DARK TOWER series, they could easily get a half dozen epics out of that one.