The Hobbit: The Battle of Screen Time. A Poor Film to End a Poor Trilogy

Rating: 4/10 (23 December 2014)

I am going to start this off like everybody else seems to start their reviews for these films. However, I am going to have to say that I hate the LOTR trilogy, the 2 previous Hobbit films and have never read the books. In my opinion, it is the most overrated film franchise to ever grace the cinema.
Firstly, the main problems with these films are the shear length of them. It seems that all fantasy films have to be over 2 hours. Now, I enjoy a three hour film as much as anyone else, but these films can easily cut 40-45 minutes out of each of them. In the 2 hour 24 minute BOTFA, there are 45 minute battle scenes and 10 minute monologues for every character, which make the finale incredibly tiresome and somewhat tedious. These are also the main problems I have with the LOTR franchise and the previous 2 Hobbit films. They take so much time faffing around and talking to each other for extended periods of time, that the "adventure" only starts in the last 30 minutes. It builds and builds through the film to a point where you think it's going to climax and then they decide to end it and then shove another 2 films after them.
By my understanding, the main character is meant to be Bilbo Baggins, which is why I gathered the films are called The Hobbit. However I think Peter Jackson, the director of this monstrosity, has forgotten this. The whole film hinders on what Thorin says or does, not Bilbo. Mr Freeman has a battle of his own in order to try and get some screen- time off Richard Armitage, who hogs the screen like a baby with a toy. Bilbo Baggins has some important things to do in the first 30 minutes of the film, but then seems to just fade away as the battle commences. Throughout the battle as Thorin has his 30 minute fight, Baggins is just thrown into a few scenes, as if Peter Jackson was trying to remind us that he actually is in this film.
My next problem is, actually something Peter Jackson is normally good at in the other films, the battle itself. The battle is all about the gold and how all five armies want it, pretty simple. However, the principle is lost somewhere along the long 45 minute winding road and eventually doesn't really conclude on anything. Maybe it's the ridiculous point where two of the characters start hugging and have a little catch up in the middle of the "blood shed". In all seriousness the principle of the battle is completely lost when Legolas and Thorin decide to wonder off and have a little scrap with the opposing leaders. Tragic death after tragic death occurs every ten minutes, making the scenes incredibly tiresome and a little repetitive. In fact, I actually found myself laughing at the ridiculously theatrical death of, the new main character, Thorin. After Killing his counterpart and getting stabbed in the process, he nonchalantly manages to get up and walk over to the cliff edge to see that the war is ending, this is where I questioned myself in whether I actually saw him get stabbed, but then in a very classic cliché style he collapses to the floor and dies. Hilarious. Meanwhile, Mr Baggins is running about heroically killing a shed load of soldiers by throwing stones off their heads, the very soldiers who seem to only die when either getting viciously stabbed and/or crushed. As for the forgettable main battle, the enemies seem to retreat back into their worm-holes, go home and that is all she wrote. However, the whole reason of the battle isn't answered. Who gets the gold? How is the gold separated? What happens to the shiny necklace and sparkly stone? Peter Jackson decides to breeze past these fundamental answers that are needed to be addressed and focuses mainly on The Hobbit getting back to the Shire safe and sound. Phew.
Lastly, I want to briefly mention the CGI, which is particularly awful. I don't know much about CGI, but it was incredibly noticeable and made the box office "smash" look cheap.
Even though it may not seem that I liked any of this film, there were some positives. The casting is very good; Martin Freeman makes the role of Bilbo Baggins his own and acts well throughout the trilogy. In addition, Richard Armitage and the dwarfs were exceptional. Sir Ian Mckellen is and has always been a fantastic Gandalf, however not even his finest could save this film.
To conclude, for people reading this review, save yourself £24 in cinema fees and over 7 hours of your life on these films. Go out and watch something a lot more worth your while. Some people may say that because I haven't read the books my opinion may be rendered useless, but as the average movie goer I urge you to listen to me and take my advice. I believe that many LOTR fans are stuck in this Peter Jackson bubble that whatever money making tripe he puts out has to be good, when in fact to burst the metaphorical bubble, they are not.