One Last Time

Rating: 5/10 (16 December 2014)

And that's it. The end of the Middle Earth saga is here. That is until Warner Bros decides they want another billion dollars and end up squeaking out another cash grab. The Battle of the Five Armies was not only the weakest of the Hobbit Trilogy, but most definitely of all the Middle Earth films. I regret to say that this film was not as epic nor as fun as the trailers made it out to be. The film is just one big CGI mess.
The first Hobbit was slow but enjoyable and it got me excited to see where the franchise was going. Smaug was intense but I never felt our heroes were in any sort of danger, which is odd considering the dragon is a hundred times the size of them. And I haven't really been a fan of the new frame rates that Peter Jackson has been using or the fact that basically the entirety of the films are CGI and green screen. It just doesn't feel as real or lively as the LOTR trilogy did. There were a lot of tiny things that this film did to tease that trilogy but it's not as cool when it doesn't really make sense with the timeline. There were some unnecessary cameos but the most disappointing thing was how they handled Smaug. The first ten minutes was my favorite part of the entire film and that's all because of Cumberbatch as Smaug.
Luke Evans gives a solid performance and quite possibly the only character I actually cared about. His not-so-buddy Alfrid may be one of the most annoying characters in film this year, and is absolutely out of sink with the tone of the film. Speaking of shoehorned in characters, Legolas, who is not in the book at all, has one of the most pathetic CGI scenes I have ever seen. You will know it once you see it. But there are things to like about this one. Ian Mckellen as Gandalf, although doesn't much to do, is great as always. He shares many of the films best scenes with Bilbo, even if some of them are just to get nerds sweaty about Lord of the Rings. Manu Bennett also plays a very good villain in Azog. Although I will say that the Orcs look scarier when they were humans in makeup in the original trilogy rather than CGI.
So even though the film isn't complete trash, you will walk out pretty disappointed. It's almost all battle scenes and you just get fatigued after awhile. I found myself wanting the film to end several times but it just kept dragging on. You don't really care about the characters or feel much danger for any of them. Even when you are supposed to feel for them, the emotional moments just don't work. It's just a really frustrating film and I cant believe i'm having it near the bottom of my 2014 list.
+Gandalf & Bilbo
+Manu Bennett
+Smaug
-Fatiguing
-Emotional moments don't hit
-Alfrid
-Don't feel much danger for the characters
-Really drags
5.5/10