The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Plot synopsis:
The third Hobbit film picks up shortly after the second left off. The people of Lake-town are in a panicked frenzy as the dragon Smaug (voice: Benedict Cumberbatch) flies down to exact his revenge. The Master of Lake-town (Stephen Fry) and his deputy Alfrid (Ryan Gage) try to evacuate with the town's treasure while the rest of the townsfolk also try to escape. Smaug descends and breathes fire all over the town, destroying a whole row of houses and killing many people.Meanwhile, Bard the bowman (Luke Evans) tries to break free from his cell while his children are leaving with Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), Kili (Aidan Turner), Fili (Dean O'Gorman), Bofur (James Nesbitt), and Oin (John Callen). On the boat, Bard's son Bain (John Bell) sees his father as he climbs the bell tower to get high enough to shoot at Smaug. Before he was captured in the previous movie, Bard told Bain to hide the last Black Arrow. Realizing that Bard needs the arrow, Bain grabs a cargo hook, swings out of the boat, and goes to retrieve the Black Arrow from the small boat where he left it hidden.From atop the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Dwalin (Graham McTavish), Balin (Ken Stott), Dori (Mark Hadlow), Nori (Jed Brophy), Ori (Adam Brown), Bifur (William Kircher), Gloin (Peter Hambleton), and Bombur (Stephen Hunter) watch as the dragon terrorizes Lake-town. Their leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) is unable to watch with them.Bard shoots his arrows at Smaug as the dragon flies by hitting the dragon, but they are unable to penetrate his scaled hide. Bain arrives with the Black Arrow, which is big enough to do the job. Smaug wrecks the bell tower, cracking Bard's bow. The dragon taunts Bard and his son as Bard aims the black arrow while balancing it on Bain's shoulder, using a makeshift bow he rigs out of his broken one. As Smaug flies toward them, Bard shoots the arrow. It strikes the dragon, hitting the weak spot in his armor. He screams in pain as the light leaves his body. Smaug plummets into the lake, where his body crushes the Master and the gold supply. The dwarves see that Smaug is dead and they rejoice.The surviving people of Lake-town gather the supplies they have left. Alfrid tries to swipe some, but Bard stops him. The people recognize Bard as their savior for killing Smaug. They grab Alfrid and try to punish him, but Bard stops them. He decides they will take refuge in the town of Dale.Kili and the other dwarves leave for the mountain to rejoin the rest of the company. Kili asks Tauriel to join him. Legolas (Orlando Bloom) stops her, telling Tauriel to say goodbye to Kili. Kili hands her the carved stone that he showed her when they first met.In the Lonely Mountain, the dwarves return to Bilbo, who tells them that Thorin has started to lose his mind after being corrupted by the hoarded gold in the mountain. He is also becoming madly obsessed in his search for the Arkenstone. It turns out that Bilbo had it all along, but heeded Smaug's warning that the stone would drive Thorin mad. Bilbo goes to Balin and asks about the Arkenstone without admitting he has it; Balin says possessing the stone might make Thorin even more irrational.The orcs and their leader Azog (Manu Bennett) are marching toward Erebor when Bolg (John Tui) arrives to inform Azog that the Elf army is approaching closely. Azog orders Bolg to go to Gundabad, an Orc stronghold, to rally a greater army of Orcs to join them.In Dol Goldur, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) is still caged after learning that the Necromancer (voice: Benedict Cumberbatch) was Sauron. A giant Orc threatens him until Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) arrives and vanquishes it. Then the Nazgul (nine ghost-like men who fell victim to Sauron) show up to attack, but Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Saruman (Christopher Lee) come in to fight them. The two of them defeat the Nazgul as Galadriel tends to Gandalf. Radagast (Sylvester McCoy) comes back in his rabbit-drawn sleigh to take Gandalf away. The image of Sauron appears and tries to tempt Galadriel, but she overpowers him and casts him out. She falls in a weakened state. Elrond suggests they warn everyone of Sauron, but Saruman tells them to help Galadriel and says they can leave Sauron to him.Legolas and Tauriel learn that Bolg is going to Gundabad. They decide to follow him after learning from a messenger that Tauriel has been banished from the Elf kingdom by Thranduil (Lee Pace).Thranduil arrives in Dale with his army close by. He speaks to Bard about forming an alliance, as Thranduil wants to get into the Lonely Mountain to reclaim some white gems denied him by the dwarves many years before, including a necklace made of them.Bard rides over to the Lonely Mountain's main gate, hoping to persuade Thorin to join forces with him to avoid any more bloodshed. Thorin refuses to listen or to give away any part of his treasure, despite his promises when the people of Lake-town helped the dwarves. Bard leaves angrily.The dwarves suit up in their armor to prepare for battle. Thorin gives Bilbo a shirt of mithril mail that he says is so strong that no blade can pierce it. As they speak, Thorin continues to sound distorted and dazed as he vows not to share the treasure.Gandalf arrives in Dale, and Bilbo sneaks out of the mountain at night to a tent where Gandalf, Bard, and Thranduil are talking. Bilbo gives them the Arkenstone, claiming it as his share of Thorin's treasure. Thranduil tells Gandalf that he will finish this fight to protect his people.The next day, the Elvish and Lake-town armies stand before Erebor. Thorin and the dwarves come out on the wall. Bard displays the Arkenstone to offer in trade for the gold. Thorin thinks it's a trick until Bilbo admits that he gave it to them. Feeling betrayed, Thorin orders the Dwarves to throw Bilbo over the side of the wall they'd constructed to replace the wrecked gate. They refuse, and Thorin nearly does it himself. Gandalf arrives to stop him, allowing Bilbo to escape and join his wizard friend. Bard asks Thorin if he will have peace or war, and Thorin growls that he will have war. Then, an army of Dwarves led by Thorin's cousin Dain Ironfoot (Billy Connolly) arrives to help Thorin and his company. They are on the verge of attacking the Elf army when the Orc army arrives. The armies of dwarves, elves, and humans join together to fight the villains, and the Battle of the Five Armies begins.Legolas and Tauriel get to Gundabad and discover Bolg summoning the rest of the Orc forces, along with a horde of giant bat creatures.In the mountain, Dwalin attempts to reason with Thorin, who has become more disillusioned and angry. Thorin threatens to kill him if he does not leave. Dwalin does so, disappointed. Thorin goes down to the Gallery of Kings and walks over the hardened gold floor where he had tried to trap Smaug. He hallucinates seeing the dragon swimming beneath him, as well as himself sinking into the gold. Thorin snaps out of it and overcomes his madness. Using a giant bell as a wrecking ball, the Dwarves smash through the wall they built across the gate into the mountain and emerge to join the fight.Bard sends the women and children to safety while the men fight. He hands Alfrid a sword, but the coward is more concerned about staying hidden and getting some treasure. Meanwhile, many innocent civilians are slaughtered in the battle.With Dwalin, Fili, and Kili ("his best warriors," Gandalf says), Thorin resolves to ride to the top of Ravenhill, the orcs' command post, and kill Azog. He knows that the loss of their leader will make it possible to defeat the orcs. Elsewhere, Legolas and Tauriel return. Thranduil finds Tauriel going off to help the Dwarves and warn them of Bolg's army, but Thranduil doesn't think they are worth it and believes her love for Kili isn't real. Tauriel holds her bow and arrow to Thranduil, but he cu. Legolas stands in the way to defend her. They join forces with Bilbo, who made it through the battle with the One Ring, and go off to warn their friends.The heroes find the Orcs, but in the chaos, Bilbo is knocked unconscious while Fili is impaled by Azog. Enraged, Kili runs to the top of the tower, decapitating nearly every Orc in his path. He comes before Bolg as Tauriel joins in the fight. Bolg overpowers her and throws her against the wall. Kili comes to her defense, but Bolg stabs him through the heart. Tauriel watches him die. In her fury, she grabs onto Bolg and pulls him down the edge of a precipice. Legolas watches from a distance and gropes for an arrow, but he's all out. He gets a giant Orc to ram a tower that falls and forms a bridge, letting him run to Tauriel's aid. He battles Bolg on the crumbling tower, adroitly running up cascades of falling debris. From atop on the icy falls, he sees Thorin, weaponless, nearly killed by an Orc, so Legolas throws his sword into the Orc's chest. (Thorin retrieves the sword from the body and continues to fight with it.) Legolas takes out his knives and drives one into Bolg's head. The Orc falls through the tower, which crumbles completely. He hits the ground and is crushed by a piece of the tower.Radagast and Beorn (Mikael Persbrandt) swoop in on the Great Eagles as they take down the rest of the Orcs. Beorn morphs into his bear form and runs the Orcs down.Thorin battles Azog on a frozen pool above the icy falls. Azog swings his chained boulder to try and slam Thorin, only to break the ice around him. Thorn grabs the boulder and throws it to Azog, causing him to sink into the water. Thorin watches Azog float by him beneath the ice, seemingly dead, until the Orc opens his eyes, stabs Thorin in the foot, and bursts through the ice. He pins Thorin down and tries to impale him, but Thorin holds him back. However, realizing the Orc is too strong, Thorin lets Azog impale him, until he has a clear moment to kill the orc: Thorin drives his sword through Azog's body into the ice as the Orc finally dies.Thorin walks over to watch the rest of the battle. He collapses as Bilbo comes by his side. Thorin says he is sorry to Bilbo for how he acted and for what he's put him through. He acknowledges Bilbo's friendship before he dies. Bilbo weeps for his fallen friend. The surviving Dwarves come and kneel beside Thorin.Legolas tells Thranduil that he is leaving the kingdom. Thranduil tells his son to look for one of the Dunedain, a man who is referred to as Strider (Aragorn). After Legolas leaves, Thranduil finds Tauriel crying over Kili's body. She rejects love and asks why it hurts so much. Thranduil responds, "Because it was real." Tauriel kisses Kili's lips and plans to properly bury him.Bilbo leaves the mountain and tells Balin to tell the Dwarves goodbye for him. He turns around to find them standing behind him. Bilbo properly bids them farewell and invites them to come by his home should they ever find themselves traveling toward Bag End.Gandalf guides Bilbo back to the borders of the Shire. He knows that Bilbo had the ring with him, but Bilbo claims he lost it. Gandalf provides him with a word of caution before they depart. When Bilbo gets close to Bag End, he sees people walking off with his belongings. Since he was presumed dead, his belongings are being auctioned off. He demands to have them back while trying to find something that proves his identity -- he hands the auctioneer the contract he'd signed with Thorin's company. He goes inside his hole and takes out the ring.The final scene shows the older Bilbo (Ian Holm) holding the ring in his hand. There's a knock at the door. Bilbo says he wants no visitors, but jumps up when he hears Gandalf's voice. He goes to the door to greet his old friend, and the last thing we see is Thorin's map of Erebor (thus beginning the very first scene of the second Middle Earth trilogy of The Lord of the Rings).

Tags: murder, anti war, violence, flashback, good versus evil, insanity, romantic, revenge

Review:
Peter Jackson, with this new trilogy, which adapts a somewhat long children's fairy tale into a three-part action epic, each movie being three hours long and delving into completely irrelevant stories that are only hinted at in Tolkien's body of work, has really destroyed his reputation as the Tolkien translator.
Characters we've come to love or loathe arc into nothing; others (e.g. Beorn and Radagast) are given literally seconds of screen time; and for the first time in this prequel trilogy, a whole chapter (The Return Journey) is pretty much elided entirely.I'd like to be clear on my admiration for what Peter Jackson has done with The Hobbit so far.
Armitage and Bilbo provide the best performances of the film - mostly internal; mostly in the eyes - and their farewell is one of the more moving moments in a trilogy that has largely prioritised humour over pathos.The battle itself is undoubtedly impressive - great roaring hordes punctuated with spectacular giants - but in a sense it compounds the problem of the relatively truncated runtime.
The final movie was well worth the price of admission, which in my case was a free ticket to a preview screening.I found this movie to be a stretch and as the final movie in a trilogy that was getting less interesting the further you went into the series, I left feeling extremely disappointed, and glad I didn't pay for the premium experience (3D, Imax, etc).There was a little too much CG this time around, and it wasn't even all that great.
However, in the opinion of this reviewer, waiting until it appears in a second run theatre will provide better value for money.It's a movie that wraps up a series, but when compared to Peter Jackson's original LOTR work it pales and is as pale as an orc who has been working in the basement of Orthanc.
The Hobbit trilogy is crap.It's little more than a long list of invented battles and love stories to attract a widest possible audience, as well as loads of idiotic storyline to make the story slide into the Lord of the Rings movies as smooth as an Elven ass.
Before seeing _The Battle of the Five Armies_ today, I told people, "The first two films lacked fidelity to the book, but this one should be better." I figured Jackson wouldn't have to add lots of extraneous invented action scenes because the final third of the book contained plenty of action.Boy, was I wrong.Unnecessary invented characters from the previous films continued to take up screen time in this one, and many new ones were added.
Get out of the frame!In conclusion, this is a worthy final installment in The Hobbit Trilogy, and a film I consider to be the best of the three.Pros: Great acting, well-directed battle sequences, Howard Shore (Need I say more?), good visuals.Cons: Lack of resolutions, obnoxious characters, too much CGI, some cheesy moments.All in all a fine holiday film.
In the last 14 years since the FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING came out, I was telling my nerdy friends (and everybody else) how amazing the Lord of the Rings movies are, how muche love and effort went into them.I was amazed about the fact, that Peter Jackson said NO to too much CGI, that he used real sets, models, amazingly detailed costumes and beautiful cinematography.ALL of that went down the drain with this one...
If Jackson would have sun the story of The Lord of the Rings like he did the Hobbit, We would still be waiting for the last two movies in his twelve part series...So with that off my chest..
Now I personally enjoyed the first two hobbit instalments as much as each movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though without a shadow of a doubt the original trilogy is far superior (probably due to the fact the book it is based on, is far stronger) I still find each of them incredible films and after the agonising and excruciating cliff- hanger of the Desolation Of Smaug, I was highly anticipating the third concluding chapter: The Battle of the Five Armies.The Battle of the Five Armies forsakes the tradition of prologues that would often go back in time from the main narrative and instead thrusts us into the action, sending us with a flurry of excitement into Smaug's attack on Laketown, it is truly a spectacle to watch, building up the suspense and then being the perfect pulse racing build up and is one of the standout set pieces of the year as we finally see Smaug the terrible lay wake to the town, and as the title card appears over the ruined Erebor, the film continues to be the ultimate goodbye to Middle Earth, high on energy, whizzing through scenes at a breakneck pace until the credits roll.In an attempt not to reveal any spoilers about the film, I will not delve into anymore of the plot events, needless to say this movie has countless scenes that Jackson is known for.
Whilst the previous cast all fulfill their roles masterfully, Evangeline Lilly and Aidan Turner both continue this slightly cliché romantic subplot but one that is given far more weight in this movie and really contributes to the plot this time and does not feel tacked on which did seem to occur with Desolation of Smaug.The action as well is the best of the whole middle earth saga, the battle of the Five armies feels like Jackson looked at Minas Tirith, saw everything that worked and decided to turn it up a notch.
Full of epic moments, awesome fights, giant armies clashing and the final showdown with the long awaited Thorin vs Azog does everything right with brilliant performances all around and the best one on one action scene in the series between Legolas and Bolg is a pure delight to watch.
Whilst the action is marvellous and the best of the series, it's the emotional tone that ends the last ten minutes that makes The Battle of the Five armies such a brilliant goodbye as it is the end to the Hobbit tale, whilst still being a set up for the Lord of the rings and being one last farewell to the series that has touched so many viewers across the globe as Billy Boyd ends the series with a nostalgic note with his song.My only few complaints is that much like in the Desolation of Smaug, the lonely mountain theme from An Unexpected journey does not appear, instead the 'house of durin theme' seems to be the most prominent, though I have understood it could be a copyright issue which in that case cannot be helped.
Also though the film went by in a blur, I wish it could of been longer, most of the dwarfs don't get as much screen time as they should of and the ending feels like such a flash but perhaps that may be because I was desperate not to leave Jackson's middle earth vision for the last time, there was a lot of questions that were left unanswered admittedly and it does feel like they took the climax of the second movie, when the Hobbit was only two films and then extended it for as long as they could without overstaying their welcome, but these are all very minor gripes in what is a magnificent experience to see on the silver screen.The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the ultimate send off for the Middle Earth saga.
In a trilogy where the quality of films has got progressively better, the Hobbit which easily could of been a supplement to the Lord of the rings, feels like a significant half of the Middle Earth saga.
Peter Jackson did a great job interpreting the three Tolkien novels and putting them up on the big screen, a great feat done with great success.When I heard that the Hobbit, originally one Tolkien book, was going to be split into three films just like the Lord of the Rings, I was surprised and worried about how they could expand one novel into 3 full-length feature films.
So going in to the movies, I did not expect them to follow the book 100% - I expected changes to be made and additions inserted here and there to provide more excitement or emotion to the story.I have heard a lot of people write and complain about how bad the last Hobbit was, but given the framework of its development and that it was supposed to be much longer than anyone expected, people should not be going into this moving expecting it to be a great nod to Tolkien, but rather one for Peter Jackson.
Obviously, it doesn't stick to Tolkien's Hobbit in its entirety and makes links to the original Lord of the Ring trilogy, but overall, given what Peter Jackson was trying to accomplish, he did a wonderful job.
First, I would like to say that I love all the books from Tolkien, Lord of the Rings movies and I think that the first two Hobbit movies were not that bad.The third one, however, was horrible, full of pointless violence, cheap CGI with no real story = typical Hollywood action movie with no meaning.
Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage brought their characters to lives and Benedict Cumberbatch JUST stole the show as SmaugI really liked the inclusion of Legolas and how PJ cleverly linked 'The Hobbit' as a prequel to the LOTR series by mentioning 'Aragorn' The battle scenes were really well done (And NO, CGI wasn't tacky) and I really would watch it again, for the visuals and the fact that it is the last goodbye to Middle EarthTHANK YOU PETER JACKSON, YOU HAVE DONE A MARVELOUS JOB.
I know movie making is all about the money, and I know not every book is easily adaptable to film, but I feel the writers took way too much creative liberty in this adaptation.I don't know if it was arrogance, laziness, apathy, or maybe they just read the wrong book; whatever it was, they forgot or failed to realize why the LoTR films were so widely loved: they closely revolved around an amazing piece of fiction written by a genius (JRR Tolkien).
I spent lots of time in defending P.J., trying to explain that this is just first movie and it will be much better in part II, especially in part III, the last movie about Middle Earth, Hobbits and all of those nice and the other not so nice creatures that entertained us for so many years.But how wrong was i....The Desolation of Smaug (2013.) has some (somebody could say: a lot, and will say nothing wrong) flaws, has some inconsistency in script, but i have forgiven P.J. because i was too sure that The Battle of Five Armies (2014.) will be a spectacle, one great finish of Middle Earth saga.But P.J. has laughed and spat in the face to all of Tolkien and LOTHR fans.I have watched movie last night and for the first time in my life i wanted to get out of the cinema in the last third of the movie!
With prolonged scenes of misery, not doing it any favors to connect with the audience as it was so common by the end of it all I had no interest in the characters what so ever.The CGI and special effects gave the impression of a video game, taking away any realism that may have been left from those teary eyed characters.In previous franchise for example Lord of The Rings the close up shots showed lots of detail in the hordes descending upon Middle Earth,fangs and mean looking faces no one would want to wake up to!
The orcs then immediately arrive starting the legendary battle of the five armies.Although the work of actors such as Martin Freeman (Bilbo) and Richard Armitage (Thorin) within the film was incredibly well done, it was quickly ruined by Peter Jackson's sloppy editing, special effects and dreadfully long fight scenes.
Where Jackson does insert plot content, it comes not from the original Tolkien book, which for me was what made the first two films of the trilogy so good, but from God knows where.
The Hobbit trilogy is crap.It's little more than a long list of invented battles and love stories to attract a widest possible audience, as well as loads of idiotic storyline to make the story slide into the Lord of the Rings movies as smooth as an Elven ass.I understand that some adaption is required from book to screen, but when dealing with a book more or less only surpassed by the Bible and the IKEA catalog, one should tread carefully.Do yourself a favor.
I simply couldn't believe how bad this third installment was, although I'm maybe a little biased as right from the off i wagered that in making the Hobbit into three films something surely had to give and sadly, for me, it looks like this is the one which has collapsed completely.If you had read the book then it would have been apparent how much 'padding' has been inserted into this final part and not even decent padding.
Given how spectacularly awful the film is, from beginning to the end (even with the dragon's brief speaking part), Peter Jackson has proved himself to be the hack, trying to exploit JRR Tolkien's simple story to fill with grotesque and violent content for the third film, allegedly citing the appendixes that serve as the major portion of the movie.In view of the execrable quality of this so-called movie, courtesy of Jackson's insanity with his love of inane and bloated epics that comprise The Hobbit trilogy, there is the good news.
He and his team take what is essentially a children's book (The Hobbit, that is, which Tolkien wrote for his children initially years before LOTR) and make it into a 474 minute trilogy (credit time included), which means that a character like Bilbo Baggins, the little Hobbit-that-could who finds that he can be courageous and has the 'Right Stuff' as it were on an adventure, is a bit diminished in the epic scope and grandeur of what is really, in this case, about the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield and his quest to retake the castle of his father from the dragon, Smaug.The Battle of the Five Armies picks up as a cliffhanger from the previous film - a rather uber-dramatic one at that - with Smaug getting out of the castle and set to attack a town.
Jackson puts in some of the bigger orcs with features that look cool, or a moment like Legolas jumping up stairs that are crumbling under him that are just funny (intentionally or not), and yet it's all just SO much and little of it sticks.The good news is there's a bit more Bilbo in the film, which gives more time to Martin Freeman who has nailed this character every step of the way and made him a joy to watch.
The Battle of the Five Armies marks the end of Peter Jackson's second trilogy in Middle Earth and it could not have come soon enough.
The journey downward began with The Desolation of Smaug which absolutely slaughtered the novel in a manner that was plainly insulting to Tolkien & added even more insult to injury by abruptly ending at one of cinema's most frustrating cliffhangers.And so after a wait of another year, we come to the third & final instalment of The Hobbit film series but instead of a satisfying closure, what we get is a terribly written & horribly executed premise inflated to epic proportions which, apart from confirming that expanding this single-film story into three features was indeed a stupid move by the filmmakers, also brings the Middle-Earth franchise to its all-time low for there is nothing in this second sequel that works out in its favour.The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies begins with what should've been the ending of The Desolation of Smaug but wraps up the fiery wrath of Smaug even before the film's subtitle appears on the screen.
The plot then follows Bilbo Baggins & the Company of Dwarfs who after reclaiming their kingdom prepare for an impending war against elves n men who just want their share of the treasure but when a greater threat arrives at the Lonely Mountain, they all are left with a choice to unite against the common enemy or be destroyedHelmed by Peter Jackson for one last time, the final chapter in the Middle-Earth saga is also the weakest as the director completely abandons all the core elements of storytelling to rely solely on a series of eye-popping visuals & CGI-laden battles to carry its story forward.
God, I freaking hate this movie!This movie is the most,over bloated,overrated and over crapped on to source material ever!The thing that frustrates me most is the leave like fifty loose ends.What happened to the elvish diamonds?The armies?The fishermen?Who ends up with the mountain?The random worms that appear in the battle and then disappear?This movie reeks of Lord of the Rings setbacks,and Peter Jackson dying to rip your hard earned money away from you to demolish J.R.R. Tolkein's life's work,in this world's greatest piece of crap.The give half an hour to the elves and their stupid internal conflict about made up characters that are insanely irrelevant to Tolkein's book.
Although I should have loved The Hobbit movies, the book being my favourite work by Tolkien, I found the whole bloated experience frustratingly tiresome, with The Battle of the Five Armies being the most disappointing of all.Having already realised the majority of The Hobbit in the first two films, there really is very little story left for Jackson to tell, so he pads out this third chapter with pointless romance, internal conflict and even more CGI-heavy battles, all of which proves relentlessly dull if you've already seen the director's other five Middle Earth movies.