Hey everyone, remember how excited we all were when
we heard Peter Jackson was making The Hobbit trilogy? And hey, do you remember
how disappointed you were with the final film? Yep, there’s nothing worse than
me bringing that up to worsen your January blues.
I’ll admit I’ve only just seen this film, not due to
laziness but rather constant technical faults at my local cinema. And now that
I have seen it I can honestly say I don’t think I missed much not getting to
see it before Christmas like everyone else.
Don’t get me wrong, Battle of the Five Armies is a
good film. The fighting is on a grand scale, is epic and the special effects
are top notch once again.
Sadly what this film has in style it lacks in
substance. The dragon, Smaug - you know, the evil one that has been the vocal
point of the entire trilogy - is killed off in the first ten minutes. I know
the second film ended on a cliff hanger and they had to pick up where the
dragon flying off to cause destruction left off - but killing him off in the
first ten minutes?
The townsfolk wash up on a cold, bleak shore and
spend a good while standing about not looking sure what to do with themselves.
I can tell you the audience felt exactly the same.
Meanwhile King Thorin becomes ill and jealously
protective of his gold. This leads him to risking war with the elves and the
townsfolk. Thorin naturally calls on the dwarfs for reinforcements and they all
square up on the battlefield. But they all suddenly become friends again when
an Orc army descends wanting to claim the mountain because of its strategic
vantage. No prizes for guessing how it ends.
Like I said it’s not so much this is a bad film. The
fighting has enough energy to keep it going but there’s no pacing and nothing
else going on. For an ending to a trilogy of this size it is a letdown.
Battle of the Five Armies gets 6/10.
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