3/5 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies The first Hobbit movie was overstuffed with exposition and characters, but it benefitted from an exceptional Gollum/Andy Serkis cameo that still remains the greatest triumph of the prequel trilogy. The second movie suffered from acute over-caffienation and too many clunking subplots, and yet it had a chilly performance from Smaug/Benedict Cumberbatch. The main problem with Peter Jackson’s Hobbit finale is that it contains all of the previous movie’s sins with none of their welcome surprises. Imagine opening a box of cereal (with a tiring, wordy title) and discovering only artificial flakes; not even a shiny toy in the bottom to offset your disappointment. So was my relationship with The Battle of the Five Armies - and in hindsight, all the other prequels. Take my advice and watch the previous two movies, read the book, Sparknote it, and scan the wikipedia page before you take on this movie. I thought I remembered Desolation of Smaug well enough, but I found my head spinning with distracting questions like “wait, why is he locked up?” and “so they love each other, when did I miss that?” For those of you with no prior Middle Earth experience, my suggestion would be to stay home and give your bootlegged copy of Annie another watch. The 144 minute running time - the shortest of the franchise - is dedicated almost solely to tying up the magnitude of loose ends established in the first couple films. Honestly, I had done forgot about half of them, mostly because they were pure invention, never actually part of Tolkien’s relatively brief novel - which is, mind you, a single book. I never could get dialed in to the emotional connection of Evangeline Lilly’s elven warrior Tauriel and her crush on…umm… Oh, who are we kidding? Nobody remembered those dwarves names. She liked one of the better looking ones. | Director: Peter Jackson Starring: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett Writers: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Guillermo del Toro |
That leads me to another gripe. Where is Jackson’s attention to detail and character that he had such a firm grasp on in his LOTR movies, which will always remain three of my favorite movies of all time. The director seems to get lost in his cotton candy wonderland of CG orcs, elves, and pig-riding dwarves. Seeing such talent drowned out by the noise is a pity of the highest order. I surely hope Jackson can get back to his character-driven roots, even if he has to regress back to making cheap B-movies.
Another character that gets drowned in the noise is Martin Freeman’s Bilbo, the hobbit from which the whole trilogy gets its name. Freeman has been, by far, the most consistent presence in these troubled movies. His portrayal of Bilbo has always seemed genuine in its nativity and bravery. Sadly, he slips into the background nearly all the way up until the emotional climax. Freeman is excellent; one of the main reasons I scored BOTFA as high as I did.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is Richard Armitage’s Thorin. The actor does not necessarily do a bad job; he stays pretty consistent as he has done in the other films, but the way the filmmakers handle his character here feels brash and inauthentic. We meet Thorin here and he has basically gone crazy, driven mad by greed or Dragon Fever or something. He scowls and commands for a little while and then after a while, he has some kind of gold-plated fever dream that wakes him up. My thought? Too convenient and tidy.
The rest of the actors fit well enough into their skins, most of them having played these characters for nearly fifteen years. Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, and Hugo Weaving all must be citizens of New Zealand by now. Orlando Bloom also shows up to kick some orc tail, but his insanely blue eyes will draw your attention from anything cool he does.
When dealing with a story of this magnitude, tidiness is a sin that is both alluring and detrimental. Jackson has proven to us by this point that he can craft some beautiful imagery with his digital effects team, but too often in BOTFA does it seem like the director has fallen into a familiar and comfortable groove. The soaring imagery seems to be substituting the movie’s obvious lack of heart. The intrigue replaced by a series of screensavers. Maybe Jackson has grown jaded and now believes that this is all his audience wants. If so, the man should have more faith in the patience and intelligence of his audience.
Lord of the Rings was brimming with emotional complexity. In the end, three belabored movies later, the central message of The Hobbit seems to boil down to “greed is bad.” Which is ironic, since nothing seems more greedy than separating a trim children's book into three overstuffed blockbusters. There seems to be a lot of Hollywood execs suffering from a rampant case of Dragon Fever. Chances of them being cured, as shown in our willingness to buy one story for the price of three: don’t hold your breath.
Another character that gets drowned in the noise is Martin Freeman’s Bilbo, the hobbit from which the whole trilogy gets its name. Freeman has been, by far, the most consistent presence in these troubled movies. His portrayal of Bilbo has always seemed genuine in its nativity and bravery. Sadly, he slips into the background nearly all the way up until the emotional climax. Freeman is excellent; one of the main reasons I scored BOTFA as high as I did.
On the opposite side of the spectrum is Richard Armitage’s Thorin. The actor does not necessarily do a bad job; he stays pretty consistent as he has done in the other films, but the way the filmmakers handle his character here feels brash and inauthentic. We meet Thorin here and he has basically gone crazy, driven mad by greed or Dragon Fever or something. He scowls and commands for a little while and then after a while, he has some kind of gold-plated fever dream that wakes him up. My thought? Too convenient and tidy.
The rest of the actors fit well enough into their skins, most of them having played these characters for nearly fifteen years. Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, and Hugo Weaving all must be citizens of New Zealand by now. Orlando Bloom also shows up to kick some orc tail, but his insanely blue eyes will draw your attention from anything cool he does.
When dealing with a story of this magnitude, tidiness is a sin that is both alluring and detrimental. Jackson has proven to us by this point that he can craft some beautiful imagery with his digital effects team, but too often in BOTFA does it seem like the director has fallen into a familiar and comfortable groove. The soaring imagery seems to be substituting the movie’s obvious lack of heart. The intrigue replaced by a series of screensavers. Maybe Jackson has grown jaded and now believes that this is all his audience wants. If so, the man should have more faith in the patience and intelligence of his audience.
Lord of the Rings was brimming with emotional complexity. In the end, three belabored movies later, the central message of The Hobbit seems to boil down to “greed is bad.” Which is ironic, since nothing seems more greedy than separating a trim children's book into three overstuffed blockbusters. There seems to be a lot of Hollywood execs suffering from a rampant case of Dragon Fever. Chances of them being cured, as shown in our willingness to buy one story for the price of three: don’t hold your breath.