Jessica Fisher, Staff Writer
(Spoilers follow) Readers of “The Hobbit” novel, viewers of Rankin and Bass’s 1977 animated film, and fans of Peter Jackson’s battle scenes have been waiting at least three years to see the conclusion to Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, “The Battle of the Five Armies.” Those who have been waiting will not find themselves disappointed.
“The Battle of the Five Armies” started with some desolation on behalf of Smaug. Arguably, these scenes could have fit better in the previous movie, called “The Desolation of Smaug.”
The Smaug scenes took about 20 minutes, tying in Lake Town chaos and various character escapes. Ultimately, there seemed to be no reason why these scenes could not have been at the end of film two, save for the moneymaking cliffhanger of, “I am Fire. I am Death.” Overall, it was a sour way to start the final film.
The movie climaxed in terms of enjoyment, with a scene in a dark fortress called Dol Guldur. The audience was able to see Galadriel, Elrond, Saruman, Radagast and Gandalf go toe-to-toe with Sauron. The scene is the best of the film in every way.
A large portion of the movie was taken up by side stories, none of which was necessary. Audience members spent roughly three to four hours investing into a love triangle where literally no one won. A large amount of screen time was given to the Master of Laketown’s assistant, Alfrid, who only served as a foil to the hero Bard.
With the grand way Jackson ties the Hobbit trilogy to the later trilogy – why did the kingdoms of Gondor and Rohan not deem it necessary to show up to the battle of five armies? Surely, Gandalf could have done some finagling to get them to be there.
Also, while the audience waited until the last minute for Thranduil to show any kind of basic decency and compassion for the humans and dwarves dying around him, it was sad to not see a reprisal of the over powered trio of Sarumon-Elrond-Galadriel showing up to kick some orc-goblin-troll-bat butt.
Arguably one of the best scenes was when Dain’s dwarven troops post up their shields at the start of the battle and the army of elves leaps over them to attack the orcs.
It was pretty cool when the women of Lake Town decided to take up arms and join in with their men in a suicidal attempt to keep their city in a battle where the humans were no more than caught in the cross-fire of dwarven craze for heritage and gold and evil’s craze for a stronghold from which to end the age of the Elves.
Like many things in the second film and this movie, Thorin’s dragon sickness seemed somewhat drawn out. The whole “breaking free” scene seemed rushed in comparison to the time spent dwelling on how angry, selfish and greedy Thorin was being.
The general takeaway from this film was that it was a little too drawn out. However, it was still a fitting conclusion to not only the Hobbit trilogy, but also to Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth saga as a whole. It is well worth seeing in theaters if you have not already.
