The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Maybe it's the fact that I was coming off the disappointing Exodus: Gods and Kings, but The Hobbit: the Battle of the Five Armies was exactly the kind of spectacle that I have been craving most of the year.  As Peter Jackson closes out his Hobbit trilogy (which has been a fairly mixed bag up to now), he has obviously decided to save the best for last.  This is the closest he has come to recapturing the lightning in a bottle that was the original Lord of the Rings Trilogy since embarking on these new films.

The central problem that have surrounded the Hobbit franchise is that Jackson was trying to make what was essentially a simple story into something much bigger than what it was supposed to be.  There was a lot of bloating, and a sense that Jackson was trying to make an epic out of the material, when a smaller approach would have been preferred.  This film seems much more fine tuned than the ones that came before it.  With a running time of about two hours and 15 minutes, it doesn't feel as dragged out as the previous entries, which clocked in at around three hours.  Plus, the film finds a way to stage almost constant non-stop action, while not sacrificing any character or plot development.  The effects seem better here, also.  Sure, there are some far away effects shots that could have been improved, but the stuff that works here stands out a lot more.

Picking up exactly where last year's The Desolation of Smaug left off, we find the village of Lake Town being attacked by the massive red dragon, after Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Thorin Oakshield (Richard Armitage) and their band of dwarves infiltrated its lair.  Even though the great dragon Smaug is defeated by noble Bard (Luke Evans), the damage done to the village is beyond repair, and the people of Lake Town must find a new place to live.  As for the dwarves, they have won back their home, but not at the possible cost of their king, Thorin, who becomes blinded with greed and the treasure that the dragon has left behind.  He blocks off the entrance to his new home, and traps himself and his men within its walls, consumed with a curse that the treasure within supposedly carries.  As the citizens of Lake Town and an army of elves led by King Thranduil (Lee Pace) approach the mountain fortress that the dwarves now call home, they are turned away, and it seems that war may be looming.

The movie is basically wall to wall special effects, but they are handled with great care.  Starting with the attack on Lake Town, we admire Jackson's ability not just to excite us with destruction, but to also focus on individual groups of humans who are trying to escape.  The action naturally escalates, with an army of orcs descending upon the human survivors, and a massive battle between multiple armies breaks out at the foot of the mountain palace of the dwarves.  Through all the chaos and special effects, the characters remain paramount here.  Thorin, in particular, has the most interesting story arc, as he descends into madness, pulls himself from the brink, and redeems himself on the battlefield.  Bilbo, naturally, gets some nice moments here, especially alongside Gandalf (Ian McKellan), whom he has built an easy chemistry with over the series of films.  The central characters are also given some wonderful heroic and action moments to stand out.

The way the movie balances the character development and the spectacle is quite masterful.  It's something I've been missing from a lot of recent blockbusters, which have given us some very nice visuals, but little else to care about.  The mix of special effects and storytelling here is as strong as it was during in The Lord of the Rings.  This is what the series has been building up to, and I think that once all three films are viewed side by side, the glaring faults of the earlier entries may be a little easier to forgive.  Now that the series is complete, and we have seen what Jackson has been building up to these past three years, I think the series as a whole is easier to admire and may even change a few minds.  The film even manages to tie itself into the previous trilogy quite well.  It brings to mind that The Hobbit should be seen as one big story, not three separate entries.  And while the idea of sitting through a roughly 8 and a half hour complete film may not sound appealing, it may be worth it this time around.

I walked out of The Battle of the Five Armies feeling quite good.  The movie sent me out on a joyful high, which only the best spectacle films can.  I of course look forward to what Peter Jackson is going to do now that he must leave Middle Earth behind, but at least I am glad that he goes out on such an inspiring and invigorating note.  This is a movie that manages to be joyful, exciting and kind of thoughtful, too.

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