The Hobbit and The Battle of the Five Armies - Review
The end of The Hobbit Trilogy is here, it may haven't been as good as the Lord of the Rings but it still has been a great adventure to follow...
RATED "S" FOR SPOILERS - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...
The film starts just a few seconds after the ending when the dragon Smaug destroys Laketown. Bard breaks out of his prison cell and kills Smaug with the black arrow, and the dragon's falling corpse crushes and kills the fleeing Governor of Laketown. The survivors choose Bard as their new leader, who then decides the Laketown people should head for the ruins of Dale for refuge. Kíli confesses his love for Tauriel, and he and the other Dwarves journey to reunite with their company at the Lonely Mountain while Tauriel travels to investigate Mount Gundabad with Legolas.
Meanwhile, Galadriel arrives at Dol Guldur, frees Gandalf and lifts the fortress' spell of concealment. The Ringwraiths then reveal themselves and converge on Galadriel and the wounded Gandalf. Elrond and Saruman appear and battle the Ringwraiths while Radagast arrives and escorts Gandalf away. Sauron then comes forth and tries to tempt Galadriel, who casts Sauron and the Ringwraiths from the fortress. Saruman tells Elrond to take the weakened Galadriel to safety while he deals with Sauron. Gandalf leaves Radagast for Erebor to warn of the Orc army approaching the Lonely Mountain. Azog, marching on Erebor with his vast Orc army, sends Bolg to Mount Gundabad to summon their other army. Legolas and Tauriel witness the march of Bolg's Orc army, bolstered by Goblins and giant bats.
Back to Bard and the Laketown survivors, Thranduil and his elf army arrive with supplies and aid. Thranduil forms an alliance with Bard, wishing to claim a necklace of white gems from the Mountain. In Erebor, Thorin commands the Dwarven company to ready for battle and presents Bilbo with a Mithril shirt. After Gandalf arrives at Dale, Bilbo sneaks out to hand the Arkenstone over to Thranduil and Bard. The next day, Bard and Thranduil's armies gather at the gates of Erebor, offering to trade the Arkenstone for gold. Thorin learns of Bilbo's actions and almost kills him, before Gandalf makes Thorin release him and let him climb back down to Gandalf. Just before Thranduil's and Bard's forces begin their assault on Erebor, Thorin's cousin Dáin arrives with Dwarf army. The Dwarf army prepares to attack the Elves and Men when Azog's army makes its appearance, converging on Dale and the Dwarfs. With the Orcs outnumbering Dain's army, Thranduil's and Bard's forces join the battle.
Inside Erebor, Thorin, refusing to fight, falls into a hallucinatory nightmare before finally regaining his sanity and leading his company into battle. While the other Dwarves of the company aid Dain's forces, Thorin rides towards Ravenhill with Dwalin, Fíli, and Kíli to kill Azog and force the Orc army to retreat. Meanwhile, Tauriel arrives at Dale and tries to stop Thranduil from returning to Mirkwood, but is banished. Legolas and Tauriel leave to warn Thorin of Bolg's approaching army with Bilbo following them using the ring.
At Ravenhill, Thorin, Fili, Kili and Dwalin fight a troop of Goblins shortly after Bilbo arrives and warns them of an attack. Thorin tells Fili and Kili to insepct a tower but Fili gets caught and killed by Azog. Tauriel tries to help Kili from Orcs, but Bolg ambushes and wounds her. Bolg is about to kill Tauriel when Kili comes to protect her, sacrificing himself in the process. Meanwhile, Thorin is fighting Azog while Legolas goes after Bolg to save Tauriel. While fighting Bolg, Legolas throws Orcrist to Thorin and saves the Dwarf King from Azog. Legolas then battles Bolg on top of a crumbling tower while Azog and Thorin fight on a frozen lake above them. After Legolas kills Bolg, Bilbo, who was knocked unconscious by an Orc, wakes to see the Great Eagles appear, carrying Radagast and Beorn into battle, after which the Orc armies are quickly decimated. Thorin kills Azog but is left mortally wounded in the process. He makes peace with Bilbo before dying.
On Thranduil's suggestion, Legolas leaves to meet with a Dunedain ranger while Tauriel mourns Kili. Bilbo bids farewell to the remaining Dwarves and journeys home to the Shire with Gandalf. As the two part, Gandalf admits to his knowledge of the ring and cautions Bilbo he will be watching him. Bilbo's story ends when he returns to Bag End to find his belongings being auctioned off by the Sackville-Bagginses, who assumed he died, though Bilbo clarifies his identity.
As you all know, the Hobbit trilogy was supossed to be a two parts movie and, with this last part, we can see how much they have extended the story for nothing but leaving the last part of this three-logy (get it?) for the last fight. While this battle could have been done in one hour, it has been expanded to an almost two and a half hours of film making it the longest fight ever done in a movie...but, if you want to know how everything ends and who dies in the story, you have to watch it, duh!
I'm going to start for the bad things; One of the things I really, really hated was the very beginning, while we had one of the greatest dragons ever created (Smaug was the highlight from the last film), he lasts about 10 minutes in this movie as he gets killed very easily by Bard. Then the plot is almost empty, except for the scenes where no one is trying to kill anyone (the battle) and the ending where we see how everything ends (again, duh!). The special effects are not that good, I still don't know why because there are older movies that look even better this. This is quite obvious but the battle feels too long...
Now for the good things; I loved the ending, from the part when Thorin, Fili and Kili leave the main battle to go kill Azog until the very, very end. The casting (same from the last two movies) does a good job, I must say that Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Richard Armitage (Thorin)and Luke Evans (Bard) do an excellent job. Also the change to see one more time Saruman, Galadriel and Elrond, even if it was for just a few short minutes, it was a blast.
As I said before, the film is just the final battle of the five armies and the only place we'll watch during those 144 minutes is Ravenhill and a few minutes from other places like Laketown, inside the Lonely Mountain and Dol Guldur (the place where Gandalf was kept) so the adventurous and different places that appear in "Desolation of Smaug", something I loved from the last movie it's forgotten and substituted by a long fight until the death of the Orc's big boss.
Still, The Batlle of the Five Armies makes a great ending for the Hobbit trilogy and joins the very beginning of the first Lord of the Rings while discovering a few things from the past of our favourite characters like Legolas and Gandalf. The only question I have now is; if Tauriel is alive after the events of the Hobbit, why does she never show up in the Lord of the Rings trilogy? I know it's because she was made just for this trilogy and actually never existed in the books but still...
· What I liked: The entire cast did a great job plus the entire ending sequence!
· What I didn't like: Speciall effects are too old plus the fact that the movie is just a battle...
RATED "S" FOR SPOILERS - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...
The film starts just a few seconds after the ending when the dragon Smaug destroys Laketown. Bard breaks out of his prison cell and kills Smaug with the black arrow, and the dragon's falling corpse crushes and kills the fleeing Governor of Laketown. The survivors choose Bard as their new leader, who then decides the Laketown people should head for the ruins of Dale for refuge. Kíli confesses his love for Tauriel, and he and the other Dwarves journey to reunite with their company at the Lonely Mountain while Tauriel travels to investigate Mount Gundabad with Legolas.
Meanwhile, Galadriel arrives at Dol Guldur, frees Gandalf and lifts the fortress' spell of concealment. The Ringwraiths then reveal themselves and converge on Galadriel and the wounded Gandalf. Elrond and Saruman appear and battle the Ringwraiths while Radagast arrives and escorts Gandalf away. Sauron then comes forth and tries to tempt Galadriel, who casts Sauron and the Ringwraiths from the fortress. Saruman tells Elrond to take the weakened Galadriel to safety while he deals with Sauron. Gandalf leaves Radagast for Erebor to warn of the Orc army approaching the Lonely Mountain. Azog, marching on Erebor with his vast Orc army, sends Bolg to Mount Gundabad to summon their other army. Legolas and Tauriel witness the march of Bolg's Orc army, bolstered by Goblins and giant bats.
Back to Bard and the Laketown survivors, Thranduil and his elf army arrive with supplies and aid. Thranduil forms an alliance with Bard, wishing to claim a necklace of white gems from the Mountain. In Erebor, Thorin commands the Dwarven company to ready for battle and presents Bilbo with a Mithril shirt. After Gandalf arrives at Dale, Bilbo sneaks out to hand the Arkenstone over to Thranduil and Bard. The next day, Bard and Thranduil's armies gather at the gates of Erebor, offering to trade the Arkenstone for gold. Thorin learns of Bilbo's actions and almost kills him, before Gandalf makes Thorin release him and let him climb back down to Gandalf. Just before Thranduil's and Bard's forces begin their assault on Erebor, Thorin's cousin Dáin arrives with Dwarf army. The Dwarf army prepares to attack the Elves and Men when Azog's army makes its appearance, converging on Dale and the Dwarfs. With the Orcs outnumbering Dain's army, Thranduil's and Bard's forces join the battle.
Inside Erebor, Thorin, refusing to fight, falls into a hallucinatory nightmare before finally regaining his sanity and leading his company into battle. While the other Dwarves of the company aid Dain's forces, Thorin rides towards Ravenhill with Dwalin, Fíli, and Kíli to kill Azog and force the Orc army to retreat. Meanwhile, Tauriel arrives at Dale and tries to stop Thranduil from returning to Mirkwood, but is banished. Legolas and Tauriel leave to warn Thorin of Bolg's approaching army with Bilbo following them using the ring.
 |
| The only glimpse you're going to get from Sauron... |
At Ravenhill, Thorin, Fili, Kili and Dwalin fight a troop of Goblins shortly after Bilbo arrives and warns them of an attack. Thorin tells Fili and Kili to insepct a tower but Fili gets caught and killed by Azog. Tauriel tries to help Kili from Orcs, but Bolg ambushes and wounds her. Bolg is about to kill Tauriel when Kili comes to protect her, sacrificing himself in the process. Meanwhile, Thorin is fighting Azog while Legolas goes after Bolg to save Tauriel. While fighting Bolg, Legolas throws Orcrist to Thorin and saves the Dwarf King from Azog. Legolas then battles Bolg on top of a crumbling tower while Azog and Thorin fight on a frozen lake above them. After Legolas kills Bolg, Bilbo, who was knocked unconscious by an Orc, wakes to see the Great Eagles appear, carrying Radagast and Beorn into battle, after which the Orc armies are quickly decimated. Thorin kills Azog but is left mortally wounded in the process. He makes peace with Bilbo before dying.
On Thranduil's suggestion, Legolas leaves to meet with a Dunedain ranger while Tauriel mourns Kili. Bilbo bids farewell to the remaining Dwarves and journeys home to the Shire with Gandalf. As the two part, Gandalf admits to his knowledge of the ring and cautions Bilbo he will be watching him. Bilbo's story ends when he returns to Bag End to find his belongings being auctioned off by the Sackville-Bagginses, who assumed he died, though Bilbo clarifies his identity.
As you all know, the Hobbit trilogy was supossed to be a two parts movie and, with this last part, we can see how much they have extended the story for nothing but leaving the last part of this three-logy (get it?) for the last fight. While this battle could have been done in one hour, it has been expanded to an almost two and a half hours of film making it the longest fight ever done in a movie...but, if you want to know how everything ends and who dies in the story, you have to watch it, duh!
I'm going to start for the bad things; One of the things I really, really hated was the very beginning, while we had one of the greatest dragons ever created (Smaug was the highlight from the last film), he lasts about 10 minutes in this movie as he gets killed very easily by Bard. Then the plot is almost empty, except for the scenes where no one is trying to kill anyone (the battle) and the ending where we see how everything ends (again, duh!). The special effects are not that good, I still don't know why because there are older movies that look even better this. This is quite obvious but the battle feels too long...
Now for the good things; I loved the ending, from the part when Thorin, Fili and Kili leave the main battle to go kill Azog until the very, very end. The casting (same from the last two movies) does a good job, I must say that Martin Freeman (Bilbo), Richard Armitage (Thorin)and Luke Evans (Bard) do an excellent job. Also the change to see one more time Saruman, Galadriel and Elrond, even if it was for just a few short minutes, it was a blast.
As I said before, the film is just the final battle of the five armies and the only place we'll watch during those 144 minutes is Ravenhill and a few minutes from other places like Laketown, inside the Lonely Mountain and Dol Guldur (the place where Gandalf was kept) so the adventurous and different places that appear in "Desolation of Smaug", something I loved from the last movie it's forgotten and substituted by a long fight until the death of the Orc's big boss.
Still, The Batlle of the Five Armies makes a great ending for the Hobbit trilogy and joins the very beginning of the first Lord of the Rings while discovering a few things from the past of our favourite characters like Legolas and Gandalf. The only question I have now is; if Tauriel is alive after the events of the Hobbit, why does she never show up in the Lord of the Rings trilogy? I know it's because she was made just for this trilogy and actually never existed in the books but still...
· What I liked: The entire cast did a great job plus the entire ending sequence!
· What I didn't like: Speciall effects are too old plus the fact that the movie is just a battle...
8.2
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