The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Review)

Watching any of Peter Jackson's forays into Tolkien's Middle-earth is an exceptional experience. There's little doubt that first The Lord of the Rings trilogy - and now The Hobbit movies - are some of the most ambitious projects ever put on film. They are the kind of films for which new technology has to be invented, years have to be devoted and you don't just watch so much as 'experience'.

But all good things come to an end an The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies allows Jackson to sign off in style (at least until terms can be agreed with the Tolkien Estate for any other ventures).  We begin as we mean to go on, raising the bar high as Smaug (voiced by newly announced Doctor Strange Benedict Cumberbatch) causes death and devastation across Lake Town, burning their wooden houses to the ground until Luke Evans founds a chink in his armour. However that is merely the opening salvo as the stakes get higher... tainted gold and wounded pride lead Thorin (Richard Armitage) intoa stand-off as most of the races of Middle-Earth gather outside the Mountain stronghold wanting its wealth for themselves.

As Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) try to talk sense into their respective friends, other dangers are approaching and a battle royale is about to be unleashed...

Once again the whole cast excels, each bringing a nobility to their undertakings and performances - ultimately enhanced but not defined by the always impressive post-production. McKellen's Gandalf is weathered by his time in captivity just as Freeman's Bilbo is emboldened by his time at war - yet determined to avoid more bloodshed. But though screen-time's differ, there's not a weak link among the wider cast. Cate Blanchett's Galadriel manages to be the most elegant and the most savagely dark we've seen her on screen and even Evangeline Lilly's Tauriel, a new creation for the films, feels just as well-rounded as any of Tolkien's original creations. Perhaps only Billy Connolly's Dain feels out of place, his dulcet tones are heard before his character is seen and thus it makes the audience look for the actor rather than the character. 

This last film in the expanded Hobbit saga is bound to be scrutinised for more than its visual-effects and acting. The political aspects are clear and there are plenty of real-life parallels for the various alliances and disagreements. This is War 101, with many conflicting agendas between those five gathering armies... and this means that the film will appeal to older audiences that appreciate the nuances as well as the all-out, border-pushing battlefield chaos that will always appeal to the mainstream action-fans. 

Perhaps the only real danger here is myth-fatigue. In many ways The Lord of the Rings is the more sprawling epic saga and though The Hobbit has been spread out to fill just as many cinematic chapters, it is - in reality - the smaller story of the two Middle-earth sagas. To make it fill those three movies, Jackson and his team have in no uncertain terms given us majestic sweeps, beautiful landscapes and cutting-edge CGI battles that are a mixture of Shakespeare, Greek tragedy and Narnian otherworldliness. Except.... we've quite literally been here before, or more correctly will be here again, so to speak.  Just as the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park continued to be great VFX achievements in the sequels, there was still nothing to match the first time they took us by surprise, took our breath away and simultaneously revolutionised cinema. It wasn't that the graphics or the ambition were any less in the following films, it was simply that we - the audience - knew to expect it... and we demanded not only that but more.  The same is true here. Middle-earth is still amazing to see, but much feels like an echo, however gilded.

The Elves, the Dwarves, the wizards and the Orcs all get their tongues around grand-sounding location names and solemn-sounding battle stories, but in the end the interchangeable vowels can begin to sound more like exposition than expedition.

However, by now we know what to expect and Peter Jackson has worked out any of the technical kinks (frame-rate look is now more easy on the eye) and WETA has delivered it in style and abundance.