Review of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) by Jeffrey M — 17 May 2015

The final installment of the prequel series, director Peter Jackson nearly outdoes himself with ambition, grandeur, and scale with The Battle of the Five Armies, yet succeeds in delivering a satisfying and immensely enjoyable finale.

In Battle of the Five Armies, we find Smaug defeated but a new force of evil unleashed. Alliances become entangled, political intrigue is afoot and a nefarious force is prevailing the land. In other words, it's the Lord of the Rings. The film starts on a bit of a surprising note, almost unceremoniously tying up the cliffhanger of the second installment, yet immediately launches in to the penultimate showdown. There's a lot of plot lines to be had, a lot of action to be displayed, and Jackson proves once again his incredible skill with large scale films. The CGI is great, the world building ever effective, the staging grand, and the characters always central. It's perhaps not very distinctive from the other installments, yet feels organic to them.

Certainly, there are times when it feels as if Five Armies is trying to balance too much. Indeed, the third act starts to feel like it's getting away from Jackson, as if focus has been lost and instead action set pieces become the driving force, not the central narrative. He manages to hone it in, however, and we feel satisfied. Taken on its merits, and the difficult position it finds itself in being awkwardly placed in the series, we have to admire what the result is.

A success.

4/5 Stars.