Review of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) by Nola(N)Brams R — 08 May 2015

Updated Review:

The defining chapter of The Hobbit is here, and it's just spectacular as it is emotional. But after a few times watching it, it did get lame.

I entered the cinema with both low and high expectations because this last film of Middle-Earth must be good if it's going to connect with The Lord of the Rings. I really liked The Desolation of Smaug, but the thing that frightened me most was that this last movie of the franchise might have a bad connection with TLotR, but I have never been so wrong. It really feels like a prequel to The Fellowship of the Ring. But at the same time it could have had a more emotional ending and a better conclusion of the trilogy. The movie starts where The Desolation of Smaug ended, with high amount of action and you really feel like you're in the movie, especially with High Frame Rate. It's so smooth. I really like the opening scene, and seeing it in both 3D and HFR is superb, so much more 3D-effects and less dark scenes than in The Desolation of Smaug. There are lots of great action sequences and much of them are indeed epic and unique. I can tell you this: The Battle of The Five Armies is not a boring movie, you are constantly in the movie and there's always something going on. It even got much more humor than any film of the franchise, so hilarious.

The characters are stunning, and I really feel much more attached to them than in the previous film. The romance between Tauriel and Kili is much greater and less boring as in The Desolation of Smaug. I even got emotional because the romance is so good. There's one character that die relatively early in the film, which in my opinion is a bit too rash and hasty. The CGI is much more clear than in the previous film, but there's still some noticeable bad CGI. The biggest flaw in the film isn't really a flaw. It's just that classic "I want to see more-feeling", because the ending don't have all I want to see. I want to see more, and what happened after the events and so on. Another "flaw" is that there's so much action in the last act, and I really love it. But there's so much going on at the same time, so some of the characters don't get as much focus as I want to see.

Still, I really like this last installment of The Hobbit. It's a fine conclusion and even though there are some minor flaws and that I want to see more; am I totally satisfied. Peter Jackson truly is a great director and I cannot wait for the extended version to come out. I hope there will be much material that I didn't see on the premiere. I was totally satisfied the first time I saw it, but over time isn't it as great as what I first thought. The lack of depth and uniqueness lowers my rating from 8.8 to 8.

8/10.