Review of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) by Maximus895 — 21 Dec 2014

Watching the final chapter of The Hobbit trilogy doesn't feel like an experience you engage with out of anticipation, excitement, or wonder. It's one you do out of obligation. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, despite their own warts and occasionally misguided narrative decisions, are perhaps some of the most influential and emotionally engaging fantasy epics to ever be put on-screen. The hurdles jumped through to put J.R.R. Tolkein's trilogy on screen is one of the most amazing feats of creativity and ingenuity in cinematic history. But Peter Jackson, whether in frustration or in delusion, has somehow managed to completely lose course of what made those films resonate.

What we're left with is an effort to take a generally light-hearted adventure tale, and to make it an enormous, emotional spectacle filled with characters who we are told to care about because... well, we are told to care about them. For all its thousands of on-screen characters engaging in thunderous action, and the dramatic soundtrack trying to emphasize each moment as a tragic and important, very little of it comes to mean anything. The film's final action scene more or less encompasses half the movie, but unlike any of the Lord of the Rings movies, the narrative of these battles never feels clear.

The film is not without its talent. The talented cast aren't given much, but Richard Armitage's Thorin and Martin Freeman's Bilbo both manage to have atleast a handful of moments that resonate with one another and form a somewhat human core to this final act, even if it never felt as powerful as that of Frodo and Sam. The rest of the cast reads their lines well and with intent, but as with the trilogy as a whole, it all ultimately feels fake and contrived. The romance between the elf Tauriel and the dwarf Kili, and element that never existed in the books, never feels real or something we as an audience are meant to attach too. Like the actors on countless green-screen sets talking to elevated tennis balls, we are told to believe that we are staring at something real and to respond accordingly, but we just know it's a lie. Instead it just reads hollow.

As with all of Jackson's Middle-Earth films, the artistry behind the world creates some striking vistas and beautiful ornate armor and creatures. However, it still continues to be a shame that we lose so much of the tangibility in the director's increased reliance on CG instead of the beautiful (and sometimes terrifying) work created by the practical effects artists in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Moment to moment, it becomes harder to believe what any of what you're seeing is real. Billy Connolly's own character was entirely replaced by a CG representation, which tragically illustrates the lengths to which he'll allow the work of his actors and artists be replaced by hollow animated puppets.

In the beautifully put-together and extensive behind-the-scenes documentaries in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, there is an exceptionally poignant moment when Peter Jackson is directing the final shot with Frodo, played by Elijah Wood. Jackson, trying to fight off his tears, struggling to say "cut" and finally end the filming, and instead continues to ask Wood to try the scene again. Once he finally accepts the reality that his time with his cast is over, he embraces Wood and thanks him as the two shed tears together, ending their incredible once-in-a-lifetime journey with one another. It is a heart-breaking moment for both the crew, as well as we as the audience. I can't help but wonder what Jackson's attitude was when filming the final shot of these films. Was it the same challenge to let go? Was it exhaustion? Whatever it was, I'm sure he could add some CG tears later to make us believe it's supposed to be a sad moment.