Review of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) by Foxgrove — 17 Dec 2014

The third and final instalment of this overblown adaptation of the rather slight book arrives with a whimper rather than a bang. Following on from the delight that was ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ this film is an exercise in tedium. Picking up the story as Smaug wreaks havoc on Lake Town village, things start promisingly enough but with the dragon’s dramatic departure we are plunged into scenes of excessive chatter which all but stalls the interest. It doesn’t help that the extras milling around seem amateurish and under rehearsed and a lot of the ensuing dialogue provides unintentional mirth. The battle scenes are badly staged and unexcitingly edited and the film has a messy, untidy feel to it. One actually begins to forget what it’s all about.

Apart from Richard Armitage, who is excellent, the actors add little and Ryan Gage is particularly annoying as Alfrid. The score by Howard Shore is by turns soft and melodic and then overly emphatic as it tries to add drama to scenes that are singularly lacking any. Visually the film is still a success, although the CGI occasionally lets it down, but what the film fatally lacks is the fantastical magic and mystery that made the rings trilogy so wondrously brilliant.

The last 20 minutes or so improve somewhat as the dwarves fight the dark lord Sauron on the snow and ice. These sequences, along with the opening, sport the best of the visuals and provide the most excitement. Here we are treated to, amongst other things, collapsing bridges, giant birds and cohesive individual combat. Overall, though, one is just thankful when the song ‘The Last Goodbye’ warbles onto the soundtrack. This mercifully offers pleasing confirmation that the uneven trilogy has finally concluded. Amen to that.