Cinema Reviews
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies Review
And so it has come to this: The final instalment of the Hobbit trilogy – and perhaps for now the last visit to Middle-Earth for Peter Jackson and crew.
The Dwarves have finally come home and now find themselves with various people at their door seeking either shelter or a claim on the riches that lay within. The elven army, the poor people of Lake Town – and soon to be joined by the dark forces that seek to destroy them all. The title of the film could not be more plain.
The trouble of course is that the leader of the Dwarves, Thorin, has taken a little bit too much of a shine to the riches within his homestead and lets his heart get twisted by it, shutting out everyone by barricading himself in along with his men. But with inward bound armies, it is only a matter of time before a fight commences forcing alliances to be formed among the warriors. The already bloated cast gather for one last epic battle.
Like with the previous Hobbit movies, this one often finds trouble balancing out the serious tone with the lighter fair. One moment you are dealing with army leader’s spewing bile at one and other over the entitlement to gold, the next you have a ginger-bearded Billy Connolly leader arriving in unsubtle comedy fashion onto the playing field.
As for characters, our very own leading character is sidelined this time round, giving centre stage over to Thorin for large chunks. The mighty Dwarf leader gets to stoop lower than we have seen him go before as his greed consumes him before he goes on the redemptive path when battle commences.
Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly get to shine in their respective Elven roles fleshing them out further, as does Luke Evans as Bard of Lake Town.
The mighty battle itself is impressive. Perhaps not on a scale as what we have seen in Lord of the Rings, but certainly big enough and with so many characters to follow it seems like a much more thrilling and intimate affair compared to what we have seen before.
Exciting stuff then, and all wrapped up in a connective bow that could take you right onto the Lord of the Rings. It’s going to make people crave for more Middle-Earth, but for the time ebing ti will satisfy Christmas cinema goers no end.
Steven Hurst