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Title: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Ian McKellen | ... | Gandalf | |
| Martin Freeman | ... | Bilbo | |
| Richard Armitage | ... | Thorin | |
| Ken Stott | ... | Balin | |
| Graham McTavish | ... | Dwalin | |
| William Kircher | ... | Bifur | |
| James Nesbitt | ... | Bofur | |
| Stephen Hunter | ... | Bombur | |
| Dean O'Gorman | ... | Fili | |
| Aidan Turner | ... | Kili | |
| John Callen | ... | Oin | |
| Peter Hambleton | ... | Gloin | |
| Jed Brophy | ... | Nori | |
| Mark Hadlow | ... | Dori | |
| Adam Brown | ... | Ori | |
After the Dragon leaves the Lonely Mountain, the people of Lake-town see a threat coming. Orcs, dwarves, elves and people prepare for war. Bilbo sees Thorin going mad and tries to help. Meanwhile, Gandalf is rescued from the Necromancer's prison and his rescuers realize who the Necromancer is.
I personally love the original Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson, but only as commercial blockbusters. I never viewed them as anything deep or anything which demands too much analysis. However from a technological and visual standpoint, the original trilogy was almost revolutionary. They were epic, visually exhilarating thrill rides. But I do think Jackson should have left Middle Earth after the Return of the King. There was no need to go back to that world and make prequels by breaking one book into 3 movies. I didn't like the first 2 movies of the Hobbit trilogy that much. They were mediocre summer popcorn films with too much melodrama and shiny CGI and green screen. This 3rd and last film, although not being anywhere near as good as the films in the original trilogy, is certainly better than its predecessors.
This film opens with an absolutely mesmerising action set piece which is visually spectacular. From then on it has its ups and downs. The battle scenes and action scenes are very well directed, but the non-action scenes leave you extremely underwhelmed. There are attempts made by Jackson to make extremely dramatic scenes and also to continue a love triangle which started in the 2nd film, but they all look and feel cheesy and not at all convincing. So without a doubt, the fighting scenes are the ones that make this film.
The acting is okay, nothing special or remarkable. To be honest, a film like this is more about the spectacular visuals and action, and less about acting skills. Most of the characters are black and white. There is no grey area. Except a few, every other character is just there to say a few lines and start fighting.
This new trilogy uses a lot of CGI and green screens. One of the most important aspects why I liked the original trilogy was the fact that the orcs in the original films were real people wearing costumes. That's not the case here which negatively affects the convincing factor as far as I am concerned.
So all in all, this last film of the trilogy is flawed. But I will be lying if I say I didn't have fun with it. This is a very watchable summer popcorn flick with great fight scenes, visuals and fantastic action. Just don't expect anything more in terms of character depth and narrative layers, and you will find yourself satisfied.