The Hobbit (The Battle of the Five Armies)

Another year, another Hobbit movie.  The conclusion of the one-book-made-trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies completes what An Unexpected Journey (reviewed here) and The Desolation of Smaug (here) started: the tale of a band of dwarves seeking to reclaim their homeland and the riches therein, and a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who accompanies them.  Picking up where film two left off, the dragon is out and about, wreaking havoc on Laketown; the dwarves are in Erebor, and looking for the Arkenstone; Gandalf is in Dol Guldur.  I can summarize the plot for this movie rather easily: the dragon falls, armies of all types converge on Erebor for riches, renown, or ruin, and Gandalf is assisted from unexpected quarters.

I gave the first two films high marks despite notable additions to (and departures from) Tolkien's book; I expected the final film to bring it all together, and fully planned on forgiving the embellishments and alterations after viewing (what I hoped would be) a tight conclusion that weaved everything together and proved the changes, if not necessary, at least understandable, interesting, and valuable.  Alas, alas.  It pains me to say that I was quite disappointed.

The bulk of this movie is just one big fight, the titled battle (understandably) taking center stage.  Parts were stretched and overdone (not unexpected- this is, after all, one-book-made-trilogy), but other parts were glossed over and underdeveloped (which seems inexcusable given the circumstance).  The action and scenery/CG were astounding, as in the first two films, but some sequences were so over-the-top that I laughed out loud more than once.  The characters weren't nearly as well developed as in the Lord of the Rings movies, and some of them, as well as certain plot elements, seemed just plain ridiculous.  It seems that much was sacrificed for the sake of action . . . which is far from the spirit of the book.

The six Middle Earth movies now being complete, they are alike only in that they all offer impressive fantasy worlds and effects.  They differ in most other ways- the Lord of the Rings wins for character development, dialogue, story integrity, and overall value.  The Hobbit could have- and in hindsight, should have- been done in two movies.  I don't know if the rumors are true- that the studio insisted on three to milk the franchise- but it sure seemed like it.  Too much of a good thing is a bad thing; we see that here.

Rating: C