I think most of us can agree that some of the best moments of
Peter Jackson’s films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel, “The Hobbit,” thus far
have involved the malevolent dragon, Smaug. A
spectacular blend of state of the art movie effects magic and pitch-perfect
voice acting from Benedict Cumberbatch, Smaug was the
true star of the previous film, “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug,”
and a character for the ages. So it’s all the more disappointing to find that
the character ends up being dispatched 10 minutes into the new film, before
even the subtitle comes up.
The final
installment in Jackson’s bloated trilogy, “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five
Armies” begins where we left off, with the band of dwarves led by ThorinOakenshield (Richard
Armitage) and including our titular hero Bilbo Baggins (still played with
dependable charm by Martin Freeman) having awoken the fire-breathing beast. In
a spectacularly terrifying scene, Smaug proceeds to
lay siege to the village of Laketown before being
single-handedly brought down by heroic archer Bard (Luke Evans). It’s an
impressive sequence, and it’s no surprise that it ends up being far more exciting
than anything that follows.
With Smaug out of the picture, the displaced citizens of Laketown head to the mountain for refuge, where they’re
drawn into battle as various factions of dwarves, orcs, elves, and humans fight
for control of the Lonely Mountain and the treasures therein. And so, the
adventures of Bilbo Baggins are brought to a predictably epic conclusion. But
if you’ve seen one epic scene of Middle Earth warriors clashing against one
another, you’ve seen them all, and without any breakout character like Smaug or Gollum, or a standout action set piece ร la the
last film’s whitewater barrel chase, there’s little to latch onto.
I can’t help
but find it interesting that the series’ most arresting characters have been
entirely of the CGI variety. Perhaps it’s because for the moments those
characters are on screen, all of the film’s effects work is being focused on
making that fantastical character come to life as seamlessly and naturally as
possible, instead of creating spectacle for the sake of spectacle.
For much of
the film, Dwarf leader Thorin acts as the film’s
villain as his mind becomes clouded by greed, determined to protect the riches
he now possesses, no matter what the cost. The irony of turning a tale with a
built-in message about the dangers of greed into such a blatantly cash-grabby
series of films is apparently lost on Jackson. As Gandalf himself warns, “Never
underestimate the evil of gold.”
Through it
all, “Five Armies” remains entirely uninvolving, and it can’t escape the feeling
of familiarity that has plagued each of the “Hobbit” films: We’ve seen this all
before, and done much better. Here, the lengthy war scenes pale in comparison
to anything seen in “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.”
The closest
the film comes to a memorable action scene is during a nicely staged sequence
where Legolas (Orlando Bloom) battles atop a
collapsing bridge.
“Five Armies” is still undeniably beautiful to
look at, Jackson is still capable of conjuring up images of uniquely majestic
power. The final confrontation between Thorin and orc
leader, Azog, concludes with a beautifully eerie
image, but then gets extended through the use of the hokiest of horror movie clichรฉs.
It’s characteristic of Jackson’s need to pile on more and more, never knowing
when enough is enough.
Martin
Freeman still does fine work, though the film forgets about poor Bilbo for
endless scenes at a time. Richard Armitage gets a few brief moments to shine,
portraying Thorin’s descent into paranoia and
madness, as well as the climb back out. Evangeline Lilly and Aidan Turner also
fair decently as the film resolves the love story between elf warrior Tauriel and handsome dwarf Kili,
but their performances are mostly lost among the effects.
Though
shortest of all six of the Middle Earth films, clocking in at just under 2 and
a half hours, it doesn’t nearly feel that way. Through all its battles, tragic
loves, heroics, and flat attempts at humor, by the time the credits finally
rolled, the only emotion I could muster up was relief.
This article appears in Dec 17-23, 2014.
