I should start by saying that the three Lord of the Rings films are, apart from Hook, my three favourite films, so naturally I was excited for the Hobbit movies. I was also cautious, I knew that they would not be as good as the Lord of the Rings films, but I still had fairly high expectations. The first two Hobbit films were okay, watchable, but not a patch on the aforementioned Lord of the Rings; there was far too much CGI, especially for the orcs and other creatures.
However, this review is for the final of the Hobbit films, The Battle of the Five Armies. And after watching, was pleasantly surprised. Now I’m not going to start comparing the film to the Lord of the Rings because that would be ridiculous, but it’s in my opinion by far the strongest of the Hobbit films and a movie that I would happily watch many times over. The CGI felt less extreme, a very good thing, and I was able to take the dwarfs a lot more seriously throughout this one. The film did have its faults, the Sauron scene felt underwhelming, the character of Alfrid was pointless and annoying, and the ending, unlike Lord of the Rings, is quite rushed and doesn’t feel finished.
However, I was very pleased overall with the film, there was a good balance of action with just the right amount of comedic scenes for the genre. The characters of Thorin, Bard, Bilbo and Thranduil are used well and the conflicting romances between Tauriel with Legolas and Killi are believable. The deaths (I won’t say who) are quite moving and there weren’t any major plot holes that I noticed, overall an enjoyable film I will watch again, 7.5/10.
Wake's World 