Before reading, please be aware that this review contains SPOILERS for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Though it won't be released in the US until December 17th, it's been out for a couple of days in New Zealand (and a few other countries) so consider yourself warned. When I say there are MAJOR SPOILERS ahead, I'm not just winking at those who have read the books and know about the character deaths. This is about the film in its entirety.
So ... have you ever wanted to watch one hundred and forty-four minutes of CGI figurines fighting each other? Because that's pretty much this entire movie in a nutshell. It's very apparent at this stage why they abandoned the subtitle There And Back Again in favour of The Battle of the Five Armies, and it's because by this point any resemblance to Tolkien's modest little story (relatively speaking) has been obliterated. This is all about the spectacle.
Continuing with my reposting of previous Hobbit film reviews...
Last year I said of An Unexpected Journey that it was two movies: an adaptation of J. R.R. Tolkien’s book and a prequel to Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This instalment is definitely more of the latter than the former – in fact, there are times when it’s clear that Jackson wants to skip passed the elements of Tolkien’s story and get to his own ideas ASAP.
Two years ago (yikes, was it really that long ago?) I sat down to watch The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. This was my review, which I've decided to repost here in anticipation of seeing the last in the Hobbit trilogy tonight (I'll post The Desolation of Smaug tomorrow, and The Battle of the Five Armies on the weekend).
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But before I discuss The Hobbit, I would also like to draw your attention toward this brilliant interview/article about Fran Walsh – Peter Jackson’s partner in both work and life, who for reasons pertaining to their children made a conscious decision long ago to keep away from the spotlight. But she is clearly a key player in bringing The Lord of the Rings franchise to life – along with her collaborator and friend Philippa Boyens. Among the many insights the article has to offer is their take on the women of The Lord of the Rings...
