Matt Vs. The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies

Another Christmas holiday, another Hobbit movie. However this isn't just any film about Shire-folk with hairy feet, The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies brings both Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy and larger six film Middle Earth Saga to a close. The film serves as a climatic conclusion of Bilbo and company's quest to reclaim the Dwarf Kingdom at the Lonely Mountain and acts a bridge to the Fellowship of the Ring in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The Hobbit trilogy has been criticized as being a poor man's LOTR and while I somewhat echo that sentiment for I found this new trilogy very enjoyable. Does Battle of Five Armies reach the heights found in the original films or does it still lie the shadow of its more epic predecessors.

Battle of Five Armies begins as Desolation of Smaug ends with Smaug laying waste to Laketown ans after a bit of time and burning Bard dispatches Smaug by piercing  the hole in the dragon's armor-like hide with a black arrow. Following the Dragon's slaying, Thorin and the dwarves reclaimed the mountain kingdom of Erebor and the refugees from Laketown were left to fend for themselves. Word travels quickly in Middle-Earth and soon armies from across the land arrive to try to take the Lonely Mountain and its riches for themselves.

Essentially the majority of the movie is the setup for the titular battle and the battle itself. Character-wise the focus shifts from the company of dwarves themselves to mainly Bilbo and Thorin. Bilbo who spent the majority of the last film in the background, returns to his proper role as an intermediary between the dwarves and the allied men and elves. Thorin having reclaims his birthright becomes lost in his obsession with finding the fabled Arkenstone. His greed/lust makes him forget his promise to help the Laketown refugees and puts his companions in certain peril.

While I enjoyed the film, it is not without its flaws. I would say I lost track of what was going on during on the Battle itself as it was hard to differentiate one army from the next especially with the addition of the 2nd orc army. At my last count, I only saw  four armies not five. While I felt that the original trilogy had a decent mix of practical effects to CGI, Battle overly relies on CGI which I found distracting at times. Ultimatlty Battle of Five Armies doesn't reach the heights of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy but fans of the Hobbit trilogy will enjoy it.