The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
The Focus Pull Film Journal The Focus Pull Film Journal
  • Full Issues 
  • Reviews 
  • Features 
  • OUR TEAM
  • Info.
    • OUR TEAM
  • Content
    • Full Issues 
      • Issue #01
      • Issue #02
      • Issue #03
      • Issue #04
      • Issue #05
      • Issue #06
      • Issue #07
      • Issue #08
      • Issue #09
      • Issue #10
      • Issue #11
      • Issue #12
      • Issue #13
      • Issue #14
      • Issue #15
      • Issue #16
      • Issue #17
      • Issue #18
      • Issue #19
      • Issue #20
      • Issue #21
      • Issue #22
      • Issue #23
      • Issue #24
      • Issue #25 - Horror Week
      • Issue #26
      • Issue #27
      • Issue #28
      • Issue #29
      • Issue #30
      • Issue #31
      • Issue #32
      • Issue #33
      • Issue #34
      • Issue #35
      • Issue #36
      • Issue #37
      • Issue #38
      • Issue #39
      • Issue #40
    • Reviews 
      • (All Reviews)
      • Action Adventure
      • Animation
      • Biography/History
      • Comedy
      • Crime
      • Documentary
      • Drama
      • Foreign
      • Horror
      • Romance
      • Sci-Fi
      • Thriller
    • Features 
      • (All Features)
      • Bonding with Bond
      • Double Exposures
      • Essays
      • Event Coverage
      • Lists
      • New to Netflix
      • News
      • Retrospectives
    • OUR TEAM
REGISTER
@
LOGIN
Reviews
0
previous article
Review: Inherent Vice
next article
Best of 2014: Films

Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

by Jordan Brooks on December 20, 2014
Overall Rating
5.5
THE BOTTOM LINE

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a film that should have never needed to exist. Doomed from the beginning because of greed or corporate stupidity, Jackson was left with table scraps of plot, and thinly spread narrative. As glorious and impressive as the battle scenes are, and as solid as the casting is, there simply isn't any heart left in The Hobbit's final chapter.

5.5
Critic Rating
You have rated this

Peter Jackson (by way of J.R.R. Tolkien) is known for his richly textured fantasies and sprawling adventures unlike any to ever grace cinema. One lesson Jackson (and his controlling financiers) did not take from the master of fiction, however, is that unlike each of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit was not made to be broken into three parts. What results is The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – a plotless and needlessly elongated series of battles that proves Jackson is simply grasping at straws.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies begins almost exactly where The Desolation of Smaug left off; the citizens of Lake-town are fleeing for their lives after incurring the wrath of the recently-awoken Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch). The incredibly CGI heavy massacre is half comedic relief, half adrenaline-pumping action. Jackson proves to his die-hard audience that he can still direct, but it is plainly clear that many of the additions were inserted for time – and time alone. Jackson coaxes his audience out of his artificially created, white-knuckle thrill ride with various shots of the New Zealand countryside, and even more heavy-handed comedy. We quickly realize that the countryside is the only “real” location in the film, as Jackson has digitized nearly everything else. Even the face of Orlando Bloom as Legolas seems unreal (and left me doubting whether Bloom is ever actually in the film), and many of his highflying acrobatics leave no doubt to their artifice. The middle of the film is packed with dialogue and non-verbal brooding, until Jackson is able to flex his muscle as a masterful director of extensive battles. The titular battle lasts more than 45 minutes, and is, undoubtedly, an achievement in direction and digital craftsmanship.

Peter Jackson’s reliance on digital rendering and visual effects present a huge problem to The Battle of the Five Armies, not simply because of their bases on in a digital world, but because of Jackson’s “fantastic” directorial style. Through the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson still thought much like a camera-based director, “using” awkward, heavy cameras that had severe limitations. With his near 15-year experience in the digital realm, Jackson has been able to expand his vision, and had begun (to his deficit) to view his filmmaking in a new way. With the overuse of massive zooms, pans, and impossible tracking shots, Jackson has created an artificial world that LOOKS artificial. Moving in ways that are unimaginable to anyone who is not a fighter pilot or video game designer, the audience is left to grapple with the visuals instead of with the narrative. Lost in Jackson’s improbable world, the audience is left feeling empty where they should be enthralled.

While it may not have been Peter Jackson’s decision to split The Hobbit into three parts, his participation is tantamount to endorsement, and therefore, he is somewhat responsible. An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug covered a vast portion of Tolkien’s novel, leaving almost no actual plot for the third entry in a pointlessly created trilogy. Jackson could have easily called his film The Hobbit: And the Painfully Drawn out Exsanguinations, or Peter Jackson’s Fun with Slow Motion. One can only assume that after constructing his film, Jackson found it clocked in at a measly 105 minutes, and pleaded with editors to lengthen it (in keeping with his five previous heavyweights). Bilbo (Martin Freeman) weeping at the side of a fallen comrade, add three minutes of quiet reflection; a one-on-one fight scene between Thorin (Richard Armitage) and Azog (Manu Bennett) only lasted ten – slow-motion it to fifteen. Or perhaps it is just easier to think that Jackson is railing against his producers for turning his project into a trilogy, than to think he has completely lost touch, and resorted to using hackneyed cinematic work-arounds and shortcuts.

However dull and uninteresting The Battle of the Five Armies may be, it certainly has heart – courtesy of commendable performances handed in by Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage and the always-dependable Ian McKellen. Superfluous though they may be, the protracted death scenes do show just how long Freeman can convincingly hold a look of complete despondency; lip quivering, eyes swelling with tears, and completely unable to utter an intelligible word. Armitage’s Thorin is held back from achieving any true greatness due a plot surrounding a quietly brooding king, unable to see just how blinded he has become. When he is finally able to shine, his talent is unflinching, and he resumes his place as the honorable and courageous leader. Yet, for every great acting moment, there are many more that are bad; cut short by editing, comically lengthened with gratuitous dialogue, or rendered completely ineffective by CGI.

Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a film that should have never needed to exist. Doomed from the beginning because of greed or corporate stupidity, Jackson was left with table scraps of plot, and thinly spread narrative. As glorious and impressive as the battle scenes are, and as solid as the casting is, there simply isn’t any heart left in The Hobbit‘s final chapter.

Language

English

Release

December 17th, 2014

Runtime

144 Minutes

Genre

Adventure/ Fantasy

MPAA Rating

PG-13

Director

Peter Jackson

Cast

Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom (maybe)

(All Reviews), Action Adventure, Reviews
Ian McKellenJ.R.R. TolkienLord of the RingsMartin FreemanPeter JacksonRichard ArmitageThe Hobbit
Ian McKellen, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Martin Freeman, Peter Jackson, Richard Armitage, The Hobbit
About the Author
Jordan Brooks
Jordan Brooks
Jordan Brooks is a contributor to several online publications, including his own blog focusing on streaming film. Being an avid lover of film, he has recently begun diving more deeply into film history; and is working towards becoming more educated in world cinema. He currently resides in sunny California with his girlfriend and their dog (although the real film buff in the family is definitely the dog).
You might also like
Ian McKellenMartin FreemanRichard Armitage
 

Double Exposure: X-Men: Days of Future Past

by Williamson Balliet on May 25, 2014
In this Double Exposure review, two critics face off in a discussion on "X-Men: Days of Future Past."
Comments
Leave a reply
Add Comment Register



Leave a Response
Cancel reply

The Focus Pull in your inbox!

Subscribe to this list, and we'll send you each week's new issue directly to your inbox. One email a week, packed with essential film writing!

Latest Reviews

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Form and Function in Alex Ross Perry’s “Queen of Earth&...
 
Digging for Fire and Unexpected: Husband and Wife Process Parenthoo...
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review

Latest Features

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
Taylor Sinople Picks: The 16 Best Films of 2016
 
Taylor Sinople’s Top 10 Films of 2015: “The Duke of Bur...
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival

Our Partners

Advertisement

FESTIVAL COVERAGE

View All
 
8 Films to See at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival
 
Every Thing Will Be Fine 3D Review
 
Berlinale 2015: Eisenstein in Guanajuato
 
Berlinale 2015: Sworn Virgin
 
Berlinale 2015: Under Electric Clouds

LISTS

View All
 
Taylor Sinople Picks – The 17 Best Films of 2017
 
SNL40: A Look Back at 40 Years of SNL in Film
 
Six Must-See British Films Opening in 2015
 
Oscars 2015: Ranking the Best Picture Nominees
 
Our 26 Most Anticipated Films of 2015
Tweets by @thefocuspull
  • "Popcorn - check. Soda - check...I have a date with Netflix on Friday night." - Sherry
  • "[…] nails it.” I disagree, and frankly wonder what movies John is talking about. The original G..." - Dear Godzilla Fans: Please Stop Defending that ...
  • "[…] www.thefocuspull.com […]" - Annie Hall
  • "[…] more vibrant monologue or confrontation, like the dinner scene that comes at just the right time ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
  • "[…] of the year is also the stuff of a best picture winner. With Michael Keaton, hot off praise from ..." - Taylor Sinople's Top 10 Films of 2015
TRENDING ON TFP
   
Try a different filter
© 2014 THE FOCUS PULL FILM JOURNAL
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.