The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Movie Review

Hello fellow moviegoers!
      'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' is the final film in the Hobbit trilogy and (hopefully) the Lord of the Rings franchise. It stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, Orlando Bloom as Legolas and so many more. 
      Now that the dwarves and Bilbo have occupied the Lonely Mountain. It is up to them to defend it against other races who either believe they should get a share of the treasure, or just want to see everybody die. As I said before, this is the final film of the Hobbit trilogy, and with that comes a lot of high expectations. Did it meet expectations? Here's what I thought...

      Overall, I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. This movie picks up literally just a couple of minutes after the events of the last film. In fact, it is so close that you can noticeably tell that it was originally connected to the last film before they split it from two to three movies. But let's get into the actual movie shall we?
      I'll start with the plot. The plot to this movie is extremely well realized for the most part. It is blatantly clear that this movie knows what it is. The only thing that it may be trying a little too hard to be is the Lord of the Rings, and understandably so. In the first film, it was clear that the main character was Bilbo. But in the second one, that torch seemed to be passed to Thorin a little bit. In this film however it gradually all goes back to Bilbo. I absolutely loved to see the evolution of Thorin as he starts to become more and more obsessed with his gold. One of my favorite scenes in the entire movie (and this isn't a spoiler because it was in the trailer) was when Dwalin goes to Thorin and basically tells him to wake up. It was one of those scenes that you really start to think about. It makes a good point, not only about Thorin, but also about the society we live in. 
      The last 45-60 minutes of this movie is literally just one big battle scene, and it was epic. It was great to see all of these plot lines that were running throughout the films finally come to a climax and be fully realized. I would have liked to see more of the character Dain though. That character was probably one of the highlights of the film to me, and it makes me sad that he wasn't in it very much. I quite enjoyed where they brought the character of Bard though. In the previous film it felt like he was just kind of there, but in this film, he actually plays a pretty crucial role, and it was nice to see them really develop that character.
      There are a couple moments in this film where certain things happen that shock members of the audience. I had read the book beforehand so I knew what was coming, but when those moments hit, they hit hard. Throughout the entire film I could hear the people around me in the theatre adjusting how they were sitting or sniffling from a cold. But in those scenes, it was utter silence. I even started to tear up a little bit, and I wasn't alone. 
     I did have a couple little issues with this movie though. One of which is that in the vast final battle, with all of it's amazing shots and everything. It did start to get a little repetitive. One fight in particular I am thinking of is the Legolas vs Bolg fight. It was pretty sweet at first than I found myself thinking "Didn't they just do that?". I mean come on Legolas, if you hit metal with a knife and nothing happens. Don't do it again... (Insert face-palm here). The next thing I had a problem with I do need to use spoilers to explain so beware. 
SPOILERS AHEAD
    When the fight between Galadriel, Elrond, Saruman, and Sauron was over. Saruman was like "Leave Sauron to me,". Then they made it seem like he was going to chase after him or something and have a showdown where Sauron could deceive him a little and set his character up for the Lord of the Rings. But no, they didn't do that. They just left it at "Leave Sauron to me" and that was it. It was kind of disappointing because the character of Saruman is such and interesting one portrayed by a brilliant actor, and they didn't utilize him to his full potential.  An argument can be made that Saruman went back to Orthanc and used the Palantir then, but that didn't seem to be what they were alluding to. I don't know. Maybe it's just me.
     Also, I noticed that my favorite part of the movie overall was the reference of "Strider" from Thranduil to Legolas toward the end.I absolutely loved that, but when your favorite part of a film is a reference to another film, there is something wrong with that picture. 
END OF SPOILERS

     Overall I really enjoyed this movie. The acting is great, the action scenes are even better. There are a few little things here and there that detract from the overall quality of the film. But I still liked the movie. I would definitely recommend it to Tolkien fans everywhere, and anybody who is just looking for a good action/fantasy movie to watch over Christmas. You should definitely check it out!
7.5/10

    I am wrestling with myself on whether I liked this film or Desolation of Smaug more. Right now, I am kind of leaning toward The Desolation of Smaug.That will probably change everyday though. So what did you think of this new Hobbit adventure? Do you agree or disagree with my thoughts? Let me know by commenting on this post!

Thanks for stopping by!