Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

So new kinds of secret societies are apparently the way to go if you don't own the rights to any superheroes, nor James Bond. Most intriguing. I hope. To have a secret lair at a tailor's and all men being dapper accordingly is most pleasing. There's more to a film than scenography, though.

Generally, the Brits are very well cast here. There seems to be an abundance of actors able to pull off the archetypical British agent, with just a hint of overdone arrogance and cockiness. Colin Firth is particularly brilliant. And you can't go wrong with Michael Caine. Ever. As a result the interaction amongst the adult Brits is mostly fantastic. Old-fashioned, clever, and very, very dry.

The rest of the cast is a bit hit-and-miss. Egerton is fantastic as the rebellious Eggsy, pissing everyone off and generally not respecting much. As a student of the secret school, he's decent. As a Kingsman, not very good. Bar a couple of lines, mostly related to the Swedish royalty (a ludicrously entertaining and sensual Hanna Alström) he wants to nail. The bigger problem is Samuel L. Jackson. He was never the megalomaniac, and to cast him dressing like a slow 13 year old with a lisp, is such a stupid idea, it begs belief. And a movie like this with a useless villain, will never be good enough. Ironically a point made by Jackson in his scene with Firth

Furthermore, it's problematic that the film fails to find a defined note. At times it seems like a spoof, other areas are very serious, and some are light-hearted. In the latter category it works very well. Unlike, for instance, Demolition Man, it seems to forget what it is at times. Or it simply never knew. The director, Matthew Vaughn, is too busy being slick and cool in his scenes to bother with the film as a whole.

The new angle works wonders for the action though. Adding nice new ways of giving bad men bruises or much, much deadness. Violence with a smirk is a most welcome sight. The school and its tests adds little of interest though. And nothing new.

So all in all, it does have entertainment, you're rarely bored, but there are too many glaring errors to make it anything but a fringe instalment in the entertainment industry.

5/10

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

The second instalment had no great battles to speak of. That needed correcting. And Jackson was always one to please the fans. Hell, he even had the word in the title. Furthermore, when you start a film with an angry Smaug wanting to eradicate a village, you know it's likely to be a lively few hours.

First though: The surplus of characters. Bard seems a bit unnecessary, which is astonishing considering his key part. Perhaps after 5 flicks, there are just a bit too many trying to make up for themselves or their ancestors. I mean, there are several in this trilogy alone. So perhaps one of all the others could have done his tasks, or at least enough of them for him to be expendable.

Though Freeman makes a good attempt at carrying this, he never comes near the endearment that we had for Mr. Frodo. Perhaps due to Sam, or perhaps due to Wood playing Frodo as much more of a boy. Besides, the burden of the ring is now the burden of the Arkenstone and is laid on another character entirely. Furthermore, he has a lot less interaction with McKellen and Holm, and that makes it all the more difficult.

Ryan Gage suffers greatly with a larger role. He was annoying last time around, and unbearable here.
Kili's childish love is enviable, but continually nicely portrayed. And love is one of the few things Middle-Earth has not done in abundance. As for Armitage, he now starts to suffer under the fact that we have already seen Boromir, Frodo and others succumb to a power from a shiny artefact, and hence it has lost a bit of momentum and interest for the viewer.

There are more upsides as to the casting of new characters in this ending. Billy Connolly as a dwarf general is particularly perfect. Though his lines are few, his glee is unsurpassed.

We were spared the sadness of beloved characters dying in the first six hours of this trilogy, so there is no shortage of tear-jerkers here as our heroes steadily decline in numbers. Jackson is quite good at both making the scenes, and using the following effect, without resorting to melodrama.

He still is the best in the business when it comes to epic battles, but the absolute highlight here is Saruman, Galadriel, Elrond and Gandalf against the henchmen of Sauron. The last third is more or less one large battle. Though Jackson has developed a real penchant for Deus ex machina, it is dramatic, grandiose, and exceptionally entertaining.

8/10

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Starting up with a flashback to events before the first film started in a sequel is hardly original, but as stated with the previous instalment, the guarantee of quality that Peter Jackson brought, is also a guarantee that it can never be different from LOTR. Jackson isn't trying particularly hard to put some distance between the trilogies either, reusing sets, scenes and all his thoughts.

Armitage is still excellent. Visibly going weary in his long quest. Making horrible mistakes in anger in desperate situations as he fails to learn from past mistakes. Jackson makes the most of this development, by establishing the character of Balin as the older, wiser and most weary of them all. A pint-sized Gandalf for when the grey wizard is off solving side-quests if you will.

The Elves don't really work as well this time around. The CGI and stunts are pushed just a little too far at times, and as the dwarves are low-tech fighters, the elvish fighting feels like they've been imported from that God-awful Ang Lee-film. Much of it is a awesome as ever, though. The Elves do play Kiri into a more interesting part, and his bratty charm and general insolence is most welcome. Worse though, it would appear that Lee Pace was obviously cast for a different role last time around, and is a rare total miss in this film. At times that also applies to Orlando Bloom. The worst though is Ryan Gage as Alfrid. A broke man's version of Grima Wormtongue that could have been written by Michael Bay.

All in all you could say that Jackson does well with establishing the characters from its predecessor, but his new characters let him somewhat down. Not surprisingly either, as many are not a product of Tolkien, but new script-writers. The casting that was so sublime in LOTR, also feels more hit and miss here, as does the balance of characters. The afore-mentioned Ryan Gage is a greedy, evil pussy. His boss, played by Stephen Fry, is also that. ¨This ruptures the balance a bit. And though the love between an elf and a dwarf is most predictable, it is wonderfully done, with good characters and actors, so it works nonetheless.

The visuals, sound, editing and production is still immense, particularly well illustrated by the barrel-escape. Ten points also for the ingenuity and engineering of the kingdom of Smaug, and all the production lines. Smaug is as good as CGI comes, with the breath of an old V8. A most impressive sound. And though it ends on a dark note, it is not as dark as the second instalment in trilogies often are, though our friends are largely dispersed and it suddenly does loom.

7/10

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

An epic setup with voiceover followed by a hobbit at his most peaceful home? Peter Jackson sure plays it close to home as he takes over from Guillermo Del Toro late in the game. Del Toro had dabbled with this trilogy for a long time before admitting failure and handing the reigns to the very Shire-friendly hands of Peter Jackson.

Therein lies a bit of the flaws and successes of this first part. Though Peter Jackson knows the world of Tolkien like the back of his hand, it all feels very familiar. And after 14 hours of LOTR, something a bit fresher might be welcome. That also applies to Howard Shore's score, which is a mere continuation. The tone and humour with Jackson is largely identical to the former trilogy. Thankfully, it was all good then, and not vastly inferior here.

Perhaps the very best thing here is the re-acquaintance of Gandalf and the old Bilbo. McKellen and Holm bring such a warmth to their characters. They even have a couple of degrees extra if Elijah Wood joins them on-screen. Though that only happens for seconds.

The dwarves are a bit of a problem though. Particularly in the first hour, they are little more than a nuisance. Not only to Bilbo Baggins, but to the viewer. The singing is dreadful and fits in no way into the film, nor any of the moods. Generally the dwarves are stuck with the task of compensating for the lack of Tolkien as there is significantly less story for this trilogy. So also with Freeman's Bilbo at times. Freeman suffers under too much screentime, considering his character and dialogue. But he grows very nicely into the part over the course of this flick, though a more trimmed script would have helped him greatly.

Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield, however, is a sight for sore eyes. With the looming feeling of a poor man's Boromir about him from the start, they pull him slowly out of that mire, and into a dark, deeply split man with heroism, bitterness and prejudice in equal measures. Radagast is just a stupid and unnecessary character though. Time wasted in every way unless you like really cute CGI-animals.

But though much is not quite as good as LOTR, "The Hobbit" still has fantastic scenery, utterly brilliant sound & picture and Peter Jackson does know his storytelling in epic tales by now. As he knows battles, large and small. Though many of the battles portrayed here are told as anecdotes, and therefore lack any real danger for our little friends.

Besides the pairing of Bilbo and Gollum in the cave is brilliant. In a rather noisy and chaotic film, the sobriety of a dimly lit scene where to little creatures play a simple game of riddles with all at stake is a most welcome variation.

So, it's still Middle-Earth, it's still Tolkien and it's still good. Just not as good as the original trilogy.

7/10