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