The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies 2014 7+ out of 10

 The Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies 2014 7+ out of 10

I can’t explain why it took me so long to see the final Hobbit….

I was a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy… I saw every single one the first week movies in the theaters.    I spent hours watching extras and behind the scenes of the trilogy as soon as they came out on DVD.  I was excited when the Hobbit was eventually announced---although I couldn’t imagine how they were going to turn this small more kid friendly book into something as epic as the Rings Trilogy.    When they announced it would be 3 movies…..I was kind of shocked.   The Lord of the Rings trilogy was three movies –but each movie covered one book and those books were much longer than the Hobbit.  Obviously the Hobbit movies were going to have to have a lot of new stuff and filler to make this much shorter book into a trilogy.     Of course Peter Jackson was going to be involved so that made me feel much better.

The first Hobbit although it had a different tone  (set by the silly sequences of meeting the Dwarfs)…still felt like Middle Earth.  
It felt like the beginning of a journey –but had an interesting story and a satisfying conclusion.   I also liked the second film 
(Links of the my reviews to those films are below)

It took me almost a year to get around to finally watching the conclusion……So maybe that in itself  shows that I liked the Rings trilogy better.  I had to see Return of the King the weekend it came out.   I missed Battle of Five Armies in the theaters…….Bought it the week it came out on DVD---but didn’t watch it right away.     The only explanation I can give is that maybe I felt like the story was pretty much already done after 2 films.     This wasn’t a conscious thought really….I didn’t think about it ---there was just no urgency.

Well now I know why……. And don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed Battle of the Five Armies from a visual point of view----but story wise----There really wasn’t anything left of the story to tell.    The Battle of the Five Armies was literally probably 2 chapters in the book……This battle was turned into an entire movie. 

So the story of the final film was basically just the surviving Dwarfs have the mountain now and all the Armies go to war for it.    Of course the movie long battle was a visual delight----but the lack of a story - just made it feel like less of a film to me. 
 I just didn’t feel the same connection to it like I did with Lord of the Rings .    I think the Hobbit would have been better served as 2 movies instead of 3.  A lot could have been cut out of this trilogy and it probably would have been a better film.   I know the Studios turned it into 3 movies for financial reasons---but I feel the final Hobbit films suffered as a result.  The Battle of Five Armies was my least favorite of the 6 films.   (Again I still enjoyed it) --but it wasn't as memorable as the previous films due to a lack of story.

To see my thoughts on the previous films.

Here is An Unexpected Journey
http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-last-man-in-middle-eart-to-see.html

Desolution of Smaug
http://bradgeekness.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-hobbit-desolation-of-smaug-2013-9.html

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The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug 2013 9 out of 10

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug 2013  9 out of 10

 I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy and so I was sure I was going to enjoy the Hobbit as well (which I did).  My only concerns were the nature of this more child friendly book and the fact that they were splitting it into 3 movies.  The film suffers slightly from both factors. The Hobbit films are a notch below the level of the Lord of the Rings movies in my opinion, yet still a lot of fun.  The first Hobbit movie (although excellent) was definitely more of kids film than the Ring trilogy while the 2nd installment seemed to settle into a more adult tone once it got going.  I watched the Hobbit part 1 and 2 back to back over last weekend, so I pretty much spent the entire day in middle earth.

The story of the 2nd film finds Biblo and the dwarfs making their way closer to the Lonely Mountains in hopes of winning their home back from Smaug the Dragon.  Along the way they encounter many hurdles such as Orcs,  Giant spiders and a forest that makes them hallucinate.   One of my favorite scenes was the dwarfs  escaping the home of the forest elves in a thrilling barrel river rapids sequence.   The scene was Temple of Doom mine cart chase over the top and  looked like the funniest theme park water ride ever.  And then they face Smaug the dragon which was a visually stunning sequence and probably the best part of the movie.  The movie abruptly ends with the dragon leaving the mountain to destroy the town below--so we have to wait a year to see part 3.  Despite its falling short of the Ring trilogy the film is still an exciting adventure and worth a 9 out of 10

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The last man in Middle Earth to see The Hobbit 2012 9 out of 10

The Hobbit   2012   9 out of 10

When they first announced that they were going to be making The Hobbit I was thrilled.   The Lord of the Rings trilogy was an epic piece of work that changed the scale and possible scope of fantasy films and what could be done.   Anything was now possible in the Fantasy world.   From Harry Potter to Chronicles of Narnia....to remaking Clash of the Titans... none of which quite got it right as good as Lord of the Rings.    The Hobbit however was basically a children's book that didn't have the same epic nature of the Rings Trilogy.   How  would balance they handle  this difference against the expectations set by the other three films?

Well I finally got my answer this past weekend.   I was quite possibly the last person in Middle Earth to see the film.   It had a much lighter tone and sense of humor that wasn't in the Lord of the Rings series and  since they basically turned one book into three movies it took The Hobbit a bit longer to get into the main story which follows Bilbo Baggins on an adventure away from The Shire to see the world as a part of a group of Dwarves and Gandalf the Wizard to reclaim their homeland from a Dragon.   Even with the lighter tone of the film it quickly brought you back into the world of Middle Earth that was captured so well in the previous 3 films.   The movie had the typically great scenery from all over Middle Earth  (New Zealand such a beautiful country).  The music and epic nature of the film took over by the third act.  Some of the action was way over the top  (like Temple of Doom over the top),  but still really exciting and fun.    The scene with Golem in the cave where Bilbo finds the ring was perfect and couldn't have possible been done any better.

 Being only the first portion of a 3 film series it did feel that way,  much more than say the Fellowship of the Ring did,  but I'm definitely along for the ride as far as Middle Earth will take me.    I would rank this one probably 4th among the Tolkien films,  simple because of the more childlike aspects of The Hobbit itself ---but it is definitely worth the journey.