The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies Film Review

The stories of Middle-Earth are ones that have pleased people for quite literally decades at this point with the first three Lord Of The Rings live action films redefining what it means to be a fantasy film. As such it wasn't all that surprising when it was announced that the team that made those films would be returning to adapt The Hobbit but what was surprising was the fact that they would be turning one single book into three films and so then join me as I review the film that saw what is known as the Middle Earth saga come to an end with the film in question being called simply just "The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when Bilbo and the dwarfs archive there goal of taking back the dwarfs homeland they discover something far more sinister is coming and have to fight for there very lives to defend the mountain and there fellowship. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad but that's also the problem as the plot of this film isn't all that good either with the plot of this film not really doing all that much to have the characters reach the ends of there respective character journeys and while the plot of this film does indeed tell an interesting story it's one that's spread so much that it becomes a very thin plot as the film doesn't have all that much story left to tell from the books with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this film is Sherlock star Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Also starring in this film is Richard Armitage as Thorin II Oakenshield , Orlando Bloom as Legolas , Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel , Luke Evans as Bard The Bowman ,  Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch as The Voice Of Smaug and as Sauron , Lee Pace as Thranduil , Graham McTavish as Dwalin , Ken Stott as Balin , Aidan Turner as Kíli , Dean O'Gorman as Fíli , Manu Bennett as Azog The Defiler , Mark Hadlow as Dori , Jed Brophy as Nori , Adam Brown as Ori , John Callen as Óin , Peter Hambleton as Glóin , William Kircher as Bifur , James Nesbitt as Bofur , Stephen Hunter as Bombur , Doctor Who star Sylvester McCoy as Radagast The Brown , John Tui as Bolg , Billy Connolly as Dáin II Ironfoot , Mikael Persbrandt as Beorn , Stephen Fry as The Master Of Lake-Town , Ryan Gage as Alfrid Lickspittle , Mark Mitchinson as Braga , John Bell as Bain , Sir Ian Holm as Old Bilbo Baggins , Cate Blanchett as Galadriel , Hugo Weaving as Elrond and James Bond star Sir Christopher Lee as Saruman The White.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featu4eed / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which really isn't all that surprising given not only who is starring in this film but also who is directing this film as this films director Peter Jackson really does know how to get a great performance out his cast something which he's proven time and time again and this films cast are a bunch of really good actors and as a result what we have is a bunch of a really good actors teaming up with a really great direct and as a result of that is the fact that the we get a film that has a bunch of really good performances in it with the acting in this film really being helped by this films script which is just so good that all his films cast have to do is just the lines as they are written and good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this film.

Doing the CGI for this film really is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Wētā FX. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good for the most part as while we do get some really good looking CGI in this film for the most part with the creatures and even some of the orcs looking really good but that's where we get alot of the bad CGI in this film in this film as well as lot of the CGI doubles for the films human characters look really bad with those effects boarding on being really very cartoony as they do nine times out of ten look like that they belong in a cartoon and really not a live action feature length film with the worst offender for this being the scene where Legolas runs along some falling rocks which just looks bad and is a good example of just how really bad alot of this films CGI really can be.

While this film gets alot of things wrong one of the few things that it gets right is the fact that Galadriel is a strong fighter. With her being able to take out whole groups of fighters on her own which is something that does go along way to make her a strong female character with the rest of that coming from the fact that she's not afraid to ask for help and to vulnerable something which the version of the character seen in The Rings Of Power doesn't do and thus comes of as being a weaker character where as in this film alone we see that she can hold of Sauron in his more weakened state all by herself which has the add on affect of making the character even mor cooler then what she already as this is meant to the the character close to being in her prime and as a result of that is the fact that it does make sense that she would have this special ability that she doesn't use in the original trilogy as it most likely started to fade away after it was used here in this film with this film also giving us a good send off to alot of the original characters from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy as well with them all taking part in the fight with Sauron and as a result of that is the fact that we also get a small hint that Saruman might be working with Sauron as well.

One of the many things this film gets really wrong is the fact that it really didn't need to exist in the first place. As the film very easily could have told it's story in the second film with the second film feeling like an extended trailer for this film instead of advancing the characters and the story which has the add on effect of making this film like it has to do all of the heavy lighting that the second film refused to do and as a result of that is the fact that plot points that should come organically be it for the plot of the films or the plot of characters instead feel rushed like the fact that Thorin turns evil which comes out of nowhere when you take into account how the character was both written and portrayed in both of the previous two films and yet its something that could have been very easily fixed by showing the seeds of him becoming evil in the second film which would make the second film feel more important then what it actually is and it would have gone a long way to justify what was originally going to be two films now being three films as would the fact that Bilbo is seen openly lying to Gandalf about having The One Ring something which the character would never ever do.

While the idea of brining Sauron back does make sense from a storyline perspective all it does is serve to remind you that we could be watching a much more better of films. As by this point in time these Hobbit films weren't being that well received and as a result of that is the fact that by having the previous trilogy's big bad show up in this film just serves to remind us the audience that all we could be doing right now is watching a much more better film and it makes the makers of this film seem lazy as instead of creating a new big bad for this trilogy of films as really all they do is use the exact same villain from the previous films when this film would have been much more better served if it focused more on having the group finish of whoever the main guy of this trilogy films would have been as it would have helped to make this film and this trilogy of films really feel more independent from each other whilst also keeping both sets of films connected as well and while yes the audience of this film would still not really like this film all that much they still would have been really a bit more understanding if this trilogy of films had a new big bad for our heroes to go up against.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and twenty four minuets and twenty nine seconds. Which is a really solid running time for this film to have as the film does have more the enough there interms of plot to really cover that large amount of running and while yes the film would have been better if they cut down on alot of the subplots in this film and had the plot of the film be alot more focused at the same time if they were to do that then it would mean that alot of the characters that are important to the main cast would be left with nothing to do and would just be there just for the sake of it and not because they add anything to the film with this not really being helped by the fact that while the Gandalf subplot does help set up The Lord Of The Rings plot it also adds nothing to the plot of this film with it feeling like it was there just for fanservice as it is something that could have been left out of the film and nothing that's actually really important to the plot of the film would have been lost but I will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that means that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which again is nothing that's all that new as all of the Lord Of The Rings films have some really good action in them and while the action in this film can be seen as being boarding on being cartoonish especially with what they have Legolas do during them it doesn't stop them from being some really good action sequences that are filled to the brim with some really cool moments in them and while it really would have helped with the constancy of the rest of the franchise if this films action scenes really were a little bit more grounded in realism given that this film really pretty much has characters really in there prime it does also  really make alot of sense from a storyline point of view to have them doing these rather outlandish stunts as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while this film does have alot of respective for being the final film that Sir Christopher Lee both filmed and saw released during his life time it's not also a film that's really not all that good as it has alot of deep and fundamental flaws in it as well all of which make this film really quite the mess to sit through and watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official The Lord Of The Rings fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images this film being the really great the official The Lord Of The Rings fandom wiki page this is because all of the images that I got for this review and that are still and of course currently up and really are on the really great the official The Lord Of The Rings fandom wiki page with them all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.