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So here we are, at the end of all things. Six films, 13 years and over 1,000 minutes of running time later, Peter Jackson’s odyssey through Middle-earth is finally at an end.
We’ve grown up with these lovable characters; from our hairy-footed, vertically-challenged Hobbits, Gandalf the wise wizard and the 13 Dwarves, to the plethora of other heroes who have entered pop culture folklore for eternity. And, now they bid their final cinematic farewell.
Or at least, having had the misfortune of reading the entire Silmarillion, I hope this is goodbye!
It’s tough to overstate the impact The Lord of the Rings has had on my life when I look back on it. Rewind to Christmas 2001; I was a timid 10-year-old who walked into Southport’s dusty, dilapidated ABC Cinema (RIP) wishing I was back in my bedroom catching more Pokémon or messing around with my Thomas the Tank Engine train set.
Fast-forward three hours, and I emerged a changed boy. I’d been completely and utterly mesmerised by the celluloid masterpiece I’d just witnessed. It was out with the Game Boys and in with the elves, dwarves and magic. A hasty trip to Waterstones and many late nights with the torch under the covers later, Tolkien, not Ringo Starr, was my narrator.
I’ve been a huge fantasy nerd since that very night, as my sagging bookshelves will attest to. The Fellowship of the Ring is my favourite film for a reason, and despite having seen it so many times that I’m afraid I’ve become one of those extremely annoying people who can quote the whole thing backwards with some confidence (I know, I know), I still find new things which enchant me on every re-watch.
The point of divulging this terribly uninteresting snippet of my life story is to establish why I am so invested in these movies and why I view The Battle of the Five Armies in a more critical light. It has an extremely difficult job of fighting on three fronts: as an entertaining standalone film with a beginning, middle and end, as a finale to wrap up one trilogy, and as a connective branch to segue into another.
Events begin exactly where The Desolation of Smaug left off, with the enraged dragon laying fiery siege to Lake Town as its beleaguered residents flee in panic. It’s a breathless, visually-astounding prologue very similar to a James Bond pre-credits sequence, although it’s over far too quickly and seems a little anti-climactic considering most of the last film was spent bigging him up as the main baddie of the piece.
Meanwhile, inside the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) and the band of 13 Dwarves led by Thorin (Armitage) are searching the vast hoards of gold looking for the mythical Dwarven heirloom named The Arkenstone.
However, ‘Dragon Sickness’ has fallen upon Thorin and he descends into madness in his manic pursuit of the gem, rejecting his own kin out of greed and mistrust. When both men and elves alike come asking for their fair share of the booty in reward for their help, they are angrily rejected and gear up for war.
What follows is a healthy chunk of running time bogged down in plotting the exact machinations of the battle. Add an army of dwarves which come to Thorin’s aid and the evil Orc legions which come to spoil everyone’s party, and the scene is set for perhaps Jackson’s most ambitious battle scene of them all.
When it does arrive though, it truly is a wonderful spectacle to behold. Jackson’s trademark of focusing on individual characters and drawing empathy to their plights in battle rather than feeding us endless landscape shots of innumerable CGI constructs clashing against each other works just as effectively as it has before.
The acting is as superb as you would expect from such a stellar cast too, with the ensemble all getting a fair chance to strut their stuff. Armitage and Freeman, in particular, are afforded some golden scenes together, although considering the latter plays the eponymous character, he doesn’t get nearly as much screen time as he deserves.
However, there’s still the familiar problems blighting this instalment as those in this trilogy before it. While there’s less padding here than usual (it’s the shortest of any Middle-earth movie), some scenes tend to drag on longer than necessary and leave you craving some action or plot progression. In The Lord of the Rings, every frame had you hooked on every word and facial expression, which is sadly lacking here.
Furthermore, while the landscapes and vistas are as stunning as ever (I’d wager these films have done more for New Zealand’s tourism industry in 10 years than its entire previous history combined), there’s far too much CGI involved when it comes to the creatures. Particularly in the battle itself, all of the characters except the main cast are composed of special effects (even in close-ups) compared to the painstakingly-crafted costumed and made-up of extras in Rings.
The fighting and choreography has some cool moments, but the fact it’s so obviously false detracts from the overall experience. Helm’s Deep and Pelennor Fields felt much more personal to the audience as you knew every enemy was a living, breathing, real person and not one of the identikit masses.
Sadly, there’s the bitter irony that this trilogy has spent so long setting up its finale, but when it arrives, it’s over much too quickly and feels unfulfilled.
It seems Jackson took the criticism of The Return of the King’s ridiculous never-ending denouement (featuring no less than seven fades to black) too literally and severely undercooked this one, leaving various plot strands unattended. The cynic in me would suggest that this is one clever ploy to boost sales of the Extended Edition DVDs …
Overall then, Five Armies is a fitting end to The Hobbit trilogy and features strong performances across the board, but is plagued by similar criticisms to its brethren. Perhaps its biggest misfortune, much like the prequel Star Wars trilogy, is that it is practically impossible to better what came before it and is a lesser work by comparison, which really is no fault of its own.
Still, I dare anybody who has a love for the originals to not get emotional when the flute-led Shire theme kicks in and the ending segues perfectly into the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring. It’s then that you realise that it’s truly over and we’ve come full circle. We’ve been there and back again on a quite unexpected journey, and what a journey it was. We should all take a moment to savour and celebrate it, as we’ll never see its like again.
