Reviewed by Matt Denny.
Were my fears well founded? To an extent, but The Battle of the Five Armies is so eager to please, its visuals so sumptuous, Jackson's child-with-a-box-of-soldiers approach so charming that the film won me over. By the time the opening battle ended, it was hard to remember what I'd been so angry about. That being said, the film is still dogged by the problems that have plagued this prequel trilogy. The attempts to link up with The Lord of the Rings are clunky and overplayed, eclipsing the story of The Hobbit. The dwarves remain a largely amorphous mass, with Legolas stealing much of the limelight. Thorin (Richard Armitage) does get some juicy scenes, and Bilbo has some moments of real pathos, with Martin Freeman demonstrating that he can be so much more than a smirk when he wants to. The creature design is delightful and the sweeping battles are peppered with visual gags and moments of derring-do that really make you want to cheer. The film is heavy on exposition and more than a little feels redundant and clunky. A lot of time is spent setting out just who the five armies are, where they've come from, and why they're here now - not always effectively. It may seem that I'm more concerned with listing the films faults than singing its praises, but that's only because this is a spoiler-free review and to list the films delights would indeed spoil them. So many of the moments that made me laugh, or gasp, or weep (sometimes all three at once) did so because they were unexpected, or played out something I'd anticipated in a novel fashion. That's quite an achievement for what is essentially the sixth film in a franchise, and even more so for an adaptation. What's more, for all that Battle of the Five Armies deviates from the letter of The Hobbit, it feels a good deal closer in spirit.
This review was published on December 21, 2014. Post your views Article comments powered by Disqus |
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