Thursday, December 25, 2014

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (2014)


Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Running Length: 2:24
Cast: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Aidan Turner, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Lee Pace, Hugo Weaving
Director: Peter Jackson

I was expecting the worst from THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES as judging from the trailer, it was filled with excessive wall-to-wall CGI battle scenes, which to me quite frankly has become a soulless boring movie experience (no thanks to the Star Wars prequel trilogy). Fortunately, it wasn't as numbing as I thought. In fact, it was pretty engaging. It's probably because the film makers managed to balance the big battle scenes with "quieter" heroic moments that allow the central characters to stand out. Surprisingly, this installment being the most action heavy, has the strongest focus on character development. Timeless themes such as honour, friendship, love and self-sacrifice are nicely blended here without over preaching it. And speaking of CGI, it's less intrusive here compared to the barrel ride scene in The Desolation of Smaug (that was unintentionally bad). Not as grand and epic in scope as The Lord of the Rings trilogy but The Battle of the Five Armies is the best film of The Hobbit's series. (And what's with Team America the eagles flying in to save the day once again?)

Rating: 7.5/10




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