The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies Pre-Review


We’ve seen the final journey to Middle Earth, should you splash the dosh in the cinema or horde your precious pennies in your hobbit hole?

Last time we left middle earth Bilbo and his company of dwarves had awoken the nefarious Dragon Smaug who was descending upon the nearby Laketown. A year later (yes it’s really been a year!) and we return where we left off with the conclusion of The Hobbit Trilogy. Just like the first film The Hobbit has a whimsical charm that is evident throughout complimented by breath-taking cinematic visuals and landscapes. The CGI is gorgeous and unobtrusive, and Benedict Cumberbatch will make you not only believe in dragons but that they can talk too, whilst his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman is once again delightful as our titular hero Bilbo Baggins. However there are some rather cheesy moments and lines (especially towards the end) with some actors delivering a fairly “hammy” performance at times. There’s pulse pounding action from the get go, however the beginning 20 minutes of The Hobbit The Battle Of The Five Armies feels like it simply should have been the end of the previous movie, we’re then treated to half an hour of what unfortunately felt a lot like filler as a large amount of exposition was required to up the stakes of the final battle, with Dwarf King Thorin Oakenshield’s descent into madness handled particularly heavy handed. The remainder of the film is pretty much one giant battle, possibly the longest battle I can remember seeing on the big screen, fortunately there is enough going on and enough emotional investment in these characters that just when it begins to feel tedious it swerves and continues the excitement.

While there’s plenty of the whimsical charm scattered throughout our final adventure in Middle Earth it focus’s much more on the epic battle, but for me perhaps this is where the movie suffers the most as it was this charm that really separated the first two instalments from The Lord Of The Rings, and while grander in scope than the previous two entries it misses the close personal focus on Bilbo and pals. Oh and we’re happy to report there aren’t 10 million different endings this time!! If you’ve seen the other two Hobbit films then you’d be mad to miss this one as it’s pure pay off, and we definitely recommend watching the others before you head to the cinema. Check back on Friday 12th for our full review!