The Battle of the Five Armies Pt. 2

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How I'm going to be able to pull this review off in my standard, 10-paragraph format is beyond me, but I'll try my best. I mean, basic plot for this chapter is "everybody fights", as this chapter is essentially the climactic sequence of the original story... and Smaug was still more memorable. I still remember at the time, wondering how they could possibly pull off a full movie based on the Battle of the Five Armies (the actual battle). They did pull it off, but was it worth it?

In the last chapter, Smaug was brought down by Bard, and the dwarves, Balin (Ken Stott), Dwalin (Graham McTavish), Bifur (William Kircher), Bofur (James Nesbitt), Bombur (Stephen Hunter), Fili (​Dean O'Gorman), Kili (Aidan Turner), Oin (John Callen​), Gloin (Peter Hambleton), Nori (Jed Brophy​), Dori (​Mark Hadlow), Ori (​Adam Brown) gained a new King Under the Mountain; Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) of Erebor. However his greed, and lust of the Arkenstone end up driving him a bit mad with something referred to as Dragon Sickness.

In the meantime, all hell has broken loose outside the mountain's walls, as a battle between dwarves, elves, and men against orcs, goblins and feral creatures rages on. In the midst of battle, basically everyone is involved. While Gandalf (Ian McKellen) battles alongside Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) certainly hold their own, showing us some pretty sweet moves. This once again solidifies how creative a fighter Legolas is. In other areas of battle, we also have Bard (Luke Evans) and the oh so cowardly Alfrid (Ryan Gage), Thorin's awesome cousin, Dain (Billy Connolly) and elf King, Thranduil (Lee Pace).

The "dark side", so to speak, is lead by Azog (Manu Bennett) and his brutish son, Bolg (John Tui). While all of this is going on, Thorin is being somewhat of a coward, himself, sooner suggesting the dwarves fortify themselves deeper within their tunnels. Dwalin has a word with him, however, that seems to snap him back into focus, and this chapter opens with he dwarves joining the battle, and the other dwarves rallying behind him. As for the rest of it, well, as I mentioned before, "everyone fights". I make it sound more boring than the whole thing is though. Truth be told, the Battle of the Five Armies is one of my favourites, if for nothing else, its sheer creativity.

A few things stand out in this battle for me, and hopefully fans reading this will know what I'm talking about for some of it. One thing I really had fun with was Balin piloting a sled with a few others on it, guided by a bunch of goats (or at least, goat-like creatures). This also has (although it was in the last chapter) one of the best panoramic war shots I've ever seen. It's a great visualization to illustrate that all hope without the dwarves was becoming lost. You just hear destruction, see fire, and feel the weight of it all. It's very effective. But for as much as I love this fight, there is one scene that does genuinely bother me.

At one point (not to spoil too much), we see Thorin reunite with his cousin, Dain, in the midst of battle. The pair have time to hug, have a pause, and even have a conversation while war is all around them. Being that these two characters in particular seem to have marks on their heads (especially Thorin) it makes NO sense that no one is trying to kill them while they are distracted. These are orcs for crying out loud, and to kill Thorin would be like cutting the head off a snake. Instead, we get Thorin heading out to take care of Azog, which Gandalf also refers to as cutting the head off a snake.

On top of that, one thing I feel I should point out is, for as cool as their fight scenes are, Legolas and Tauriel (especially Legolas) take a sort of front seat here. Thorin and the dwarves are driving the car, but Legolas definitely called "shotgun". Bear in mind, he's not at all a part of the book. For that matter, neither is Tauriel, and I start to see at this point, everyone's problem with her. She really IS kind of there to serve as an unnecessary love interest, despite the fact that she can certainly hold her own in battle. I have mentioned before that I like seeing more of this world, but at this point, the movie has kind of made the story its own thing. Granted, without doing that, the film would be pretty boring. But I do get why fans of the book take issue.

All in all, 'The Battle of the Five Armies' is a weird one for me to review. To make things perfectly clear, I still really like it, but it's no 'Desolation of Smaug', or even 'Unexpected Journey'. For as much as they added to those, the main story was pretty much the same, save for a few small liberties (namely the Kili-Tauriel thing). This one actually (as far as I recall) takes liberties with things that go as far as character deaths. While this is probably for dramatic purposes, once again, I can see where people would take issue with it.

In truth, I probably should have re-read the book before getting into all of this, because it has been a number of years. There's plenty I do remember, but I also confess that SOME mentions of how the film differs from the book may not be 100% accurate. If so, do feel free to correct me on any of it. Having said that, I think it's interesting that I have a sort of "comfort zone" thing that goes with the book that I didn't get from these movies. However, 'Lord of the Rings' is the opposite - the book is long, tedious and boring, but the movie is exciting... That's just personal opinion though. I can't deny that the book remains a classic work of literature to this day. But 'Rings', I feel like I can watch as an annual tradition. I don't really get the same feeling with the 'Hobbit' films. In fact, this is my first watch-through of any of them since they were in theaters.

So there it is! My final review of the past couple of months of Tolkienism is finally complete, despite the fact that it was difficult to reach these 10 paragraphs, and admitting to using a lot of character names for filler. However, I think it's fairly appropriate to name everyone in the final review if I can. These were a great bunch of movies to revisit, but it is definitely a marathon of viewing. I did 'Rings' first, but I might just as soon suggest doing 'The Hobbit' first, as it quite literally ends at the beginning of 'Rings'. These films won't be for everyone, but I would implore one to release their inner geek, and give them a try. It's all a fun, fantasy adventure that will remind you to get your daily steps in with all the walking.

4/5

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