The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - A Decent But Disappointing End to Jackson's Middle Earth Saga

My review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The most frustrating thing about the Hobbit movies is how I can't quite manage to dismiss them completely. Reading my review of the first film is an amusing, if somewhat embarrassingly effusive, flashback to when I was still optimistic about the franchise. My second review had internalized the cynicism to some extent, but was still reluctantly positive. And with the third installment, yet again, I kind of enjoyed the film.

[Spoilers]

Throughout the two and a half hour run-length of The Battle of the Five Armies, I was fighting to hate it. Part of the problem is that Peter Jackson still shows flashes of his old genius, though marred by his utter lack of restraint. The film begins with the quick, dramatic dispatching of Smaug the dragon by Bard and Bard Jr. (really Bain). This act is accomplished using a cobbled-together bow to launch a giant arrow off of Bain's shoulder. The shoulder thing was a neat idea, a great element of added personal tension, but to convince us that a makeshift bow would launch a huge arrow off a little boy's shoulder...uh, no.

Trailers - Hobbit, Mockingjay - Part 1, The Maze Runner

I was not a huge fan of The Hunger Games novels, but Catching Fire had enough spark (ha), talent, and fine scripting that I was won over. It combined good visuals with a perfectly paced storyline, headed up by the ever-charismatic Jennifer Lawrence. Two great teasers have come out (my favorite is the creepy political commercial), and here's more of the same:

As for The Hobbit...well, I try and suspend my hopes. They've improved marginally as we go along (my reviews of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), but still manage to completely miss the heart of the book: that this is a story about a hobbit, not a war, or a tragic, sexy dwarf hero, or an epic battle between good and evil. The world would be a better place if we remembered that. But, this trailer's kind of cool. I'm a sucker for visuals, and if there's anything Peter Jackson can do, it's visuals:

Lastly we have The Maze Runner, based on the young adult novel of the same name. I wasn't impressed with the book, and I doubt I'll like the movie. Action, neat premise, survival stuff, great. But characters? Not a one.

Hannah Long

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Indiana Jones Hits Middle-Earth

Review of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

When I walked into the theater today, I had the title of this post ready and waiting. Last year's review was entitled "A Great Adventure, But Not as Great as it Could Have Been." The second installment had already earned the tag of "Terrible, But Not as Terrible as it Could Have Been."

*Many spoilers*

It turns out I was wrong. Like the first film, The Desolation of Smaug is certainly a mixed bag, but coming up on my horrendously low expectations, it quickly soared into my good graces.

The first movie was so disappointing for several reasons: Radagast. The Goblin King. Stupid dwarf humor. Black magic. Boring visuals. Lazy, ham-fisted foreshadowing of the other films. Ridiculously large, cartoonish action sequences. Not being Lord of the Rings.

How does film two compare?