Undoubtedly, hordes of film-goers will line up this week to experience the final chapter in director Peter Jackson’s ridiculously expansive adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. One suspects that such viewers are not only Middle Earth enthusiasts, but also resolute admirers of Jackson’s particular vision. It’s difficult to imagine a casual filmgoer—or a Tolkienist who is ill-disposed to Jackson’s interpretation—sitting through a three-film, eight-hour adaptation of a book that barely cracks 300 pages. This is to say that The Battle of the Five Armies, like most concluding entries in big-budget franchises, is likely to be a critic-proof film. Still, it’s often instructive to go through the motions.
The new film opens almost exactly where the previous chapter concluded. In their efforts to reclaim the ancient dwarven city of Erebor, the wily hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), exiled dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), and 12 other dwarf warriors have provoked the wrath of the dragon Smaug. In retaliation, Smaug descends on the company’s human allies in the nearby settlement of Laketown, strafing it with gouts of hellfire. Only the bargeman Bard (Luke Evans) dares to stand against the creature, placing his hopes in the legendary Black Arrow of his lordly ancestors. Although Laketown is reduced to a smoldering husk, Bard ultimately slays the dragon and leads the survivors to the nearby ruined city of Dale.
If the above seems spoiler-ish, never fear: Smaug’s demise occurs before the film’s subtitle even appears on screen. Intriguingly, Jackson’s third Hobbit feature is not principally concerned with the dragon’s fiery wrath and death, but their aftermath. Smaug’s defeat leaves the unimaginable wealth of Erebor ripe for plundering. (There are echoes of the tragic farce that unfolded in post-war Iraq.) The titular five armies accordingly descend on the mountain holdfast to claim their share. These forces include the ragged humans of Laketown; the legions of the elven king Thranduil (Lee Pace); the Iron Hill dwarves under Thorin’s relation Dain (Billy Connolly); and two orc armies commanded by the warlord Azog (Manu Bennett) and his spawn Bolg (Lawrence Makoare).
Bilbo engages in some perilous skullduggery to defuse the situation, to no avail. Suffice to say that the bulk of the final Hobbit film consists of one extended scene of fantasy warfare. As with prior entries in the franchise, all the computer-generated, choreographed PG-13 bloodshed can get a little wearisome at times. Fortunately, Jackson is skilled at turning the chaos of epic-scale warfare into lucid drama, as he demonstrated in The Lord of the Rings’ Helm’s Deep and Minas Tirith sequences. As hosts of nameless warriors and strange monsters clash, the film flits between various strategic sorties where the main characters attempt to turn the tide of battle.
Beyond serving up pure fantasy spectacle and some Tolkienist pandering, Battle primarily concerns the distorting effects of wealth and the power it represents. While the orcs might be driven by genocidal malice, war between the humans, elves, and dwarves would not be a foregone conclusion were it not for Thorin’s gold-fueled rage and paranoia. Armitage arguably gives the most watchable performance in the franchise, and Thorin’s descent from stalwart courage into muttering madness is its most fascinating character arc in a walk. Freeman is no slouch, but much of the remaining cast is comparatively bland (Evans, Pace, Orlando Bloom) or unpleasantly cartoonish (Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage). Overall, Battle feels a bit weaker as a standalone film than its predecessor, The Desolation of Smaug. Nonetheless, the new feature strengthens the series as a whole, and highlights that The Hobbit in probably best approached in its full 474-minute glory.
The Battle of the Five Armies opens in wide release Wednesday, December 16.
