Finally Over (Rant)

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Well folks, Peter Jackson’s Hobbit "trilogy" had come to an end.  I wish that I could say that it ended on a high note but that would be lying. This series was so disappointing that I was looking forward for it to end. Now that it has ended, Jackson enthusiasts everywhere now know what it was like for us Star Wars fans to be given such a crappy set of prequels. The argument of who has a better trilogy is now at a standstill, for both Jackson and  George Lucas couldn't live up to their fans' expectations.

What bothers me the most about this "trilogy" is that Jackson had help on the story outside of his award winning Lord of the Rings writing team.  Guillermo del Toro help lay the grounds work for what was supposed to be only a two film outing. Was what del Toro wrote really that bad and how much of what del Toro wrote really is in the final product? The other thing that bothers me is, why did this need to be made into three films? I have ranted about this before and here I am a year later no closer to the answer. I guess the only real thing I can thank Jackson for is that this trilogy doesn't have four different endings.

I will admit that I didn't hate the movie. I thought that Martin Freeman played a very good Bilbo. Freeman, to me,  has always had a skittish quality on screen and made the perfect Hobbit. I also enjoy some of the additional scenes evolving Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and Galadriel (Cate Blanchett). These scenes really show off Galadriel's power,  unlike her scenes in Rings. Of course Smaug was awesome to look at again,  but his time is short lived and which leads me to more of my disappointments.

As beautiful ( as a dragon can be) as Smaug is to look at,  his screen time is about 10 minutes. Jackson and company (Rings fans as well) built up the hype of his arrival,  but the end result was very lackluster. In Desolation of Smaug,  Smaug is presented as this elegant figure who justifies taking the dwarven treasure as almost a favor to the dwarves. In this film he becomes a bully to the humans of Lake-Town for giving the dwarves refuge. This wouldn't have bothered me so much (it does happen in the book) if the latter happened in Desolation. What was the purpose of splitting up this scene? Show Smaug in one film especially if you are going to only show him for all of 10 minutes of another film.

Some of my aggravations come with too many spoilers so I will only ruin a small part of the ending to Battle. *Star of spoilers* Toward the end of the film,  Legolas (Orlando Bloom Lord of the Rings) becomes resentful of his father's, Elven King Thranduil ( Lee Pace Guardians of the Galaxy), actions during the battle and decides to leave the royal guard. Thranduil accepts this (quite gracefully I might add) and suggests that his son seek out a Ranger from the North. For fans of the Rings films,  this is an obvious reference to Aragorn ( Viggo Mortensen from the Lord of the Rings trilogy), but this comes to question Jacksons real knowledge of the books. During the time of The Hobbit,  Aragorn would have been 10. Now talking the books or if it,  what about the fact that in Fellowship of the Ring, Legolas arrives as part of the Elven representative for Mirkwood...HIS FATHER'S KINGDOM!. Legolas' departure just raises more questions than answers.

The other discrepancy I want to address is Taruiel (Evangeline Lily Lost). Why do we have her? I understand that she was created specifically for this trilogy, but in the grand scheme of things Taruiel serves no real purpose. Taruiel had some spectacular action scenes in Desolation,  yet here in the concluding chapter,  she becomes almost nonexistent. She also survives the film,  which again raises more questions. Like...where the heck was she during Rings? Or did she die somewhere in the 60 years between events?  This just goes to show,  like Lucas, Jackson didn't watch his own trilogy. *End of Spoilers*

Like I said before I didn't hate this film, it was the best out of this trilogy,  but it didn't live up to the same standards as Lord of the Rings. This trilogy as a whole just felt confused. Not that I was confused, but the film felt confused about what was going on. Jackson emphasized some major points of the books, but that emphasis was overshadowed by time spent away from the source material.

The Verdict: Check Out On Blu-Ray