The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

[CloneWars]

The Hobbit takes place sixty years before LOTR according to AUJ. Can someone explain why Legolas is seeking out Stryder? I mean, wouldn't he not be born yet? He seems to be in his thirty or forties when LOTR takes place.

 

The movie was okay. DOS was the low point for me. At the end, we see another orc army coming but eagles come and suddenly the battle is over. I didn't quite get that. It is not shown very well. I mean, I got it. It just didn't work for me.

 

Also, what happened to the Arkenstone at the end, and who is the new Dwarf king, or is there one? I read the Hobbit years ago and can't remember anything. 

[Plain Old Tele]

Aragorn is 88 at the time of LOTR. (The kings of Numenor -- Aragorn's ancestors -- were extremely long-lived.)

 

Dain becomes King Under the Mountain, and the Arkenstone stays with him (and the remaining Dwarves left living in the Mountain).

Edited December 17, 2014 by Telemachos

[IndustriousAngel]

Well, if we go by the book, Aragorn would be about 10 during the time of the Erebor incident. But PJs Middle-earth films follow their own timeline and geography, everything's much closer together there, in space and time. (Another example: At the end of AUJ, they look over Mirkwood and see the lonely mountain. In the book, this would have been impossible, it was 200-250miles from the Misty Mountains to the mountain.)

[ShouldIBeHere]

Yes, they skip the 17 years between Bilbo's 11th birthday and the begin of Frodo's journey in the movies.

 

That is why Aragorn is 27 during the Battle of the Five Armies.

[The Panda]

I saw it and found it very monotonous and very weirdly paced.  The movie really doesn't feel like a movie, it felt like I came into one halfway and so the movie is only a climax, there is no real build up and the resolution at the end feels strangely rushed, sudden, and undeserved.  The acting was honestly some of the weakest of the trilogy, there were also many parts in the movie where I groaned and rolled my eyes over how stupid something was (and it would happen just after a "serious moment").  The movie felt like it was trying to be an amusement park ride of non-stop eye candy and that just made it incredibly boring.  D

 

On a side note this was one of the worst theater experiences I have had this year.  There was a very large and evident stain in the middle of our screen, the sound was not on until halfway through the commercials so I was hearing Kelly Clarkson's extremely annoying cover of a Few of my Favorite Things over the trailers, there were a group of guys who literally would never shut up and made very loud comments to the entire theater throughout the movie when anything happened, they did not turn the lights down for a good way through the movie,  there was a faint buzzing sound from the far left the entire time, and the popcorn was burnt.  I can't hold any of that against the movie though, but that sure didn't help to make a boring movie a worthwhile experience.

Edited December 17, 2014 by The Panda

[The Panda]

The Hobbit takes place sixty years before LOTR according to AUJ. Can someone explain why Legolas is seeking out Stryder? I mean, wouldn't he not be born yet? He seems to be in his thirty or forties when LOTR takes place.

 

The movie was okay. DOS was the low point for me. At the end, we see another orc army coming but eagles come and suddenly the battle is over. I didn't quite get that. It is not shown very well. I mean, I got it. It just didn't work for me.

 

Also, what happened to the Arkenstone at the end, and who is the new Dwarf king, or is there one? I read the Hobbit years ago and can't remember anything. 

 

In the Hobbit book one of the dwarfs comes and explains everything that happened after he left (who is the new king, etc.), the resolution to the movie felt fairly sloppy in my opinion.

[Leyla]

That is why Aragorn is 27 during the Battle of the Five Armies.

PJ should have had him join the battle! they should have cgi'ed Viggo   

 

 

 

 

On a side note this was one of the worst theater experiences I have had this year.  There was a very large and evident stain in the middle of our screen, the sound was not on until halfway through the commercials so I was hearing Kelly Clarkson's extremely annoying cover of a Few of my Favorite Things over the trailers, there were a group of guys who literally would never shut up and made very loud comments to the entire theater throughout the movie when anything happened, they did not turn the lights down for a good way through the movie,  there was a faint buzzing sound from the far left the entire time, and the popcorn was burnt.

wow thats terrible 

Edited December 17, 2014 by Lady of Lorien

[darkelf]

A decent 3rd act to a decent second movie of this unfortunate 'trilogy' and easily the worst of the three. It tries to be this 'defining chapter' but the only thing it can define is the word 'underwhelm'... The fights are weirdly inter-cut and the score follows which stops almost all of the momentum from the key scenes and takes most of the emotion away. It just felt like it was missing a lot of things and that's probably true so I'm looking forward to the EE but for now it's pretty damn disappointing. I guess PJ only knows how to make 3-hour movies.

Still, there are good things, mostly Bilbo-related to be exact. Martin Freeman is a treasure and he lifts every single one of these movies above what they were supposed to be. Too bad he wasn't in them more. I also quite liked Bard and even Thorin's descent and redemption. I guess I was just glad to see some development on that front after the first two acts of this 2nd movie (that I had to pay for twice) in this 2-movie series without any.

6/10

[4815162342]

B+

1) Smaug

2) AUJ

3) Five Armies

You could tell a bunch of stuff from the titular battle as well as the aftermath was edited out. Plus there's a bunch of little things I would tinker with.

[CaptainJackSparrow]

My rankings:

FOTR

ROTK

Smaug

Two Towers

Five Armies

AUJ

[AniNate]

It's all really nice looking and the actors are all game, but this film is Peter Jackson's bloating tendencies at their absolute worst. A half-hour climax stretched out to feature length, with long periods of time without any sense of story progress.

[John Marston]

I like how some people are saying it is bloated and others are saying it is too rushed 

[AniNate]

I like how some people are saying it is bloated and others are saying it is too rushed 

 

If anything felt rushed or underdeveloped in this film, the solution would've been to just cut it out entirely.

[Wormow]

I'm actually incredibly disappointed. I fell asleep during the early battle sequence (I rated AUJ and A-)

[Kvikk Lunsj]

Disapointing

2:5

[Claire of Themyscira]

A. I found myself invested and extremely sad by the end.

 

[Mulder]

I'd give it a 7.5-8/10.

[Kalo]

 

Thorin descent into madness and return to sanity was handled poorly  okay, but could have been handled better

 

Every scene with Thranduil and Tauriel interacting was cringe-inducing  meh

 

I liked Kili and Tauriel in DoS, disliked it here. The love triangle didn't bother me in the second film, it felt like a waste of time (boring, uninteresting and predictable) here.

 

Thurdndil saying to Legolas that his mother loved him more than anything in the world was the most random subplot ever (agree)

 

Smaug indisputably feels out of place, even if the sequence was good. (a little)

 

it tried to be emotional and failed terribly feel short a bit

 

the second half (after the battle starts) is incredibly disjointed  somewhat disjointed

 

Bilbo and Thorin so called big friendship didn't feel natural

 

the lowest point of the movie was when the eagles came to save the day, again. At that point I just wanted the movie to end. (kind of agree)

 

And I can't get past the CGI (some of the time bad CGI) overload completely agree 

 

Dol Guldur and some of the stuff before the battle was good. agree

 

It all comes down to splitting The Hobbit into 3 films, They could have made two great films, right up there with LOTR. (yup)

 

AUJ 80/100

DOS 70/100

BOTFA 45/100

 

the funny thing is I agree with you to extent on almost everything you said, but I still really liked the movie (however, it probably is my least favorite of the series)

Edited December 18, 2014 by KaloVisor

[Impact]

I really did enjoy it-thought it was the best of the Hobbit films. (Yeah it was not as good as the LOTR trilogy, but I was not expecting that, critics were just being odd again)

A-

[stripe]

I finally saw it!!! I think I might see it again to have a stronger opinion but overall I really enjoyed BOTFA... with a few issues. I picked an A, but I'm more in the A- area.

 

The things I liked the most

Bilbo - really strong acting there, and a compelling emotional arc. Nice!

Thranduil scenes

The pacing - it's a nonstop movie

Smaug's prologue

The awesome first half of Dol Guldur

The begining of the battle - you feel the danger

The deaths. Painful and powerful

The Angmar fortress!

Thorin with Smaug's voice!

The ending, though you can perceive there are scenes that were finally cut

Dwalin and Balin scenes are powerful and moving. I loved Bilbo and Balin confidences about the Arkenstone

The walnut scene. Loved, loved, loved that!!

Part of the "romance", though it could have been better written

All of Thorin scenes are great

Aragorn's name!

 

The things I didn't like / love

Alfrid. He owns the weakest parts of the movie. The humour doesn't work in 80% of his too many scenes. He even ruined great scenes

 

Legolas jumping over the stones in the bridge. Not a good decision in an otherwise very physical and intense confrontation with Bolg

 

Bard using a charriot. That scene wasn't very well handled

 

The rushed pacing of the film do not give time to half of the dwarves. Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin and Gloin do not have barely one scene. On the other hand, Fili, Kili, Balin and Dwalin are very well handled.

 

Sauron vs Galadriel, It lacks a more physic confrontation. Not a fan of how it's showed.

 

A few plots get unsatisfyingly resolved: would have loved to see Saruman / Sauron brief scene after Dol Guldur; the goodbyes are too brief; return to the trolls cave was omited; Beorn was barely in the movie and not confronted Bolg.

 

The Score once again do not use the "Misty mountains" theme. Wasted oportunity to hear again a great theme

Edited December 18, 2014 by stripe