Negatives
* A consequence of spreading one short book over 3 movies is that they're essentially all out of story by this point--the whole movie is just one long build up to a battle, and then one long battle.
* Tolkien's world, in which evil beings are always evil just for the sake of being evil, is one that is okay for children, but as an adult it feels like a waste of time to spend too long in such a world.
Positives
* But what a spectacular battle scene it was.
The Review
An army of evil orcs which is evil just for the sake of being evil does not lead to a particularly engaging story. The only reason you'd ever see this film is if you like action sequences.
Fortunately, the action sequences deliver.
This would be the best movie ever if I was 8 years old again--the incredible battle sequences, the mystical settings, the awesome set designs. And the inner child in me could still delight in these things.
Rating :
6 out of 10 stars (Based on the spectacle of the battle scenes, and not on the plot.)
Links
For my previous reviews of the hobbit movies, see 1 here, and 2 here.
Link of the Day
The Myth of the Liberal Media
2 comments:
Boy, I disliked this movie. Throughout the series Peter Jackson just kept pointlessly introducing characters and innovations and plot switch-ups that were entirely unnecessary, but this last instalment had some of the most egregious of them. Those worms, for instance: what were they, where did they live, what is their backstory, and why are they at the behest of the orcs in this film, but non-existent in LOTR (rhetorical question, that last one). And that meatball human who was banging the drum for democratic reform in the earlier movie -- suddenly he's in charge of his entire species, and he protests not a whit? Then there's Legolas jumping from one collection of falling stones to the next to get back up the bridge. Why didn't he just flap his arms and fly?
No, this whole series beggared the imagination. I couldn't believe it had been made by the same guy who'd done such good work with LOTR.
I'm not going to deny the movie had its flaws.
The were-worms--I totally agree. And what's worse, after all that build up, we didn't even see the worms get to eat anybody. They should have been at least brought into battle.
Legolas jumping on the falling stones was a low point. Agreed.
And then to add to the list:
That comic relief character (Alfrid) was just gratting and not funny in every scene he was in.
And the whole plot of the movie didn't make any sense at all. This is probably an inherent problem from the source material, but why are the armies of Goblins marching on the cave? Was that ever explained? What do Goblins need gold for?
For all that though, I didn't hate this movie entirely.
I had read so many bad reviews of this movie prior to seeing it that I was almost dreading it going into the theatre. Especially since the movie was going to be so long. And because it had a reputed 45 minute long battle scene. I thought it was going to be an endurance marathon to get through.
And then, I found that that huge battle scene, as long as it was, was actually pretty well choreographed. And that it didn't feel way too long. And that I actually kind of found myself enjoying some of those fight scenes.
And the final fight on the broken ice was actually kind of cool I thought.
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