The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies bids a farewell to The Hobbit film trilogy by marshalling all forces for a showdown battle in the fantastical Middle-earth, a fictional land created by British author J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) in his 1937 novel.

A scene featuring Ian McKellen (left) and Martin Freeman from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Photos: CFP

The film follows the event of its predecessor, when a band of 13 dwarves led by the dwarf prince Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) has reclaimed their homeland the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch).

The revenge-hungry Smaug rains fire upon the defenseless residents of Lake-town before being killed by Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) with an arrow.

Thorin (pictured below) becomes increasingly corrupted by his gold and obsessively searches for a priceless gem called the Arkenstone.

When Bard and the Lake-town survivors seek refuge in the town of Dale, the elven king Thranduil (Lee Pace) arrives with supplies, wishing to claim his share of the gems in the mountain by forming an alliance with Bard.

The hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) hands over the Arkenstone stolen from Smaug to Thranduil and Bard, who then offer it to Thorin for gold.

When legions of Orcs and wolf-like Wargs attack the mountain for its treasure, Thorin regains his sanity and leads his company into battle.

The film depicts the vibrant fantasy world of Middle-earth. The dark, grey battlefields look broodingly cold and violent. In contrast, Bilbo's Bag End home in the Shire features a lovely, pastoral wonderland full of picturesque natural scenery.

Sweeping battle shots initially impress with their CGI effects. There is absolute mayhem with arrows flying, swords clashing, hordes roaring and bridges crumbling. The nonstop action sequences are a sumptuous visual feast, accompanied by an equally thrilling score composed by Howard Shore.

Yet the special effects alone cannot raise the film from mediocrity. Repetitive battle scenes become quite tedious. Loaded with an abundance of hopping dwarves, immortal elves, fearsome trolls and evil orcs, the film still feels empty due to its lack of plot. The 144-minute episode, though much shorter than its predecessors, is essentially a series of drawn-out battles.

Armitage nails every scene he is in by vividly portraying the inner conflict of Thorin. Yet the titular character Bilbo is not given much screen time and reduced to a minor role of no weight.

The film also fails to explain the back story to its audience, who might get confused and have no idea what happened in the previous episodes.

It also leaves too many questions unresolved, for instance what happens to each army after the battle? The whole story is about different forces fighting for the gold of the mountain, yet we are left with no clue to its whereabouts.

Those who expect a splendid epic might find themselves disappointed, as this final chapter turns out to be an unfitting send-off to the Middle-earth series and is by no means a successful stand-alone piece in itself.

A poster for the film

 

Everyone's a critic



Lin Xiao

33, teacher

"Compared with the endlessly gripping battle sequences in The Lord of the Rings films, this contains little sense of drama. The opening scenes of the fiery dragon wreaking havoc are brilliant. Afterwards, it goes downhill all the way and things start to get sleep-inducing."

Zhou Yuan

27, finance executive

"I was terribly disappointed with this episode. Too many characters need screen time and too many things have to be explained. The film becomes a mess of action pieces lumped together with no logic. Director Peter Jackson spent too much effort on creating pointless fighting scenes instead of developing a coherent and intriguing story line."

Ray Zhang

29, IT specialist

"In the beginning, we were plunged straight into the adventure with the dragon laying waste to Lake-town without any explanation. I hadn't read Tolkien's novel or seen the previous two installments, and I was totally lost at this one. The film is basically fighting with no real arc. It has some visual excitement but fails to generate any emotional resonance in me."