The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies fan reviews... SPOILERS

[Voronwë the Faithful]

It's also interesting how different people's reactions can be, as some (both fans and professional reviewers) have particularly praised the action in this film, in contrast to Beutlin's comments.

[Dave_LF]

"Defiant" over at TORN makes the following observation:

Hidden text.

The conversation about Strider and Arathorn had nothing to do with Aragorn. I think you guys might be completely missing the subtext in this scene. It was Thranduil's way of admitting his error to his son without losing face. He says to Legolas,"His father was a good man. The son may be a great man." He's really talking about himself and Legolas at this point. I thought it was a beautiful way for the character to admit his mistake in a way that was in character.

which sounds like a great piece of writing if it is accurate. For those who have seen the scene, did you get this sense from it at all?

[Necromancer Rising]

It's also interesting how many folks have found the death of Fili especially to be really shocking and emotional not to mention the Thorin/Bilbo last scene.

[Necromancer Rising]

"Defiant" over at TORN makes the following observation:

Hidden text.

The conversation about Strider and Arathorn had nothing to do with Aragorn. I think you guys might be completely missing the subtext in this scene. It was Thranduil's way of admitting his error to his son without losing face. He says to Legolas,"His father was a good man. The son may be a great man." He's really talking about himself and Legolas at this point. I thought it was a beautiful way for the character to admit his mistake in a way that was in character.

which sounds like a great piece of writing if it is accurate. For those who have seen the scene, did you get this sense from it at all?

This is one of the most interesting things i read today. Really looking forward to that scene now

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I saw that too, and thought the same thing.

[Telemachos]

"Defiant" over at TORN makes the following observation:

Hidden text.

The conversation about Strider and Arathorn had nothing to do with Aragorn. I think you guys might be completely missing the subtext in this scene. It was Thranduil's way of admitting his error to his son without losing face. He says to Legolas,"His father was a good man. The son may be a great man." He's really talking about himself and Legolas at this point. I thought it was a beautiful way for the character to admit his mistake in a way that was in character.

which sounds like a great piece of writing if it is accurate. For those who have seen the scene, did you get this sense from it at all?

I took it at face value, but that's a good and completely valid interpretation, and wish I'd realized it at the time. (And yes, that quote is more or less verbatim.)

[Beutlin]

I would also like to point out that I will likely be far more positive after my second viewing. I enjoyed both AUJ and DOS far more when I saw them for the second time, and I have a hunch that this effect will be even more pronounced this time around. I hope I have not disheartened anyone here. The central theme of this film is friendship and here the film delivers wholeheartedly.

Edit: Just found out that my brother is lurking around here and reading all my posts. Begone, foul dwimmerlaik!

[Passdagas the Brown]

Thanks, Beutlin! I have to say that your comments are mostly encouraging to me, even if I didn't appreciate the LOTR films nearly as much as you did.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Question for those who have seen it. The picture that we saw of Bombur and the horn. Is that in the film?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

From Denethor of TORC:

Having just got back from it - yes, it is the best of the three. In fact, notwithstanding some loose ends, I'd actually rank this as behind only FOTR among Jackson's Middle-earth sextet. The ending, for one, feels more mature and melancholy than ROTK, and the attention, at long last, is on Bilbo.

[Alatar]

Question for those who have seen it. The picture that we saw of Bombur and the horn. Is that in the film?

Yes!

[Beutlin]

Alatar: Where's your review?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Question for those who have seen it. The picture that we saw of Bombur and the horn. Is that in the film?

Yes!

Cool!

Also anticipating your review.

[Passdagas the Brown]

From Denethor of TORC:

Having just got back from it - yes, it is the best of the three. In fact, notwithstanding some loose ends, I'd actually rank this as behind only FOTR among Jackson's Middle-earth sextet. The ending, for one, feels more mature and melancholy than ROTK, and the attention, at long last, is on Bilbo.

This is very, very encouraging. I thought the end of ROTK was awfully schmaltzy and sappy. Seven minutes of slow-motion hugging is not my idea of emotional maturity. It sounds like the end of BOTFA may be far more subtle.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I largely posted that here for your benefit.

[Helm Hammerhand]

Hey there, my first post.

I'm that brother of Beutlin's who's been lurking around here. He convinced me to register and write some of my thoughts on this board as well. So, here I am.

Hidden text.

Generally, I agree with most of my brother's sentiments. Here are a few things I'd like to add:
While the first two films certainly benefited from the triple screening, for me personally, it did have a slightly negative effect on the third installment. A few scenes that were solid or even excellent on their own, fall a bit short after seeing the huge buildup in the prequels. Most notably, Smaug's death and Sauron's banishment from Dol Guldur suffer from this. Furthermore, I was in fact more tired after DoS than I would have expected. 6 hours of watching 3D movies on the big screen do strain your eyes.

As Beutlin has already mentioned, the weakest part of the movie is certainly the battle itself. Too often, PJ crosses the line between fun but still acceptable goofiness - an example for me would be Aragorn tossing Gimli in The Two Towers - and scenes that'll just make you roll your eyes, the worst being Legolas's fight with Bolg. This by far exceeds the Legolas-Mûmak moment in RotK, at least for me.

However, I believe if you are prepared for this sort of goofiness it won't bother you as much as it did me whilst being unprepared. Yet, there's one thing in particular that I will loathe in all future viewings to come and that's the decision to split the main characters from the battle itself. I understand that they wanted to focus on these personal duels, mostly between Azog and Thorin but it would have been so much better, had they just left them on the actual battlefield.

Another big dissappointment for me was the almost complete cut of Beorn. Ever since I saw his promising introduction in DoS i imagined him brutally tearing apart Azog and bringing the turnaround in a seemingly hopeless battle. Instead, all we get to see is a very short shot of him jumping down a hundred feet or so, transforming into a bear and charging into the orc ranks. The outcome of the battle, however, is already clear at that moment. Again, this will probably not bother me anymore at my second viewing when I'm already prepared.

Now for the good stuff: Once more I have to agree with Beutlin. The most important theme of the movie - Bilbo's friendship with Thorin - is excellently portrayed throughout the whole film. I also love how they handled Thorin's death. At that point I was rather irritated since I did not like his final battle with Azog at all and still, still I was almost moved to tears when Oakenshield was drawing his final breaths in Bilbo's arms. The hobbit's farewell and return to the Shire are equally well done and make for a very redeeming end of the series.

So, all in all, I think most people here will love the movie if they are prepared for its weak moments. Yes, the goofiness is way overdone and the great battle dissappoints but do not let that get in the way too much, for the movie has so much else to offer, be it the exquisite acting by the likes of Martin Freeman or Ian McKellen, the portrayal of Bilbo and Thorin's friendship, all those little calm moments in between and of course a highly moving ending.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Welcome, Helm! Thanks for sharing your additional thoughts. I also love your avatar picture.

[Helm Hammerhand]

Thank you.

[Alatar]

Ok. Before I begin, the usual disclaimers. I'm notoriously easy to please, things that (generic) you may hate may not bother me, and vice versa.

I think this was the best of the three Hobbit movies because in everything that matters to me personally, they got it right. There were no glaring changes from the book. In fact, of all the Middle Earth Movies, this is the one that could be edited closest to the source. More than any of the LotR movies even. But most importantly, it had its heart in the right place. This movie is about Bilbo and Thorin, and they were magnificent. Freeman's Bilbo is pitch and note perfect in every way. He brought me to tears with every catch in his stiff upper lip. And yes, he sobbed long and hard at Thorins side. This was the quintessential Hobbit performance. With all due respect to Elijah, Sean, Dom, Billy and even Sir Ian, Freeman's Bilbo in this Movie is the best representation of any of the Hobbits in all 6 movies. He was simply that good. Armitages' descent into madness was very well done. It was heavy handed, but in full on Shakespearian style. I'd love to see his Lear, because this was as close as you could get to that in a Hobbit movie. This is what we could have seen in Denethor, had PJ had the time to develop his character fully. I thought his fever dream awakening from madness was ok, but his scene with McTavish's Dwalin was simply stunning. Even more so because you expected this scene to come from Stott. Balin has been set up as the trusted counsellor, with Dwalin as the meat and muscle, so this reversal packed twice the punch. Also, so many perfect lines of dialogue almost direct from the page. I won't spoil them for you but they really nailed it for me.

So thats on an emotional level. As a purely cinematic thrill ride its nearly beat perfect. Its endlessly inventive and never boring. The Weta crew delivered in spades once again in their designs and their implementation. So many different varieties of Orc, war beasts, the Rams, the Boars, the Orcish signal tower, the fighting styles of the Dwarves and Elves. (I adored the double height Roman Shieldwall manoeuvre). And those wereworms. Straight out of Dune in an absolutely deliberate visual homage. I liked the idea of the strategic location of Erebor and Gundabad, and the reference to rebuilding the kingdom of Angmar.

So, what about the reported negatives. Well, lets get some out of the way straight away. I had absolutely no problem with Tauriel, Legolas, Kili or even Alfrid. Alfrid had one stupid scene at the very end that I could have done without, but the rest of his scenes worked fine for me. Tauriel and Kili's relationship worked perfectly. Its not canon, but it somehow worked for me, and Tauriel's words to Thranduil about the pain of love hit me hard. I know there will be others here who will think the dialogue was clunky or heavy handed, or obvious, but frankly, I don't care. It worked for me. The same with Legolas' final scene and the reference to Aragorn. It just worked for me. I can see why it won't for some, but it did for me.

My own negatives were different. I disliked Nuclear Galadriel in Fellowship, and this was no improvement for me. But apart from that Dol Guldur was fantastic. I'm also the guy who argued strenuously that Goblintown was NOT like a videogame, but Legolas in certain scenes here absolutely was. Some of his moves were straight out of God of War or Prince of Persia, but honestly, they were so few and far between I forgave them. It probably helped that much of the fighting was extremely visceral and brutal, which balanced off against this seeming invulnerability. In many ways I can see and understand the reasons for the changes PJ made. It would have felt cheap for Beorn to kill Azog after building up the enmity between himself and Thorin. I know others will claim this if Scriptwriting 101, but you know what, there's a reason these tropes are repeated. Because they are satisfying. Arcs and climaxes matter in Cinema. I love that they included so many little touches for the fans. There's a particularly nice touch in the return to Bag End that I haven't seen mentioned, and I won't spoil it.

Finally, having watched all three together, I really appreciate the difficult line PJ trod with these movies. Its incredibly difficult to make a film that includes CRack the Plates and Down Down to Goblintown, and still make it work with the final scenes of BoFA. The tonal arc that is achieved in these three movies takes us almost imperceptibly from slightly goofy, to Shakesperean tragedy, and sets the tone perfectly for a transition to Lord of the Rings. Also, despite being prequels, they managed not to spoil anything for Lord of the Rings, unlike the Star Wars Prequels which robbed the Original movies of most of their reveals. Its a hugely impressive feat.

Oh, and the Alan Lee artwork at the end is beautiful. Stay in your seats and listen to the Last goodbye.

[Dave_LF]

Very glad to hear all of this. Thanks for sharing.