Official Australian release date: 26/12/14. Viewed: 26/12/14.
Director: Peter Jackson
Actors: Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Martin Freeman, Luke Evans
Genre: Adventure / Fantasy
Rating: M
The third – and final – Hobbit film
is a valiant attempt to recapture the ‘Lord of the Rings’ magic of Middle Earth,
but too often feels tired and repetitive, especially in the sixth film in the
franchise. It’s by no means bad, it’s just – as with the first two Hobbit films
– unnecessarily padded, with lots of flashbacks and scenes of staring into the
distance. I’m still not convinced the three Hobbit films couldn’t have worked
as one cohesive 3 & a bit hour film…
Even though the
second film featured his name in the title, Smaug (Cumberbatch) is quickly dealt with and the plot hastily progresses to be about the
humans – led by Bard (Evans) – tying to move into the Mountain with the Dwarves
– led by Thorin (Armitage) & a mostly redundant cameo from Dain (Connolly). To complicate things, the Elves – led by Legolas
(Bloom)’s dad – show up too and then the Orcs arrive. By my count, that’s four
armies. The fifth army never really eventuates… Gandalf (McKellen) & Bilbo
(Freeman) are left stuck in the middle of all this.
There’s some quick appearances from Elrond (Weaving), Galadriel (Blanchett)
& Saruman (Lee), which are unnecessary and don’t add to the plot. There’s
some good battle scenes, but nothing to top ‘The Two Towers’ or ‘The Return of
the King’. Some mild humour thrown in, but a lot of the film feels bogged down
and aware it’s “the defining chapter” or “the final farewell” as it’s been
billed.
Plenty
of frustrating moments – Tauriel (Lilly)’s “romance” with Kili (Turner), Thorin’s
“dragon sickness”, the get-out-of-jail-card that the Eagles pose. Despite
these, the score is still great, with the use of the familiar motifs still effective
and the cinematography beautiful.
Overall: Too much going on, but an
adequate resolution to this trilogy.
Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.
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