'The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies' Review

Nominated for: Best Sound Editing.

Today I went to go see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and I thought it was a fun final journey to Middle Earth. Some of the highlights of the film were it's ensemble cast, cinematography, visual effects, and action sequences. The ensemble cast was great throughout the film. There were many standouts in the ensemble cast that I enjoyed to see, particularly Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Luke Evans as the Bard, Richard Armitage as Thorn, Evangeline Lily as Gabriel, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, and each of the dwarves. It was also great to hear Benedict Cumberbatch voice the dragon Smug. The cinematography was amazing and there were so many beautiful shots of scenery like the Lonely Mountain and the city of Dale. The visual effects were spectacular and eye pleasing. The action sequences were some of the best the Hobbit films have displayed so far. I loved the use of animals in the battle for some cool action sequences, especially a moose, rams, pigs, eagles, bats, etc. However one drawback is that this film doesn't really have the best story of the Hobbit films. In my opinion the best story in a Hobbit film would have to be The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Really the film is one huge epic battle, so it serves as a better action movie and end to the trilogy than a stand alone film. However I will admit a few of the action scenes are drawn out a little longer than they should be but what do you expect from a film called Battle of the Five Armies. I have read the book and as slightly disappointed when they changed the title of this third film to "Battle of the Five Armies" rather than "There and Back Again" which is what the third section of the book is called. But I understand the title sounds cooler and describes the film better. For the most part this installment is accurate except for a few details and all of the filler that was added in the previous two films that wasn't in the book like the Gandalf side quest, and pale orc, and Tauriel and Legolas side story really do help to build up to this film. Overall, it is a great farewell to Middle Earth and a fun film that has great action as well as some humor. I highly recommend you see the film if you enjoy action films but I didn't see in the High Frame Rate so I can't comment on that part of the experience.