Well, finally got to see Battle of Five Armies. Heres my view. Ill try to keep it short. (And yes, there may be spoilers!) First, the bad: Least favorite moment: Peter Jacksons channeling of Frank Herbert for the Dune scene. Sandworms, Sir Peter? Really??? Second least favorite moments: The Dracula scenes. You know, the giant bats. Yeah, Sir Peter, Luke Evans made a cool Vlad, but this is Middle Earth. OK, done with that. Now the good stuff. The Bard-Bain/Smaug battle is epic in every way. Yes, I include Bain in this because he was knee deep in the action... and not for the only time. The Dol Guldor scene rocked. Galadriel goes from being dismayed and a bit frightened by the appearance of The Nine to totally ticked and ready to take care of business when Sauron appears. Saruman and Elrond have an awesome fight with The Nine and hints of Sarumans arrogance and overconfidence that will lead to his downfall appear. Whoever wrote the extended battle scene knew what they were doing. Best General Award goes to Azog. (Yeah, I know he lost. But Rommel lost to Montgomery, the most over-rated general of WW II) He takes the high ground, then directs his troops with signal flags throughout the action. When the situation changes he orders in reinforcements from Gundabad. Meanwhile, in typical dwarfish fashion, Dain Ironfoot opts for a frontal attack, while Thranduil (in typical British fashion?) refuses to believe Gandolfs intel report until the Orcs are nearly on top of him. Then he hesitates until shamed by the wizard. Thorin, when he finally decides to join the fight, does so without his armor! In short, only the timely arrival of Radagast and Beorn with the eagles saves the allied armies from disaster. Bard on the other hand shows once again that amateurs can come with innate talent (Nathan Bedford Forrest never spent a day in uniform before the War Between the States. Lee declared him his best general) The Legolas/Tauriel/Kili love triangle was handled pretty well. I know some of you dont like it, but as a writer I do. It allowed us to see Thranduil at his worst... and, arguably, his best. It also allows an exploration of what real love means, and of how... and how NOT... to handle loss. I want to see more of the final interaction between him, Legolas, and Tauriel. Clearly the end suffered much in the editing room. The arkenstone is not returned and there is no grand funeral for Thorin, though we are treated to a horn dirge while the people of Dale gaze off toward what we assume is Erabor. Hopefully this will be fixed in the extended addition. The end transitions nicely toward Lord of the Rings. Legolas has gone off in search of Strider. And Bilbo, in the form of Sir Ian Holm, answering the door at Gandolfs knock, just before long expected party. And here, at the end of all things (sorry) I realize that only just now have I mentioned Bilbo. Martin Freeman did an outstanding job of portraying the courage, sorrow, and at times down right bewilderment Bilbo deals with as he watches one who he counts as a friend. He deserved better than an emptied house on his return home. Well done, Sir Peter, well done!
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 01:14:04 +0000
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