Review: The Battle of the Five Armies Prepares for DVD release

Review by Kelton Hill
Image download courtesy www.thehobbit.com downloads |

I’ve been a Lord of the Rings fan most of my life because I enjoy fantasy, action, and adventure. When I heard about the making of the ‘Hobbit’ films, I was overexcited to watch them, so when ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ came out to theaters, I was impatient to watch it.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a 2014 fantasy action film directed by Peter Jackson and will be released on DVD on March 24, 2015. After the death of the dragon, Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the destruction of Lake-town, Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) becomes obsessed with finding the Arkenstone, the holiest jewel in the Kingdom of Erebor. Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) tries to make Thorin see reason, but the Dwarf King continues to sacrifice honor and friendship as he descends into madness. Soon, the fate of the Lonely Mountain is decided when a great battle begins between the Men of Lake-town, led by Bard the Bowman(Luke Evans), the Elves of Mirkwood, led by Elvenking Thranduil (Lee Pace), the Dwarves of Erebor and the Iron Hills, led by Dain II Ironfoot (Billy Connolly) and the Orcs of both Gundabad, led by Bolg (John Tui) and Dol Guldur, led by Azog (Manu Bennett).
I enjoyed the Battle of the Five Armies greatly because I enjoyed the action scenes, acting by Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, and Richard Armitage, and the theme of overcoming greed. However, while I enjoyed the film, it did have a few flaws.
One problem I had with the film was the character, Alfrid (Ryan Gage). Peter Jackson attempted to have him serve as the comic relief, but instead, he provided us with a character who didn’t deserve the screen time he was given because he received no character development. Another thing is that the ending seemed to have lacked the effort the beginning had, leaving a good number of questions unanswered.
When I went to see the film, I honestly thought that it would live up to the expectations we saw in the 2003 film ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’, which was the winner of 11 academy awards. Sadly, there were some parts that I was disappointed with in the new film.
Overall, I give the ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ a 7/10 as, in my opinion, its good qualities outweighed its bad qualities.

THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES
Rated PG-13