The first time I saw THE LORD OF THE RINGS, I wasn’t convinced at all. I thought that Peter Jackson had merely created a repetitive special-effects list of, ‘Here come the orcs…again.’ I found the characters annoying, I didn’t care about them, I didn’t care about the endless wars; ultimately, I found Middle-earth inaccessible, when everyone else managed just fine to go forth and enjoy. But, then I watched Guillermo del Toro’s note-perfect PAN’S LABYRINTH. And my eyes were opened to fairy-tale films. I don’t mean fairy-tale in the Disney sense. I mean as in the Brothers Grimm, stories that were scary, bloody, adrenaline-pumping, heart-warming/breaking, and above all, magical. Instead of watching them as a product from a moneymaking franchise, I went back to watch THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy as a set of fairy-tale films. And, lo and behold, my eyes were opened. I was blind, but now I see. I realised that what Jackson had done was take the seeds of Tolkien, and through blood, sweat, tears and heart, allowed it to grow and blossom into this wonderfully scary and scarily wonderful fairy-tale adventure, which stretches the boundaries of storytelling and imagination, and would have made Tolkien proud and given the Grimms a run for their money.
So, when I heard that THE HOBBIT films were on their way to multiplexes, films that had Guillermo’s name on the scripts (after initially coming onboard to direct), along with Peter Jackson, his wife Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, I couldn’t wait to see the outcome. I like to think that Peter had heard somewhere that I had finally come over to the light, hired Guillermo especially for me, as a thank-you. The result? THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY was Bilbo Baggy. THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG was Bilbo Better. Now, we have THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES, which is Bilbo Back On Form!
We begin from where we left off from the previous instalment. The dragon, Smaug, is awake, and seeks to pour his fire on the innocent and unsuspecting Laketown. He leaves behind his immense treasures, allowing Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to reclaim his home, the dwarven city of Erebor, and the hoard that comes with it. However, the cursed gold consumes Thorin, succumbing to ‘dragon sickness’, where he becomes so obsessed by the wealth of the mountain, that he loses sight of his sense of honour and friendship. Betrayals upon betrayals, old resentments and the unfulfilled sharing of Erebor’s wealth, result in five armies (like in the title, get it?) descending to a state of war, fighting for the wealth that will grant them power over Middle-earth.
This is perhaps Jackson’s most heartfelt Middle-earth film; he is aware that this will be his and our last trip to Tolkien’s world. A central theme of the film is the love of family and friendship, and you can certainly feel his loving-goodbye hug to each character and to Middle-earth itself. It’s that same sadness when Frodo says goodbye to his fellow Hobbits in one of the many endings of THE RETURN OF THE KING. It’s a feeling that welcomes tears, a satisfying fitting to the conclusion of this, and the previous trilogy. Excuse me, there’s just… -ahem, something in my eye. In fact, your heart is put through more strain here than compared to any of the previous Middle-earth instalments, and it’s mainly down to Jackson’s love of the material, but also down to the cast, in particular, Martin Freeman (as Bilbo Baggins) and Richard Armitage, who are both equally brilliant, but in such different ways.
When one normally sees Freeman on screen, be it film or television, he usually plays the audience’s ‘inside man’, the character to whom spectators can relate, like his John Watson to Benedict Cumberbatch’s intelligent, but socially inept Sherlock Holmes, or like his Tim Canterbury to the-boss-from-hell David Brent. And, he carries on this character through to the peaceful Hobbit, Bilbo. But, in this film, where everything descends into an all-out war, Bilbo is pushed to the edge in terms of how rational he can be in a world with which can no longer be reasoned, which Freeman accordingly plays to emotional perfection. This is where Armitage comes in. As Thorin falls to ‘dragon sickness’, Armitage takes, what was once a heroic character, and brings him to the depths of greed, to the point where he becomes close to villainous and, at times, downright menacing – his incredible performance is frightening, frustrating, sympathetic, heartbreaking, but ultimately inspiring. It’s hard to believe that this is the same guy that starred in the final episode of THE VICAR OF DIBLEY.
But, what makes the combination of these two actors so outstanding is that you have Armitage playing Thorin as though he has just come fresh from THE LORD OF THE RINGS series. And, on the other side to that, you have Freeman playing Bilbo as the rational, down-to-earth character, who has just come fresh from THE OFFICE (and I don’t mean that as a criticism). What this leads to is Armitage retaining what the fans held, and still hold, so dearly to the trilogy: grand speeches of honour and betrayal, male ego, warriors and so on, along with Freeman, who acts as the audience’s eyes into this warring world, making us truly involved in Middle-earth, in a way with which I initially struggled in THE LORD OF THE RINGS series. Thanks to these two actors’ performances, this film is for everyone, fans or otherwise.
When I heard that the final battle was going to be 45 minutes long, I feared that the worst had happened. I feared that Peter Jackson had decided to take on the beliefs of Michael Bay, which are as follows: the way to make an action film adrenaline-pumping is to have an explosion every thirty seconds (which, annoyingly, are so loud they keep you awake), with the camera falling in love with every special effect going. Oh, and if some characters happen to be there, what a bonus that would be. Fear not, because, here, this is not the case. There is, indeed, an impressive 45 minute battle sequence (as you’d expect with Jackson), but, like what made HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 such a great film (yes, I am proud to be a geek), despite the action set-pieces, it always comes back down to the central characters. Peter Jackson shows that Michael Bay is talking a whole bunch o’ hooey. The reason your heart will race, the reason you will cry, the reason your adrenaline will be pumping like mad that it won’t know what to do with itself, is because you care about the people involved, you worry that they might not actually make it through to the end-credits – and to do that in a prequel, where we know for certain that some of the characters survive (if you’re planning on betting whether or not Gandalf will make it, *spoiler alert* I’d go for the ‘more than probably’ option), is a remarkable feat. And the climax of the film does more to confirm this.
That’s not to say this film is perfect. There are, as there were with DESOLATION OF SMAUG, a few visual issues – the odd orc does occasionally look a bit ropey, in a way that never would have concerned me if Jackson stuck to his fleshy and squishy monsters that made Middle-earth seem so visceral in THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Also, significant details of the previous instalment are dismissed pretty quickly in this film, as are newly introduced characters. I’m sure that’s how it is in the book (which I haven’t read), but I frankly don’t take that as an excuse; adapt it to make a story that works for film, that’s why they call it ‘a film adaptation of a book’.
However, those criticisms aside, THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES is a fantastic, heartfelt and action-packed conclusion. While it will forever remain in the shadow of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, this trilogy is a worthy sibling, with an ending that is cleaner and quicker than RETURN OF THE KING’s. What it lacks in the exemplary visuals of the first series of films, it makes up for in heart. No, it’s not perfect, but it deserves five stars, purely because it is better than a four-star movie. It is a wonderful and magical fairy-tale about the importance of friends and family, told with the utmost sense of adventure, with some incredible performances. At the end, you tend to think about the beginning, and I am willing to hold my hands up and say that my initial opinion on these films was wrong. We finally say goodbye to Middle-earth, and, one way or another, we part with characters that we have come to know and love. Peter Jackson’s work is complete. Please excuse me, I think I’ve got something in my eye again.
Fuente:
http://www.screenrelish.com/2014/12/...armies-review/
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Re: El mega-post de El Hobbit
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Iniciado por ranma91
) pero seguro que me lo pasare y disfrutare como un enano cuando pueda ir a verla
Spoiler: 
ya no aguanto maaaaaas!!!
