Battle of the Five Armies is a soulless end to the flawed Hobbit trilogy

Ars' resident Tolkien nerd on Peter Jackson's problematic final chapter.

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[jeffronicus]

I cried tears of joy two years ago at the start of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, so glad was I to return to Middle Earth. The Desolation of Smaug left me ready to weep for other reasons. When The Battle of Five Armies flowed across the screen, I was unmoved.

It was ironic to see Guillermo del Toro credited as one of the writers in the end credits, because he has said that the worst thing for a director is to have no limits. Peter Jackson pretty much proved him right again.

 

[jeffronicus]

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Faramir[/url]":154bg4sf]

Hesster56[/url]":154bg4sf]I, for one, am waiting for the De-Extended, one-movie edition. I watched the first, could see the level of cgi "hijinks" they were embracing, and hit the eject button. The LotR movies are nigh-perfect, this series crumbled under its own needless expansion.

The Fellowship of the Ring extended edition was excellent (notwithstanding the tragic elimination of Bombadil). In the Two Towers and especially in the Return of the King, you can tell that PJ was already getting bored of the source material and the quality suffered.

The first hobbit movie was a travesty, and I after that I stopped paying attention.

I will admit that every time since the first read through I do flip pages past the trip of the two Hobbits and Gollum through Mordor.

Woe is me. I'm so tired. I'm so Thirsty. Woe is me.

There are certainly some pacing issues with that.

Back in my AD&D days, the group's running joke when things got slow was "...and they're still on the road to Mordor."