Every Peter Jackson Film Ranked Worst To Best

From gory horrors to Middle-earth, which of Peter Jackson's films wears the crown?

lord of the rings the fellowship of the ring
New Line Cinema

Born in New Zealand, Peter Jackson got his start in gory no-budget horror-comedies, many of which are today seen as cult classics. Following this phase, he moved on to more refined dramas and broke numerous records with his epic adaptations of J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. For his work, he has won three Academy Awards.

Jackson is a chameleon behind the camera. On the one hand, he's held in high esteem for his attention to detail and ability to seek out the beauty in his film's most important sequences. On the other hand, he's known for his playfulness and dark sense of humour, as is evident from his first handful of indie horrors.

Over his career, Jackson has directed 15 films, including a documentary on the First World War and six feature films set in the world of Middle-earth.

Here's every movie he has made ranked worst to best...

15. The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies (2014)

lord of the rings the fellowship of the ring
Warner Bros. Pictures

The final film in the Hobbit trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies is by no means a terrible movie, but it does feature some seriously maddening issues. For starters, there's the battle scenes, which, whilst exciting and entertaining, are overdone with special effects and never live up to the exhilaration of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Then there's the fan service. Legolas (Orlando Bloom) turns up for the second time in the trilogy, despite not appearing in the novel and given little to do outside of reminding fans the film is a prequel to the previous trilogy. Also, the endings to the various plot threads are often rushed and occasionally non-existent, meaning there's no satisfying conclusion drawn as a whole.

Of course, there are some good points, particularly regarding the performance of Martin Freeman and the strong first act, but all told The Battle of the Five Armies is underwhelming and nothing more than your standard loud, sloppy blockbuster. It sits at the bottom of this list simply because it's so disappointing.

Contributor

I get to write about what I love, so that's pretty cool. Be excellent to each other. You can catch my other work here: https://halfwaydown.substack.com/