RATING: ½ Whisper it, but theres something of George Lucas in the final Hobbit movie. The relationships never feel as important as the director clearly believes, theres a lot of wayward aesthetic flourish and too little restraint, and theres even the obligatory grotesque and annoying character distraction. Obviously, that Lucas comparison is a little unfair, but like the Star Wars prequels, The Battle Of The Five Armies feels at times like a morality tale against the dangers of realising ones biggest dreams. Jackson was always hugely invested in the agenda to get Tolkiens text adapted - even when he wasnt directing it for a while - and in the end the labour of love almost became as laborious as it is adoring of the source. The film opens in the middle of a sentence, taking up with Smaugs attack on Laketown that was promised at the end of The Desolation of Smaug and Bards one-man resistance in the face of ridiculous odds. Its an impressive set-piece, and easily the high-point of the film, but rather unfortunately it makes promises that the rest of the film cant really deliver on. There are very entertaining sequences, like the White Councils skirmish with the Necromancer and his undead army of the damned kings of men and the battle itself, but theres inevitably little build to the set-pieces and the lack of a traditional arc as the film stumbles from one fan-service moment to the next is jarring. At the end of the day, this is not a real film, and having expectations of some of the defining characteristics of story-telling - like character development and build and a narrative arc - is probably unreasonable. But as with all trilogies, each film should represent something different, and thats not how this feels at all. Perhaps it will be an easier and more satisfying watch back to back with the other Hobbit films (an arduous and time-consuming task), but its not enough to say that the slightly disappointing hollow feeling at the end of things is only a product of the trilogys unique make-up. Because, frankly, this is definitely Peter Jacksons worst film. Theres no restraint at all, and the amount of slow motion and falsely heaped importance is embarrassing: as an audience were not invited to add our own emotional response, because Jackson has already manipulated those moments to death. He wants everyone to know how important this is as an event film, and it seems that at times he forgot to make it into just a film. The cast are pretty much exactly the same as they were for the other two films - theres no development because its just not possible - but some are left standing around in the wings while others get the lions share of the important moments. Most of the dwarves are passengers, Radagast and Beorn are after-thoughts (despite the latter being key to the battle in the source) and even Tauriel - an invention by Jacksons own hand - is relegated to something significantly less than she was in the grasp for some romantic poignance. So has he made a good film? A good trilogy? The answer is, inevitably that they arent as good as The Lord Of The Rings - but that shouldnt be a surprise - but even with that in mind, theres an underlying suspicion that Jackson could probably have done a little better with his framing of the material. There was never a question of not seeing it, and perhaps thats sort of the problem: Jackson knew he needed an almighty full-stop not just to this trilogy but to the Lord Of The Rings franchise, and in reaching for moment after fan-baiting moment, he lost something in the flow and the balance of the thing. The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies is out now in the UK.
