Could it be that, as we come to the end of the Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit saga, 6 films in all, I am finally "getting it"? Not that I did not appreciate the five preceding films, each a gem in cinematography, full of rich characters, and impressively faithful to Tolkein's original works. But in the very last film (last to be released--not in story chronology, of course), somehow it all comes together for me.
This is all the more impressive since I have a strong aversion to onscreen violence. If a movie trailer is riddled with explosions and gunfire that is enough, in itself, to ensure I will not see the film. And, after all, with a title like "Battle of the Five Armies", what expectations should I have?
The thing about Hobbit 3, however, is that the violence is never gratuitous, and is always necessary to advance the plot. Very often when a warrior or villain dies in battle, the death is stylized--I might even dare say 'poetic'. If a death-scene is prolonged, as it is occasionally, it is for emotional impact, because we care deeply about the characters involved. Never does the viewer have to endure blood and gore to satisfy some voyeuristic aesthetic or because a director feels compelled to meet some post-Peckinpah standard for graphic onscreen violence.
The thing about Hobbit 3, however, is that the violence is never gratuitous, and is always necessary to advance the plot. Very often when a warrior or villain dies in battle, the death is stylized--I might even dare say 'poetic'. If a death-scene is prolonged, as it is occasionally, it is for emotional impact, because we care deeply about the characters involved. Never does the viewer have to endure blood and gore to satisfy some voyeuristic aesthetic or because a director feels compelled to meet some post-Peckinpah standard for graphic onscreen violence.
If The Iliad were to be made into a film and Homer was on set as the assistant director, we would end up with a movie that looks much like Hobbit 3, which is as high praise as I am able to offer. Just as in The Iliad, in The Battle of the Five Armies, there is no fat. One scene prepares us for the next, each carrying the spectator to a higher level of tension. One cannot imagine the tale being told in fewer words (or screen time), and more would lessen the impact. It is "just right".
At every moment I was engaged while watching this movie--I kept wondering when the fighting scenes would become "too much" and my interest flag. And, I kept asking myself, surely there needs to be some comic relief at some point. But maybe not. Not much comic relief in The Iliad either.
At every moment I was engaged while watching this movie--I kept wondering when the fighting scenes would become "too much" and my interest flag. And, I kept asking myself, surely there needs to be some comic relief at some point. But maybe not. Not much comic relief in The Iliad either.
There is one moment in the film, however, that I treasure dearly which, while not "light" or "comic" exactly, had a sweet poignancy which I shall long remember. It is near the end of the film, after the battles are all over and Bilbo is quite understandably shell-shocked. He sits on a rock beside Gandalf. Neither says a word. The silence goes on for many long seconds while Gandalf, scrapes out the bowl of his pipe. And scrapes and scrapes and scrapes. And neither character knows what to say. What a magnificent silence!
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is an epic film and I do not use that word lightly. It deals with big issues in a mature way: life, death, friendship, loyalty, greed, and--in the end--the ultimate theme in so many epics, the passion to return home.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is an epic film and I do not use that word lightly. It deals with big issues in a mature way: life, death, friendship, loyalty, greed, and--in the end--the ultimate theme in so many epics, the passion to return home.