The trailer for the final installment of the epic Lord of The Rings prequel series, The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies has been released, and good god the internet is freaking out.
“@SuperheroReport: ICYMI: Final Trailer For ‘THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES’ released! #HYPE! https://t.co/2IrTJWFJk1” YEESSSSS
— Jax Teller (@MaddenTweeets) November 7, 2014
What an awesome trailer for “The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies.” My body is ready #TheHobbit https://t.co/KvZKybdJeT
— Geeky Enthusiast (@GeekyEnthusiast) November 7, 2014
If you’re a big fan of Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins and the various short, hairy men that he follows around, then it goes without saying that you’re probably damn excited. For those who haven’t read the Hobbit, I don’t want to spoil anything for you (Even though it’s a 77 year old book that you could probably read in a day or two, so you don’t really have much of an excuse) but basically, everything kicks the hell off. Thorin turns into a douche-bag, the elves are pissed, the lake-men are pissed, the wargs are pissed and Saruman, Gandalf and crew are headed off to do battle with the evil presence of Sauron.
This, as the trailer so rightfully points out, is supposed to be one of the defining moments of the Third Age of Middle-Earth. It sets up everything, and I mean everything, that comes to pass in the ‘War of the Ring’ depicted in the movie franchise that we’ve all come to know and revere. It needs to be epic, cathartic and foreboding all at the same time and from the trailer we can see, it all fell a little bit on the disappointing side.
It’s not a secret that thematically ‘The Hobbit’ in general is a less complex story to that of The Lord of The Rings, it’s a lot more juvenile and overt in terms of how it is written – in short we’re not expecting anything gritty. But come on, guys you can surely do better than this? It seems like everyone’s reading from an autocue, with the stage direction of a Christmas panto production; Saurman may as well be a full on Scooby-Doo villain, twiddling his moustache as he tip-toes with shifty eyes proclaiming ‘leave Sauron to me’ in a deft and oh-so subtle attempt at foreshadowing a plot we already know, and Orlando Bloom returns to his role as Legolas, the welterweight champion for overacting. The crowd of Elves in the foreground around 32 seconds are all expressionless and emotionless CGI puppets, where 20-30 extras would have been much better and the film just overall looks, just like any other action film.
For the parts where people aren’t acting, the film looks like it will be pretty enjoyable. The promised 45-minute battle scene should be suitably gratuitous yet pretty to look at and the whole concept behind The Battle of Five Armies will be interesting to see how it translates to film. In short, will it be a good film? No, none of the Hobbit films really have been. But will it be an perfectly palatable Christmas blockbuster and fitting end to the Hobbit franchise? Yeah, why not.
Words: Chris Chandler
Picture: Screenshot from the official trailer Copyright: Warner Brothers. Pictures.