The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a 2014 epic high fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson and written by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Guillermo del Toro. It is the third and final installment in Peter Jackson's three-part film adaptation based on the novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, following An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug, and together, they act as a prequel to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

It was produced by New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and WingNut Films, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The Battle of the Five Armies premiered in London on 1 December 2014, and was then released on 11 December 2014 in New Zealand, 12 December 2014 in the United Kingdom, and on 17 December 2014 in the United States. It stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Billy Connolly, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, Stephen Fry and Ryan Gage. The ensemble cast also features Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, and Orlando Bloom. It was Holm's final film before his death in 2020, as well as Lee's final live-action role, although he would be featured as a voice actor in several films released after his death in 2015.

Plot
As Smaug breathes fire and destruction onto Laketown, another sort of dragon-danger threatens Thorin Oakenshield - the gold madness that seized his Grandsire Thror, King Under the Mountain of old. The people of Laketown flee to the ruins of Dale, in the shadow of the Lonely Mountain, only to be greeted by an army of Elves led by Thranduil, marching there too. Asking Thorin for their own fair share of the gold, Men and Elves are answered by Dwarvish defiance. Thorin seems overmatched until an army led by Dwarf-Lord Dain, Thorin's kinsman, approaches from the Iron Hills to the northeast. Meantime, Gandalf, imprisoned in the ruins of Dol Guldûr, seems about to be finished off by the Nine Ring Wraiths, led by the deadliest of their lot, Witch King of the ancient, evil realm of Angmar. And what on Middle Earth will happen when an enormous army of Orcs and Wargs suddenly pours out of tunnels under the earth, surrounding and threatening doom to all the other armies gathered at the Lonely Mountain? Orcs and their Fell Beasts, Elves, Dwarves, Men - Five Armies join battle, and the result will determine the fate of the North in the gathering War of the Ring.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It still retain charm of the previous films.
 * 2) Bilbo is still a likable protagonist.
 * 3) Another amazing musical score of Howard Shore. Billy Boyd's "The Last Goodbye". At once a heartwarming and tear-jerker piece, it is nigh impossible not to be moved while listening to it, especially if one is also watching the videoclip.
 * 4) The side-characters are likable.
 * 5) Lord Sauron is still a great villain.
 * 6) The supporting characters like Gandalf are likable.
 * 7) Much like the previous films, the action sequences are fun to watch and intense before.
 * 8) Great performance from cast.
 * 9) While some viewers would take issues with the cases of special effects failure listed above, they are few and above, considering that 96% of all shots had some GCI in them and 25% of the entire movie was CGI entirely. Some specific examples:
 * 10) *Smaug's attack on Laketown, the White Council in Dol Guldur and much of the titular battle look incredible.
 * 11) *Part of the reason the extended cut is so well-liked is that the visual effects are greatly improved. Special mention goes to most of the digital doubles who now move more fluidly and realistically, the chariot chase, and Dáin Ironfoot, who, as one reviewer put it best, looks less like a character from Beowulf and more like a realistic and living character.
 * 12) The Lake-Town battle with Smaug is great.
 * 13) "Good morning. How are we all? I have a wee proposition, if you don't mind giving me a few moments of your time. Would you consider... JUST SODDING OFF! All ye, right now!"
 * 14) A couple of the extra scenes from the extended edition are very fun to watch, such as the Iron Foot dwarf army fighting against the elves before the orcs arrive.
 * 15) It's a good send-off to the Middle-Earth films.
 * 16) It was nice to see Ian Holm and Christopher Lee for the last time, who performed old Bilbo and Saruman, before both death, although Lee would be featured as a voice actor in several films released.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Alfrid is still a minor, and unlikable villain.
 * 2) Thorin's character development from Desolations of Smaug is negated and forgotten because of the "Dragon Sickness", though he snaps out of it in the end.
 * 3) Tauriel is still a very bland and poorly established character.
 * 4) While the Lake-Town battle with Smaug is gripping and intense, it feels like it should've been the ending to the previous movie rather than the beginning to the final chapter.
 * 5) A couple of CGI moments are dumb and not very good, like the infamous scene where Legolas defying physics by walking in midair before continuing to fight Bolg.
 * 6) The Extended Edition received an R-rating rather than the PG-13 rating of the previous extended edition due to the amount of blood appearing.

Reception
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies received mixed reviews from critics, however, it has received a positive reception by audiences and fans of the book, fans dismissed that it was the best way to end The Hobbit film series, though criticism for it's CGI and some characters. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 59% approval rating based on 256 reviews, with an average rating of 6.28/10. The website's consensus reads "Though somewhat overwhelmed by its own spectacle, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ends Peter Jackson's second Middle-earth trilogy on a reasonably satisfying note.". The film also holds a Metacritic score of 59 out of 100 based on 46 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, the same score as its predecessor.

Box office
Like its predecessors, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies became a financial success. It grossed a total of $255.1 million in the US and Canada and $700.9 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $956 million. Worldwide, it is the second-highest-grossing film of 2014 (behind mh:awfulmovies:Transformers: Age of Extinction), and the lowest-grossing film of The Hobbit series.