The Hobbit

As many of you are aware, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies premiered in the U.S. on this past Tuesday. I just so happened to preorder tickets for the 7 o’clock showing in my hometown, because I’ve been waiting forever for this final installment of the book adaption.

I am a huge fan of the series, and I’ve read The Hobbit multiple times. Bilbo is a fantastic character that I really relate to. Instead of being the normal male protagonist, who usually is deadly handsome and largely muscular, Bilbo is sensitive and smart. He takes time to think things through before charging into a situation blindly. He also evolves a lot throughout the story, turning away from the soft, scared hobbit to one who is brave and saved his friends on multiple occasions. Martin Freeman plays him spectacularly, and brings out the sassier parts of Bilbo’s personality. I absolutely adore Freeman as this character. He really makes Bilbo the person that you want to survive the epic adventure; he’s the heart of the story.

In contrast, Thorin is definitely the soul of the franchise. He’s bull-headed and stubborn, and also comes off quite grumpy unless he’s sharing an emotional moment with the rest of the company. Richard Armitage was perfect; he held Thorin with that regality, power, and sense of pride that you would expect a king to possess. It’s his story that we’re following; it’s his homeland that they are attempting to reclaim. And as you slowly see his decline into madness over the treasure in the mountain, you feel sympathy and pity for the once great king who is losing his dignity over a large pile of gold. Bilbo balances that out, and acts as Thorin’s anchor throughout that time period, becoming really the only person Thorin can trust in his insanity, even over his own kin. It’s that dynamic in their friendship that keeps you wondering how two completely different people can come together to save their little world.

The movie itself was fairly good, though I would say probably the least so of all Peter Jackson’s adaptions in the Tolkien universe. There was too much “comedic relief” in a movie that should have been dark and serious. The whole thing feels drawn out and rushed at the same time. Some parts focus too much on little petty details, while other scenes could have been greatly elaborated on. There simply was not enough book to be made into three movies, but Jackson did well with the little material that he had.

                The story was still inspiring as a whole, and the ending was almost perfect. The only thing that really irks me is the character of Tauriel. While I am all for an empowered woman being inserted into the male-dominated Tolkien culture, her insertion was done horribly wrong. Instead of being placed as a badass ally, she’s demoted to love interest, who happens to have a few fight scenes. She could have been a huge step towards female involvement in the science fiction genre, but instead she’s used for male motivation in Kili’s character. It’s very disappointing, and also messes with the ending of the battle in a negative way. All in all, however, the ending was still very well done, and I bawled like a baby because it broke my heart more than I was expecting it to. Still, Bilbo’s return to Bag End was absolutely wonderful, and led into the Lord of the Rings perfectly.