THE HOBBIT: BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (2014)

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*

MYTHICITY: *fair*

FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*

CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

Given that I've let seven years pass since I reviewed the middle part of Peter Jackson's HOBBIT film trilogy, it should be evident that the film didn't inspire in me any great passion to review it, either to bash or to praise. And I tend to believe that by this time in the filming-sequence, Jackson too just wanted to tie everything up and be done with the project.

As with the other reviews of the trilogy, I'm not going to dwell on differences between the Tolkien book and its adaptations, except for three points. Naturally, this film finishes up the slaying of the dragon Smaug, who was a principal antagonist of the second movie. Next, as mentioned in the previous review, Jackson concludes a romance-subplot that never existed in the book: a doomed but still not very interesting dalliance between a female elf (Evangeline Lilly) and a male dwarf (Aidan Turner). And the other point is that most of the climactic battle in the book takes place after viewpoint character Bilbo has been rendered unconscious, so that the reader only gets the main action summarized.

For any readers who might have wanted to behold that battle, Jackson and his entourage spare no expense in mounting copious battle scenes. Some of these take place between the fractious armies of the dwarves and of the elves-- both of whom are, in essence, "good guys" who are divided by their lust for treasure and for the self-esteem that comes from holding it. But to banish the potential for tragedy from the story, an army of Orcs, led by a super-Orc named Azog, intrudes on the conflict, providing a mutual enemy for all to fight with. Bilbo even participates in this conflict a little bit before he does indeed get hit on the head and knocked out until all the fighting has been finished.

To be sure, Jackson does keep an element of tragedy from Tolkien's book. Thorinn, king of the dwarves, succeeds in regaining the long-lost mountain-home of his people, and the treasure therein-- but even without his having any contact with the One Ring, the monarch becomes fanatically obsessed with keeping all the treasure, even from those who earned their share. Bilbo, a simple hobbit guided by common sense, eventually shows Thorinn the error of his ways, though the dwarf loses his life despite regaining (perhaps too easily) his sanity.

But Jackson's film is all about the action, not the drama. Many of the big scenes between contending armies are just average, but Jackson managed a standout duel between Thorinn and Azog on the surface of a frozen lake-- though arguably it goes on a little too long. I can't give the whole trilogy a "good" rating as I did for the first film in the series, but it could have been far, far worse.