DVD Review - The Hobbit: The battle of the five armies
Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Cate Blanchett, Ian HOlm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom and Howard Shore
Run time: 138 minutes
Bonus feature: Recruiting the five armies, Completing the middle earth, “The last goodbye” music video and New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth
The Hobbit: The battle of the five armies is an epic fantasy adventure film that is the final part of the trilogy based on J. R. R. Tolkein’s novel, The Hobbit. The three parts act as prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The story starts right after Bilbo (Freeman), Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage) and his army of dwarves have managed to get rid of Smaug (Cumberbatch) the dragon from the lonely mountain. An angry and mad Smaug vents out by setting ablaze the citizens of Lake-town. On the other hand, ‘Dragon sickness’ makes Thorin search madly for the Arkenstone in the treasure rooms of Erebor.
Meanwhile, Gandalf (McKellen) is set free and sent to Radagast by Galadriel (Blanchett), Elrond (Weaving) and Saruman (Lee). Defeating Suaron herself, Galadriel banishes him and the Ringwraiths to the East. While the people of Lake-Town flee into the shadow of the Lonely Mountain, they are met by Thranduil (Pace) and his army of elves. Asking for their fair share of gold and wealth, they face resistance from the dwarves. Bilbo sneaks out of Erebor to hand over the Arkenstone to Thranduil and Bard (Evans) which they offer to Thorin (Armitage) in exchange for Thandruil’s gems and Lake-town’s part of wealth. Soon, Dain (Mitchinson) arrives with an army of dwarves and makes things worse. A battle between the Dwarves, Men and Elves is just about to happen when Azog’s (Bennett) army is released by the Wereworms.
Middle Earth is now filled with the five armies in deadly battle against each other.
The movie is visually stunning and the graphics are spot on. The only flaw would be the audience will take some time to understand the storyline if they haven’t followed the previous movies.
The bonus feature of this DVD is absolutely worth all the money you spend on it. The New Zealand: Home of Middle-Earth- Part 3 is a part of the movie DVD. It takes to the beautiful locations where the movie was shot at. While it is a commercial for New Zealand tourism, it shows all the amazing scenery that the Hobbit fans have come to love about.
On a separate disk come the other features that are absolute gems for the fans. The Recruiting the Five Armies feature includes stories and behind the scene action that went into creating the five armies shown in the movie. Right from the everyday life of an extra to the movie fans, it is a good short film that will keep the viewers entertained. The ‘Completing the Middle-Earth’ tells us about how Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens wanted to tale an epic saga by making 6 different parts of it. ‘The Last Goodbye’ is a music video of the famous song sung by Billy Boyd. This song is sort of a farewell to the fans after the end of the 6-part movie saga. It also includes a behind-the-scenes making of the music video.
This DVD is a must-have for the fans of J.R.R. Tolkein's work. Not only is it the final part of the six-part-movie story (in case you’re thinking of a marathon!), the bonus features actually make you feel like a part of the journey that has been going on for 17 long years. Collectors will definitely not be disappointed.