First off, the third movie, barely focuses on the Hobbit. Who WROTE the story. Remember the Hobbit? Second, this full length feature covers an event that happened while the same Hobbit was knocked out. The Battle of Five Armies was also a simple affair in the books and was never meant to be the focus of...ANYTHING. It was really just a way to force the Men, Elves, and Dwarves to work together. To focus much (not all but much) of the movie on this ONE battle feels like such a waste. How about focusing more on the Dwarves or showing us more about Bilbo!
On top of that, many of the scenes of the Council dealing with Sauron were never shown in the novel. There were events that were hinted out but they were not talked about until the Fellowship. These three movies could easily have been framed into two longish movies. Heck, the fact that the cartoon was able to do such a good job in just ONE movie suggested a live-action version could have been done within the framework of one movie and done well. It would have forced the writers and producers to find the important, needed, parts of the story and cull out all the rest.
But NOPE! We got this....this...it has no name. I am a sci-fi fan but there is a few fantasy authors I do enjoy. One of them is Robert H. Howard. The other is J.R.R. Tolkien. So when the film industry tries to turn one of their books into a film they REALLY have to try to make it...acceptable. I understand how hard it can be. But TRY HARDER!
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Hobbit, The: The Battle of the Five Armies (3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray)
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Editorial Reviews
Hobbit, The: The Battle of the Five Armies (3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray)
THORIN OAKENSHIELD AND THE DWARVES OF EREBOR have reclaimed the vast wealth of their homeland, but now face the consequences of having unleashed the terrifying Dragon Smaug upon Lake-town. Meanwhile, Sauron, the Dark Lord, has sent forth legions of Orcs to attack the Lonely Mountain, and Bilbo Baggins fi nds himself fi ghting for his life as fi ve great armies go to war. As darkness converges, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed.
]]>Product details
- Digital Copy Expiration Date : March 24, 2018
- Aspect Ratio : 1.77:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
- Product Dimensions : 7 x 5 x 0.5 inches; 4 Ounces
- Director : Peter Jackson
- Media Format : Widescreen, 3D, Ultraviolet, Ultraviolet
- Run time : 2 hours and 24 minutes
- Release date : March 24, 2015
- Actors : Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish
- Dubbed: : Spanish, French, Portuguese
- Subtitles: : French, Spanish, English
- Producers : Carolynne Cunningham, Alan Horn, Toby Emmerich, Zane Weiner, Ken Kamins
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 4.0), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 4.0), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Studio : WarnerBrothers
- ASIN : B00R3DODWI
- Writers : Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro
- Number of discs : 4
-
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Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2019
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Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2020
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Hi, I'm 12 years old and I have watched this movie more times then years I have been alive. If your watching with kids then watch it first, and tell them to look away or mute the T.V or something at parts you don't like. Personally I think "parents strongly cautioned" is a bit of an exaggeration. If your wondering if this movie would be good for your kids then I will list all the things in this movie that you might want you be a bit cautious about, 1: intense battle scenes. 2: blood in some scenes. 3: scary Orcs. 4: violence. 5: death of 3 main characters. 6: a few swear words. And here are the pros of the movie, 1: funny parts. 2: adventure. 3: shows the values of trust, respect, and loyalty, and forgiveness, and most importantly, friendship. 4: good soundtrack. 5: shows the horrors of war and fighting. 6: excellent character development, and high quality scenery, and foraminal acting. That is everything you need to know about this amazing movie in order to watch this with your children. Enjoy the movie. :)
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Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2020
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The Battle of the Five Armies was the conclusion to the Hobbit trilogy by Peter Jackson. Each one of the films had a theme. For this one it was about the spoils of war. The tremendous wealth inside the Lonely Mountain corrupted Thorin (Richard Armitage) the head of the Dwarves, and obviously brought five armies together to fight for the treasure.
The movie starts off with a series of great action sequences pitting the forces of good versus evil. After that however everything is aimed at the growing forces and the coming of war. It doesn’t make the story half as interesting as the previous two films. Yes, there are some great images like giant trolls being used for catapults and battering rams, but there’s just not much of a story. There’s also a huge plot hole with a bunch of fisherman being able to hold off an Orc army.
C
The movie starts off with a series of great action sequences pitting the forces of good versus evil. After that however everything is aimed at the growing forces and the coming of war. It doesn’t make the story half as interesting as the previous two films. Yes, there are some great images like giant trolls being used for catapults and battering rams, but there’s just not much of a story. There’s also a huge plot hole with a bunch of fisherman being able to hold off an Orc army.
C
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Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2015
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The Hobbit Battle of the Five Armies Blu Ray/3-D
Like Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings series came out over a long period of time and not exactly in sequence. For example the Star Wars films, in story-chronology, released as films 4, 5, 6 then 1, 2, 3 and the latest is film 7, to be followed by 8 and 9. The Tolkien stories came out as films 4, 5 and 6 [Lord of the Rings 1 2 and 3] followed by 1, 2 and 3 [The Hobbit 1, 2, 3]. So this final Hobbit film was also a goodbye to Tolkien’s universe by Peter Jackson and a cast of hundreds [actors, special effects geniuses, designers , cinematographers etc.] A good number of these people had been working on films from Tolkien’s stories for 18 years together, so saying goodbye became hard.
When I first heard The Hobbit would be a trilogy of movies my reaction was, “That’s ABSURD! There’s NO WAY you can make three films from such a simple story!” Lord of the Rings was a three volume story, and three films based on it seemed about right.
After watching the first Hobbit film, Jackson had made a believer out of me. I could see how his telling the tale could easily span 3 films. And one virtue of taking the time in telling was he didn’t have to leave anything from the book out of the movie the way he did of necessity with Lord of the Rings.
This final film as its name indicates, is heavy with battle sequences. At one point in the special features, one of the principles in production expressed some confusion about exactly what the five armies were. OK let me explain it then! It’s dwarves, elves, and men versus orcs and goblins. The fact that there are also wargs [wolves almost the size of horses], giant eagles, huge bats and several other critters is a distraction, as they are accessories.
This film has roughly a 50:50 balance between character development/dialog and action scenes. It’s as far as you can push it without sacrificing story to pure action. It also pushes PG-13 to the…ahem…bleeding edge bordering on “R”. [Instead of decapitation, why couldn’t we have had a semi-nude scene with Tauriel and Kili? OK, never mind]
The film didn’t score quite as highly as others in this series, getting 7.5 in IMDB. However it received 45 nominations and five awards.
Do you want to know what’s most impressive about this film? Yes I’ll tell you. It’s managing such a large cast and making all of those characters individual and interesting. I’m hard pressed at the moment to think of another movie with so many important characters, all of whom are so engaging. Let’s run through some principal cast names:
Thorin Oakenshield, center to this story, is the leader of a band of 12 dwarves plus Bilbo Baggins the hobbit, on a highly dubious quest to take back their ancestral mountain stronghold from the fiery clutches of the dragon, Smaug. Richard Armitage played Thorin and was excellent in this role. He makes it believable.
Ian McKellen once again is Gandalf the wizard, who put Bilbo and the dwarves together [Bilbo can’t quite believe he’s doing this]. Despite all McKellen’s other roles in a long career, I’m afraid McKellen will always be Gandalf for me, rather like George Scott is Patton.
Martin Freeman plays Bilbo and, needless to say, his acting is superb.
Ken Stott from Scotland plays Balin, one of the 13 dwarves. He does a credible job, hidden behind a huge white beard. Balin, the oldest, is the most thoughtful and the voice of caution in the party. His eyes, the one genuine part you see, positively sparkle.
Graham McTavish from Scotland plays Dwalin, brother to Balin. Probably best known to an American audience prior to this as a mercenary in the film “Rambo”. McTavish is a large strong man, a physical fitness buff, quite suited to the role of best fighter among this band of dwarves. It does not stretch credibility that he would be intimidating on a battle field. He’s also pretty funny, too.
William Kircher from New Zealand is “Bifur”, another dwarf. OK I can’t think of anything exceptional about his part either, but he acts it well.
James Nesbitt from Ireland is “Bofur”, brother to Bifur. This guy is a born comedian. Extremely funny.
Stephen Hunter from Wellington, New Zealand is Bombur, memorable because he was the largest [and by that I mean the FATTEST] of the dwarves. They wanted a heavy set actor for the role. Hunter makes no pretense that he does like to eat. But for this part, they at least double his actual size. Watching Bombur run is in itself a comedy routine. And Hunter has a good sense of humor too.
Dean O’Gorman from New Zealand is Fili. Naturally rather charismatic, he has the misfortune of being brother to Kili.
Aidan Turner from Dublin, Ireland is Kili. A major deviation from the book, invented by Peter Jackson and company, is the elven woman Tauriel, and a love story between her and Kili. Aidan is…<sigh> what every woman wants, and every guy wishes he was. Bastard.
John Callen from New Zealand has a 40 year career in movies and TV. He plays Oin, not a large role, brother to Gloin.
Peter Hambleton from New Zealand plays Gloin, memorable to Tolkien fans because he’s father to Gimli, a major character in The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson made Gimli a comic relief figure in the LOTR trilogy, which wasn’t quite fair to the character from the book. The character Gloin looks credibly like father to Gimli and is not made a buffoon thank heavens.
Jed Brophy from New Zealand plays Nori. He turns Nori into a professional thief [somewhat upstages what was supposed to be Bilbo’s role in this party]. Another actor with a good sense of humor.
Mark Hadlow, a prominent actor in New Zealand, plays Dori, a brother to Nori. He’s a tall man with a large stage presence, which enhances Dori’s character in the film. Very amusing in the special features.
Adam Brown from Berkshire, England as Ori was the most surprising actor in this cast. He was internationally unknown when he got this part. His star has definitely risen since. The furthest one can imagine from a fighter, he’s clearly in this adventure from a sense of duty to his kinsmen. Every one will remember Ori.
Orlando Bloom, once again, is Legolas. What more need be said? Amazing, he manages to look the same as he did 18 years ago.
Evangeline Lilly from Canada plays the new character Tauriel, a captain among the elven warriors from Mirkwood. There’s actually a love triangle here: it appears Legolas, son of the King Thranduil, has the hots for Tauriel, but daddy would never approve of his marrying a commoner. Unclear if she would have fallen for him, had it not meant incurring the King’s displeasure, but uexpectedly she falls for the dwarf Kili. Her hair being red in this film is like Milla Jovovich’s red hair in Fifth Element: one does not forget this character.
Lee Pace from the USA plays Thranduil the elf King, and he really brings this character to life.
Cate Blanchett from Australia of course plays Galadriel. Again what more need be said? One scene with her and McKellen in this film, even though a side story, becomes one of the most memorable scenes in the movie.
Hugo Weaving again is Elrond, and like Blanchett and McKellen, he completely disappears as an actor into his character.
Christopher Lee again plays Saruman. One can never say Christopher Lee as an actor disappears into anything. Fortunately the character of Saruman completely suits him as an actor, and this was the greatest role of his very long career.
Ian Holm briefly appears to reprise his role as older Bilbo. Fond memories.
Benedict Cumberbatch does the voices of both Smaug the dragon and the “Necromancer” [Sauron]. Some of this voice work was really difficult, but he makes it seem effortless. He needs to be in the next film that only I know about [see below]
Mikael Persbrand from Sweden plays Beorn. Beorn is a huge strong fellow & so is Mikael. His time on screen is brief but he is well cast, looks and sounds different from anyone else, as he should.
Sylvester McCoy, previously known to some as a “time-lord” in the series Dr. Who, plays Rhadagast. I did not know McCoy before these films. He’s a completely engaging, quirky fellow. So much so that I had to go take a look at Dr. Who, which I had never done before.
Luke Evans plays “Bard”, the guy who. Well…shoots the arrow. Earnest, brave, good-guy role. Seems unambiguously good, which can get boring to play if you aren't talented. He doesn't get boring.
Stephen Fry from London plays the greedy Master of Lake Town. A nice guy in real life, he’s one of those villains that you just love to hate.
Ryan Gage, an English actor, plays the Master’s assistant and right-hand man Alfrid. If you love to hate Fry, you simply cannot help laughing at Gage’s Alfrid. One of the funniest villains around. Some dissed this role; I LOVED it! Gimme MORE! Yeah I grant, having him watch the kids, or "take night watch" seems implausible. Minor quibbling, for me.
Billy Connelly from Scotland plays Dain, a dwarven King who comes to the rescue of Thorin and company with his army [one of those 5 armies, you see]. If anyone in the film irked me, it would be him. Not his performance, but in the specials he makes clear his disdain for Tolkien’s writings. Perhaps they could have found an actor who actually appreciated the story.
Howard Shore provides continuity of musical score and his usual A-job.
Putting out a trilogy like this, especially pressed for time [for reasons which weren’t clear to me, Guillermo Del Toro unexpectedly bowed out as director and Peter Jackson picked it up a year behind schedule as a result—on top of that, more time was lost as Jackson developed a bleeding ulcer with the stress] truly is like the job of a general in a war. One has to juggle locations, logistics, props, costume design, musical score, budget, script, photography, stunts, extras, and oh, of course, work with the main actors too. Jackson always manages to look laid back, but he’s a perfectionist and he obviously likes challenges. He succeeded in juggling all these pieces and creating a great film, even if it does seem action-heavy at times. Let's not forget: Jackson loves fight scenes, and this movie allowed him to fully indulge himself.
Oh and the specials. As with Lord of the Rings, Jackson milks maximum dollars out of his productions: movie release, followed by the basic film release with interesting special features, followed later by an Extended Version of the film with still more special features, all of them different from the previous special features. This set came with two full Blu-Ray discs of special features. I think each one must have been 4 hours or longer. No way I was going to watch all of that. Except—I couldn’t stop. The only thing I haven't watched yet is the “on location” section showing scenery from locations where they did the filming. Yes I already know now: New Zealand is beautiful.
Peter Jackson doesn’t know it yet, but I already have plans for him to make another trilogy set in Tolkien’s universe…. This film…uh, I guess I’ll give it a B+++. Acting is superb, visuals are superb, props superb, casting superb, cinematography superb, musical scoring superb. I do feel it’s a bit combat-heavy, and that detracts a little from the potential emotion of the film. Had the extra year been available for directing, this probably would be an A-rated film. As it is, perhaps it's the worst of one of the finest trilogies around. I don't think I've ever watched DVD's or Blu-Rays with more, and more interesting, special features than Peter Jackson adds. Yeah, it's so bad that I'd like MORE, please.
Like Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings series came out over a long period of time and not exactly in sequence. For example the Star Wars films, in story-chronology, released as films 4, 5, 6 then 1, 2, 3 and the latest is film 7, to be followed by 8 and 9. The Tolkien stories came out as films 4, 5 and 6 [Lord of the Rings 1 2 and 3] followed by 1, 2 and 3 [The Hobbit 1, 2, 3]. So this final Hobbit film was also a goodbye to Tolkien’s universe by Peter Jackson and a cast of hundreds [actors, special effects geniuses, designers , cinematographers etc.] A good number of these people had been working on films from Tolkien’s stories for 18 years together, so saying goodbye became hard.
When I first heard The Hobbit would be a trilogy of movies my reaction was, “That’s ABSURD! There’s NO WAY you can make three films from such a simple story!” Lord of the Rings was a three volume story, and three films based on it seemed about right.
After watching the first Hobbit film, Jackson had made a believer out of me. I could see how his telling the tale could easily span 3 films. And one virtue of taking the time in telling was he didn’t have to leave anything from the book out of the movie the way he did of necessity with Lord of the Rings.
This final film as its name indicates, is heavy with battle sequences. At one point in the special features, one of the principles in production expressed some confusion about exactly what the five armies were. OK let me explain it then! It’s dwarves, elves, and men versus orcs and goblins. The fact that there are also wargs [wolves almost the size of horses], giant eagles, huge bats and several other critters is a distraction, as they are accessories.
This film has roughly a 50:50 balance between character development/dialog and action scenes. It’s as far as you can push it without sacrificing story to pure action. It also pushes PG-13 to the…ahem…bleeding edge bordering on “R”. [Instead of decapitation, why couldn’t we have had a semi-nude scene with Tauriel and Kili? OK, never mind]
The film didn’t score quite as highly as others in this series, getting 7.5 in IMDB. However it received 45 nominations and five awards.
Do you want to know what’s most impressive about this film? Yes I’ll tell you. It’s managing such a large cast and making all of those characters individual and interesting. I’m hard pressed at the moment to think of another movie with so many important characters, all of whom are so engaging. Let’s run through some principal cast names:
Thorin Oakenshield, center to this story, is the leader of a band of 12 dwarves plus Bilbo Baggins the hobbit, on a highly dubious quest to take back their ancestral mountain stronghold from the fiery clutches of the dragon, Smaug. Richard Armitage played Thorin and was excellent in this role. He makes it believable.
Ian McKellen once again is Gandalf the wizard, who put Bilbo and the dwarves together [Bilbo can’t quite believe he’s doing this]. Despite all McKellen’s other roles in a long career, I’m afraid McKellen will always be Gandalf for me, rather like George Scott is Patton.
Martin Freeman plays Bilbo and, needless to say, his acting is superb.
Ken Stott from Scotland plays Balin, one of the 13 dwarves. He does a credible job, hidden behind a huge white beard. Balin, the oldest, is the most thoughtful and the voice of caution in the party. His eyes, the one genuine part you see, positively sparkle.
Graham McTavish from Scotland plays Dwalin, brother to Balin. Probably best known to an American audience prior to this as a mercenary in the film “Rambo”. McTavish is a large strong man, a physical fitness buff, quite suited to the role of best fighter among this band of dwarves. It does not stretch credibility that he would be intimidating on a battle field. He’s also pretty funny, too.
William Kircher from New Zealand is “Bifur”, another dwarf. OK I can’t think of anything exceptional about his part either, but he acts it well.
James Nesbitt from Ireland is “Bofur”, brother to Bifur. This guy is a born comedian. Extremely funny.
Stephen Hunter from Wellington, New Zealand is Bombur, memorable because he was the largest [and by that I mean the FATTEST] of the dwarves. They wanted a heavy set actor for the role. Hunter makes no pretense that he does like to eat. But for this part, they at least double his actual size. Watching Bombur run is in itself a comedy routine. And Hunter has a good sense of humor too.
Dean O’Gorman from New Zealand is Fili. Naturally rather charismatic, he has the misfortune of being brother to Kili.
Aidan Turner from Dublin, Ireland is Kili. A major deviation from the book, invented by Peter Jackson and company, is the elven woman Tauriel, and a love story between her and Kili. Aidan is…<sigh> what every woman wants, and every guy wishes he was. Bastard.
John Callen from New Zealand has a 40 year career in movies and TV. He plays Oin, not a large role, brother to Gloin.
Peter Hambleton from New Zealand plays Gloin, memorable to Tolkien fans because he’s father to Gimli, a major character in The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson made Gimli a comic relief figure in the LOTR trilogy, which wasn’t quite fair to the character from the book. The character Gloin looks credibly like father to Gimli and is not made a buffoon thank heavens.
Jed Brophy from New Zealand plays Nori. He turns Nori into a professional thief [somewhat upstages what was supposed to be Bilbo’s role in this party]. Another actor with a good sense of humor.
Mark Hadlow, a prominent actor in New Zealand, plays Dori, a brother to Nori. He’s a tall man with a large stage presence, which enhances Dori’s character in the film. Very amusing in the special features.
Adam Brown from Berkshire, England as Ori was the most surprising actor in this cast. He was internationally unknown when he got this part. His star has definitely risen since. The furthest one can imagine from a fighter, he’s clearly in this adventure from a sense of duty to his kinsmen. Every one will remember Ori.
Orlando Bloom, once again, is Legolas. What more need be said? Amazing, he manages to look the same as he did 18 years ago.
Evangeline Lilly from Canada plays the new character Tauriel, a captain among the elven warriors from Mirkwood. There’s actually a love triangle here: it appears Legolas, son of the King Thranduil, has the hots for Tauriel, but daddy would never approve of his marrying a commoner. Unclear if she would have fallen for him, had it not meant incurring the King’s displeasure, but uexpectedly she falls for the dwarf Kili. Her hair being red in this film is like Milla Jovovich’s red hair in Fifth Element: one does not forget this character.
Lee Pace from the USA plays Thranduil the elf King, and he really brings this character to life.
Cate Blanchett from Australia of course plays Galadriel. Again what more need be said? One scene with her and McKellen in this film, even though a side story, becomes one of the most memorable scenes in the movie.
Hugo Weaving again is Elrond, and like Blanchett and McKellen, he completely disappears as an actor into his character.
Christopher Lee again plays Saruman. One can never say Christopher Lee as an actor disappears into anything. Fortunately the character of Saruman completely suits him as an actor, and this was the greatest role of his very long career.
Ian Holm briefly appears to reprise his role as older Bilbo. Fond memories.
Benedict Cumberbatch does the voices of both Smaug the dragon and the “Necromancer” [Sauron]. Some of this voice work was really difficult, but he makes it seem effortless. He needs to be in the next film that only I know about [see below]
Mikael Persbrand from Sweden plays Beorn. Beorn is a huge strong fellow & so is Mikael. His time on screen is brief but he is well cast, looks and sounds different from anyone else, as he should.
Sylvester McCoy, previously known to some as a “time-lord” in the series Dr. Who, plays Rhadagast. I did not know McCoy before these films. He’s a completely engaging, quirky fellow. So much so that I had to go take a look at Dr. Who, which I had never done before.
Luke Evans plays “Bard”, the guy who. Well…shoots the arrow. Earnest, brave, good-guy role. Seems unambiguously good, which can get boring to play if you aren't talented. He doesn't get boring.
Stephen Fry from London plays the greedy Master of Lake Town. A nice guy in real life, he’s one of those villains that you just love to hate.
Ryan Gage, an English actor, plays the Master’s assistant and right-hand man Alfrid. If you love to hate Fry, you simply cannot help laughing at Gage’s Alfrid. One of the funniest villains around. Some dissed this role; I LOVED it! Gimme MORE! Yeah I grant, having him watch the kids, or "take night watch" seems implausible. Minor quibbling, for me.
Billy Connelly from Scotland plays Dain, a dwarven King who comes to the rescue of Thorin and company with his army [one of those 5 armies, you see]. If anyone in the film irked me, it would be him. Not his performance, but in the specials he makes clear his disdain for Tolkien’s writings. Perhaps they could have found an actor who actually appreciated the story.
Howard Shore provides continuity of musical score and his usual A-job.
Putting out a trilogy like this, especially pressed for time [for reasons which weren’t clear to me, Guillermo Del Toro unexpectedly bowed out as director and Peter Jackson picked it up a year behind schedule as a result—on top of that, more time was lost as Jackson developed a bleeding ulcer with the stress] truly is like the job of a general in a war. One has to juggle locations, logistics, props, costume design, musical score, budget, script, photography, stunts, extras, and oh, of course, work with the main actors too. Jackson always manages to look laid back, but he’s a perfectionist and he obviously likes challenges. He succeeded in juggling all these pieces and creating a great film, even if it does seem action-heavy at times. Let's not forget: Jackson loves fight scenes, and this movie allowed him to fully indulge himself.
Oh and the specials. As with Lord of the Rings, Jackson milks maximum dollars out of his productions: movie release, followed by the basic film release with interesting special features, followed later by an Extended Version of the film with still more special features, all of them different from the previous special features. This set came with two full Blu-Ray discs of special features. I think each one must have been 4 hours or longer. No way I was going to watch all of that. Except—I couldn’t stop. The only thing I haven't watched yet is the “on location” section showing scenery from locations where they did the filming. Yes I already know now: New Zealand is beautiful.
Peter Jackson doesn’t know it yet, but I already have plans for him to make another trilogy set in Tolkien’s universe…. This film…uh, I guess I’ll give it a B+++. Acting is superb, visuals are superb, props superb, casting superb, cinematography superb, musical scoring superb. I do feel it’s a bit combat-heavy, and that detracts a little from the potential emotion of the film. Had the extra year been available for directing, this probably would be an A-rated film. As it is, perhaps it's the worst of one of the finest trilogies around. I don't think I've ever watched DVD's or Blu-Rays with more, and more interesting, special features than Peter Jackson adds. Yeah, it's so bad that I'd like MORE, please.
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Doktor von Pain
3.0 out of 5 stars
Viel Bombast, wenig Handlung
Reviewed in Germany on May 10, 2018Verified Purchase
Die Schlacht der fünf Heere aus dem Jahr 2014 ist der Abschluss von Peter Jacksons Hobbit-Trilogie - und leider nicht deren Highlight. Was passiert dort? Nachdem Hobbit Bilbo (Martin Freeman) und die Gruppe von Zwergen um Thorin Eichenschild (Richard Armitage) es auf einem schwierigen Berg zum Einsamen Berg geschafft und den Drachen Smaug so richtig sauer gemacht haben, greift der die nahegelegene Seestadt an. Deren Bewohner Bard (Luke Evans) schafft es aber, den übermächtigen Angreifer zu töten - und das alles geschieht innerhalb der ersten Viertelstunde. Nun hockt Thorin in der Festung des Einsamen Bergs und wird immer besessener vom Drachengold, während draußen aus verschiedenen Beweggründen Heere von Menschen, Zwergen, Elben und Orks aufmarschieren. Zeit für 'ne richtig große Keilerei!
Ja, diese Schlacht kommt auch in der Buchvorlage vor - aber das Buch ist relativ dünn, und Jackson hat daraus gleich drei Filme mit Überlänge gemacht. Beim Herrn der Ringe und seiner umfangreichen litararischen Vorlage hat das Sinn ergeben, hier tut es das höchstens bedingt. Die Schlacht, um die es hier geht, findet nämlich nur auf ein paar Seiten statt. Jackson und seine Leute mussten also sehr viel dazudichten und warfen sogar Figuren mit hinein, die im Buch gar nicht vorkommen - der olle Legolas (Orlando Bloom) zum Beispiel hat da eigentlich gar nichts zu suchen. Und trotz dieser Hinzudichtungen passiert während der zweieinhalb Stunden von Die Schlacht der fünf Heere viel zu wenig, um die Überlänge zu rechtfertigen. Fast alles wirkt künstlich gestreckt, wenn auch gut gemacht. Aber in den beiden Vorgängern steckt deutlich mehr Handlung, hier hingegen hauptsächlich nur optischer Bombast. Der ist Jackson gelungen, keine Frage: Der Film sieht fantastisch aus, besonders auf Blu-ray. Dennoch empfinde ich ihn als unbefriedigenden Abschluss.
Ja, diese Schlacht kommt auch in der Buchvorlage vor - aber das Buch ist relativ dünn, und Jackson hat daraus gleich drei Filme mit Überlänge gemacht. Beim Herrn der Ringe und seiner umfangreichen litararischen Vorlage hat das Sinn ergeben, hier tut es das höchstens bedingt. Die Schlacht, um die es hier geht, findet nämlich nur auf ein paar Seiten statt. Jackson und seine Leute mussten also sehr viel dazudichten und warfen sogar Figuren mit hinein, die im Buch gar nicht vorkommen - der olle Legolas (Orlando Bloom) zum Beispiel hat da eigentlich gar nichts zu suchen. Und trotz dieser Hinzudichtungen passiert während der zweieinhalb Stunden von Die Schlacht der fünf Heere viel zu wenig, um die Überlänge zu rechtfertigen. Fast alles wirkt künstlich gestreckt, wenn auch gut gemacht. Aber in den beiden Vorgängern steckt deutlich mehr Handlung, hier hingegen hauptsächlich nur optischer Bombast. Der ist Jackson gelungen, keine Frage: Der Film sieht fantastisch aus, besonders auf Blu-ray. Dennoch empfinde ich ihn als unbefriedigenden Abschluss.
fearless Jab
4.0 out of 5 stars
Best of the trilogy but can't compare to the The return of the King
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2016Verified Purchase
Best of the bunch.. Found the first one slow and drawn out could have told the story in half the time trying to capitalise on the Lord of the rings success. The second one was was better than the first but it's only when we come to this concluding story in the trilogy do we come close to the magnificent Lord of the Rings. The unexpected journey and the desolation of Smaug should have been made as one film.. But a good series end.
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars
3D disc does not work
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 21, 2019Verified Purchase
Amazon have been very good. I have tried 3 different DVD's of this title. None work on my LG player. No idea why since every other 3D DVD I have works fine? However after the 3rd attempt Amazon refunded & told me to keep the disc. I still have no idea why this DVD should be a problem.
Peter K.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hobbit adventure
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 30, 2020Verified Purchase
Part of the Hobbit series great condition nice item
John Doyle
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2019Verified Purchase
Love these movies visually brilliant
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