Category Archives: Drama
The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies
I know it’s been a while but following a busy time for everyone, I decided this was a good time to start sharing my thoughts aloud on the movie business again. And, I’ve got the perfect one in mind. If you know a little about me, you would know that I love the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. So with that bit of information, you can guess what my topic will be for this session. Now I didn’t share my opinion about this but, I loved The Desolation of Smaug. I loved the story and I thought all thirteen dwarves were defined as characters which is a feat that is very hard to do. Smaug was also a very cool character with his power and way with words. Tauriel was a strong character even with being new. Everyone wondered where her relationship with Kili will go. The second movie hyped everyone up for the last movie and I was hyped. The beloved series was ending and it’s about a huge war, plus the trailers looked awesome, so I was extremely excited. Now let’s take a look at The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.
The dragon Smaug has just left the Lonely Mountain to attack the small town just on the lake on the outskirts of the Mountain, due to Bilbo’s accidental mistake in the last movie. While the dragon is burning Lake-Town, Bard escapes and with the new character of his son’s help, he does the famous deed he also performs in the book. With that action, Thorin becomes the official king under the mountain. But, this isn’t such a good thing after all. Like his grandfather, he slowly becomes selfish, untrusting, and unkind due not only to his new-found power but his love of gold and his obsession with the Arkenstone. These newly found attributes do not bode well to the homeless people of Lake-Town who have set up camp in the ruins of Dale where there is no food. Thorin promised those people their fair share of treasure from the vast riches of the mountain earlier but that is not happening. Also, Bilbo is the one who has the Arkenstone in his possession and being the good friend that he is, doesn’t give it to Thorin knowing that it will make his sickness even worse. To make the situation even more complicated, the Elves arrive with food and supplies gaining an alliance with the people of Dale. But, the true reason the Elves are there is because that the Elf King wants treasure in the mountain dearly and is willing to go to war with the Dwarf Company. The biggest problem that faces the good people of the story is that, if you paid attention last movie you would know, Azog is leading a gigantic army of Orcs to take the mountain.
The Battle of Five Armies is supposed to be an absolutely huge war for Middle Earth. I wanted it to be Peter Jackson’s best battle yet; even better than the two big battles in the Return of the King. But, it was not to be. I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed in that aspect. I wanted it to be a full-scale battle that used a huge piece of land to do it, more creative new weapons and monsters, and bigger armies. I didn’t imagine the battle to be directly in front of the mountain and it to be a surprise when the orcs showed up. I would’ve liked if the Orcs didn’t use the Earth-Worms and just marched to a lot of open land with the Mountain pretty far away and the armies of men, elves, and dwarves standing in their way ready for battle. I was fine with the fighting in Dale. I just think that the fighting should’ve been more ferocious, Dale should’ve been weathered down even more such as buildings being knocked down, and all three armies were fighting in it. I was sad that it didn’t show the company fighting at all when they emerge from the mountain. For all we know, the war wasn’t even a challenge for the dwarves except for the four dwarves who went up to fight separately. And if you have seen the movie and remember it, we both probably have the same issue with the rams. And for those who are going to see it, it’s obvious and totally fixable. Maybe it’s fixed in the extended editions (which I highly recommend seeing for the first and second movies if you haven’t).
So, I thought that the plot and fighting could’ve used some tweaking. Unfortunately, I have another problem with not just the plot but certain characters too. And those characters were Tauriel and Alfrid. Tauriel was perfect in the second movie but in this movie she didn’t have much of a point. She didn’t kill Bolg, she couldn’t save her love, and we don’t know what becomes of her. She was a very different character compared to the second movie. The other issue was Alfrid. He was alright in the second movie and didn’t have so much screen time that it was a little annoying. But in this movie, Bard gives him all of these important tasks when he knows that Alfrid is cowardly and selfish and fails pretty much everyone. At least, he could’ve explained why he trusted Alfrid. Also, Alfrid too didn’t have much point or it wasn’t explained. Maybe he is supposed to be a comedic relief. I can understand the want for that but that should’ve been emphasized and he shouldn’t have had that much screen time.
Even though I wrote about negatives, I liked the movie overall. I liked Thorin mental changes in it. I liked Bilbo as always. Legolas was sweet in this movie and his fight on the fallen tower was great. I actually really liked Thorin against Azog and I was fine with the length of it too. I was only okay with Bard in this movie. I don’t think he was as strong in this movie compared to the previous one due to his unusual trust in Alfrid and him not leading the men on the plains. Although, one of my favorite scenes was the burning of Lake-Town scene. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and is still a Middle-Earth. I just thought it could’ve improved but if you’re a Middle-Earth fan, watch it in theaters. If not, I still recommend seeing it.
8 out of 10
Lincoln
I have always wanted to see and predict the movie of the year and I have a pretty good shot in 2012. Coming out of that movie I now know that the 16th is my favorite president. You’re probably saying that this is not a usual Asher movie review. It’s hard to say but, History is my favorite subject, there I said it, and the damage is done. History is really interesting to me and I’m learning about Lincoln in school so I wanted to see this movie. I thought I knew why Lincoln was great. He stopped the Civil War and led us through a time of crisis. The movie’s focus was on another reason and you’ll have to see the movie to find that reason out or you might already know it. I think that this movie wasn’t just made to entertain. I think this movie was made to honor Lincoln as a person and to say thank you from the United States of America. This movie was a perfect description of how Lincoln was a president like no president before or after. The amount of respect for one man radiated from the people leaving that theater, it was unbelievable.
The movie was historically accurate in every fact I knew. I don’t know why but usually I tend to remember the small facts easier than the big picture in anything with information and that helped me in this case. Every fact I knew about this subject was accurate in this movie. For example, in the Civil War, both sides had such little supplies of ammunition and weapons, they were fighting with bayonets, hand to hand combat, hitting each other with their gun butts, choking each other, and using natural resources. Another example is that the Secretary of War, Stanton, was a very serious person, never laughed, and got very annoyed when Lincoln got playful and started telling jokes. Both of those facts were in the movie. I was very happy that the movie accurately portrayed who Lincoln was. Lincoln wasn’t menacing or great. He had a little bit of a soft voice and spoke slowly and with a lot of passion. He didn’t look as tall as he is because he slouched and Lincoln was very kind. He cared for people no one else cared for. Daniel Day Lewis was the perfectly cast as Lincoln because his acting and speeches were overwhelming. You could feel his words flowing through your body. I didn’t say this directly until now, but the movie, Lincoln, was excellent!
Steven Spielberg did it again.
Gusher's Review 