With the Battle Of The Five Armies in theaters, there is no question that director Peter Jackson falls right behind Steven Spielberg as the greatest of the big-story, big-hit filmmakers of all time.
The highlights to these Hobbit films: The terrific story lines, the sense of epic comings and goings, the grand visual spectacles and some of the finest casting ever done with subsequent payoff of fine acting.
As for a plot, The Battle Of The Five Armies hardly needs an explanation. This is Middle Earth at war once again. We’ve all been there before.
While battle rages, however, Jackson is wise enough to concentrate on the fate of the individual dwarfs who have come so far to retake their homeland, especially Kili played by Aidan Turner, who has fallen in love with the elf Tauriel played by Evangeline Lilly, and the dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield played by Richard Armitage.
In the end, we have a victory that comes at a very high price. But the tears only cement the brilliance of these films into place.
The reason is simple: After six films, a slap-happy victory would cheapen all the effort it took to get to this point.
And, let’s face it: J.R.R. Tolkien has few equals in the realm of his choosing, a point made indelible by these grand, sad and beautiful films.
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