The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (6/10): Will you follow Peter Jackson one last time into Middle Earth?

“Will you follow me, one last time?”

Not only is Thorin asking his dwarves to follow him one last time into battle, but Peter Jackson is also asking us to join him one last time in experiencing his vision of Middle Earth. We all know The Hobbit was one short book (about 300 pages), but Jackson decided to adapt it into three full length movies so there is going to be a lot of characters and elements included that aren’t in the book. J.R.R Tolkien fans might be upset and most audiences agree that Jackson made a mistake in stretching the material because this trilogy hasn’t had the same emotional impact as the Lord of the Rings trilogy had. However, Jackson is still asking us to accompany him one last time into Middle Earth in order to tie everything together. He and the producers may have experienced their share of dragon fever by getting greedy and wanting to bank on the success of their first trilogy (it is kind of ironic when you take into account that the underlying message of the novels is that greed destroys the soul), but they are asking us to join them for one last time, and they deserve it. If you are a fan of the franchise this will be an emotional moment for you, but if you don’t care much for this world then you will find the film annoying. It does tie in the first two films of The Hobbit trilogy very well with The Lord of the Rings so it serves as a sort of closure for these epic films. At 144 minutes, this is the shortest film of the franchise and you sort of get the feeling that Jackson doesn’t know how to sum things up in less than 3 hours because this film feels rushed and overstuffed with characters and subplots. It also happens to be action packed with a battle scene lasting for almost an hour. It may be a bit too much, but there is no denying that Peter Jackson cares deeply for the material here and is devoted to it. Despite not being nearly as engaging as The Lord of the Ring trilogy, The Hobbit has its emotional moments with strong action sequences and some solid performances. Jackson is asking us to follow him for the last time, but it is up to us to decide if his passion and dedication is worth the journey. I joined him and was mildly entertained although I found several flaws. Despite not being as entertaining as The Desolation of Smaug, this is still an improvement over The Unexpected Journey.  

The Battle of the Five Armies picks up right where The Desolation of Smaug left us, giving me the feeling that I had paused the film and waited a whole year before hitting the play button once again. It took me a while to recall everything that had been going on, but with the opening action sequence I had to rush those memories in order to understand everything that was going on. The Hobbit is actually one film divided into three parts which makes it difficult to analyze apart from each other. There is a sense of cohesion among these films and we finally get the concluding chapter after an agonizing and extended fist part which felt completely stretched out and an entertaining second chapter where we were introduced to new and familiar characters and an impressive dragon voiced by the great Benedict Cumberbatch. This third chapter picks up with that very dragon destroying the nearby village where Bard (Luke Evans) and his children are. The film begins with an impressive action sequence and then the next hour is dedicated to build up what will be the ultimate battle scene with five different armies preparing for battle. This is where the movie begins to feel convoluted and overstuffed with subplots that feel too rushed. But at times the film does succeed when it centers on the relationship between Bilbo (Martin Freeman) and Thorin (Richard Armitage). We know that Jackson knows how to deliver spectacular visuals and action sequences, but what was missing from The Lord of the Rings trilogy was that character development we finally got to see here with these two characters. Unfortunately there are other elements included that don’t work too well (like the love triangle between Kili, Legolas, and Tauriel that feels misplaced). The build up and the action scenes might be a bit too much for audiences, and ultimately the film fails to stand out from other epics. It is an average film that has its ups and downs, but still manages to bring closure. Unfortunately this trilogy never lives up to the grandeur of The Lord of the Rings.

My Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past (9/10)

"Are we destined to destroy each other, or can we change each other and unite? Is the future truly set?"

I don't know if I have the right words to explain how much fun this seventh film in the X-Men franchise truly is. Matthew Vaughn revived this franchise in First Class by taking us to the past and giving the film a much more emotionally dramatic tone, focusing on the relationship between Charles and Erik. The greatest thing about that film was the cast he was able to assemble with James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult leading the pack. At first I didn't know quite what to expect when I heard Vaughn was stepping down and leaving Days of Future Past in Bryan Singer's hands. On the one hand he was responsible for the success of the first two X-Men films, but on the other hand I was let down with Superman Returns. I guess I kind of forgot this man was responsible for the superhero genre revival (contrary to popular belief, it was him with the first X-Men film not Sam Raimi with SpiderMan which came out two years later) that has dominated movie screens for the past decade and a half. Singer hasn't lost his touch and he delivers an exhilarating and entertaining film worthy of being a blockbuster summer hit. It has everything you want from a blockbuster movie: fantastic visuals, great action sequences, a perfect ensemble cast, and a story that is both fun and emotionally engaging. I don't just want cool visuals and nice actions sequences, I want to be engaged with the characters and care for them, and that is what Singer pulls off beautifully with Days of Future Past. Add the wonderful performances from Fassbender, McAvoy, Lawrence, Stewart, Jackman, and a wonderful scene with Evan Peters as Quicksilver and you have a perfect movie. This might just be my favorite superhero film after The Dark Knight due to the fact that the cast is amazing and that Singer managed to perfectly blend the best aspects of the earlier films in the franchise with the new elements Vaughn brought to the reboot. It is hard to imagine how after 7 films, Days of Future Past manages to remain so fresh and keep the audience so emotionally invested in these characters. As we reach the halfway point of the year, I must say this is the best film of 2014 so far.

Based on the Days of Future Past comic book story arc written by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the screenplay was adapted by Simon Kinberg. Set in an apocalyptic future, the few surviving mutants are struggling to fight together against sentinels created by humans to hunt them down. The few surviving mutants we see fighting in the first scene are Colossus, Sunspot, Bishop, Iceman, Warpath, Blink, and Kitty Pryde. There isn't much they can do against these sentinels that adapt and absorb their powers. Several mutants are killed during the attack, but then all of a sudden they disappear as we discover Kitty Pryde's (Ellen Page) mutation has evolved in such a way that she can send someone's consciousness back through time. By doing so they were able to send Bishop a few minutes back in time and warn them about the sentinel attack, thus altering the recent timeline and staying alive. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) know that the mutants are facing extinction and that in order to be saved they must return to the past and undo something Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) did in 1973. Along with Charles and Magneto, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Storm (Halle Berry) arrive to the place where the rest of the mutants are hiding out. Since Wolverine is the only one who doesn't age and who can fully recover, they decide he is the only one fit to return to the past and stop Mystique from assassinating Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the creator of the sentinel program. His murder would only fuel human's hate towards mutants and lead them to perfecting his work through experimentation with Mystique's unique DNA. Once back in the past, Logan must reach out to Charles (James McAvoy) and Erick (Michael Fassbender) and unite them in order to stop Mystique from achieving her goal and thus saving their future. 

Time traveling can be a difficult and tricky feat to pull off, but by using a similar approach to other films such as The Terminator, Singer manages to turn it into a quite simple premise. He merges both timelines perfectly in a satisfactory way. The film feels genuine thanks to some wonderful performances, strong character development, excellent pacing, and the emotional risks that are involved. In a way, I felt like Days of Future Past followed the steps of its predecessor and fixed a lot of the problems audiences had with The Last Stand, thus reinvigorating the franchise without having to reboot it. The film is inventive, original, and there are plenty of surprises. I loved every moment Fassbender was on screen as he absolutely dominates every dramatic moment. Jackman's Wolverine was always my favorite character in the X-Men franchise, and he is fantastic, but this time he has a lot of help from the rest of the cast. McAvoy also adds a lot to the emotional dramatic effect of the film on the viewer. The scene he is confronted by his future self (Stewart) is impressive. His character and Fassbender's are complete opposites despite the fact that they truly respect and care for each other. Lawrence's Mystique seems to be at the center of their struggle. All these elements combined with Singer's breathtaking visuals turn what could've been just another conventional superhero film into an epic one. Singer also knows how to balance action with dramatic moments along with some comedic ones. Despite all the memorable scenes in this highly entertaining blockbuster movie, Evan Peters stills it in the scene where they are helping Magneto escape. That is just a pure example of how Singer managed to balance all those elements together by mixing thrills with laughs. 

My Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (7/10)

"If you awaken that beast, you'll destroy us all!"

Peter Jackson has awakened my interest for the resolution of this franchise after a somewhat disappointing first installment. Being a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I was disappointed with An Unexpected Journey and found the film long, tedious, and boring. The last 40 minutes of that film were what kept me interested for what Jackson could do in this sequel. I honestly didn't remember much about An Unexpected Journey, but I was glad that The Desolation of Smaug began more promising than its predecessor, and as the story unfolded my memory began to freshen up a bit. One of the issues I had with the first film was that the comedy didn't work too well and I really couldn't differentiate most of the dwarves. The dilemma was solved here because there were several funny moments to lighten up the mood, and the dwarves were developed much better and had distinct personalities with more meat to their characters. The film really picked up when Legolas and Tauriel entered the picture. I think Tauriel was my favorite character in this film considering how much I like Evangeline Lilly (sorry but being a huge Lost fan she will always be Freckles to me) and how well she executed each action sequence. The film has a couple of great action sequences, but the one that stood out above the rest was the barrel scene. It is honestly one of the best and funnest action scenes of the year. I was pleased with this film and would've given this a higher grade if it weren't for the overlong running time that did feel a bit tedious once again. The cliffhanger at the end worked really well for me as it definitely left me hooked for the final film of the franchise.

Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Ian McKellen), and the 13 dwarves led by Thorin (Richard Armitage) continue their journey to Lonely Mountain to try to reclaim their kingdom. The film picks up right where the first one left us, as they were approaching the Mirkwood Forest while the orcs were right behind their backs.  Their journey to Lonely Mountain is not an easy one as they have to face all sorts of threats before arriving at their destination to try to reclaim the throne that was taken away from them by the gold digging dragon, Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). In the forest they first have to deal with giant spiders, but Bilbo who now possesses the ring is able to rescue them. Then they are captured by elves where they run into Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly). Bilbo comes to the rescue yet again, but this is just the beginning of a long journey as the enemy seems to be getting stronger each minute that passes and he begins to become more self aware about the effects of the ring.

To say that The Desolation of Smaug is visually stunning is an understatement considering we have already seen what Peter Jackson can do with Middle Earth. Being the huge fan of Tolkien that he is, the attention to detail and love for his book translates to the big screen perfectly. The build up to the final confrontation with Smaug is full of thrills and excitements and the dragon is carefully crafted here. The face off of words between Smaug and Bilbo is also very well done. There are several scenes that worked masterfully here, but unfortunately there was simply too many things going on at times and the film felt overlong, although I must admit that the waiting does pay off. I was glad the characters were developed much better this time around and I was drawn into their world. This is an improvement over An Unexpected Journey and hopefully Jackson will end the trilogy with a bang. This was an exciting and thrilling adventure that sets the table for what is coming next.

My Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (6/10)

¨My dear Frodo, you asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. Well, I can honestly say I've told you the truth, I may not have told you all of it.¨

After the huge success that Peter Jackson had adapting The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he brings us the prequel (which he has decided to do in three films as well). Of course fans are coming into this film with huge expectations, and I’m sure that fans of Tolkien will really love Jackson´s direction here since he himself is a huge fan of the series. I really loved his work in The Lord of the Rings, but wasn’t really too excited about The Hobbit. First of all, as much as I enjoyed the original trilogy, I couldn’t manage to watch those films again since I find them hard to rewatch, especially for being so long. Second I really wasn’t thrilled when I heard that Jackson was making three films instead of only two. This meant that the film would stretch out a little too far by adding some unnecessary elements that perhaps only true fans of the series would enjoy. Those fears were fulfilled while I was enduring the 160 minute long movie. I really didn’t get into the film until the last 60 minutes or so when Gollum appeared. The film actually takes 40 minutes before the actual journey even begins. I felt Jackson was just trying to stretch out the film a little too much so he could have an excuse to make three films and make a bigger profit. Well I have to admit the final third of the movie did raise my grade for The Hobbit and made it a worthwhile watch. I wouldn’t recommend it if you haven’t seen The Lord of the Rings, but if you have and you enjoyed those fabulous movies you might want to check this out with a bit lowered expectations. I really don’t think this trilogy was necessary, but fans might not agree with me.

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is approached by Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) to go on a journey alongside 13 warrior dwarves who want to reclaim their mountain home. The Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor was once majestic and powerful, but a fire dragon named Smaug, attracted by the gold, attacked them and forced them out of the mountain. The dwarves were forced to live as nomads and their King was murdered by Azog the orc during war. The King´s grandson, Thorin (Richard Armitage), survived and led his people bravely to victory, but it came at a huge price. Now 60 years later he and 12 other dwarves have decided to go on a quest with the help of Gandalf- the magician- and Bilbo who Gandalf insists must travel with them. He sees good and kindness in the hobbit, who he knows will be a good ally in times of need. Once they begin their journey towards the mountain they face several different kinds of enemies. It is not until they reach the goblin tunnels that Bilbo runs into Gollum (Andy Serkis) and finds the ring (which we are all familiar with from The Lord of the Rings trilogy). The quest for the mountain lies ahead, but they must face many more obstacles first.

Peter Jackson once again delivers great visuals with some great looking fight scenes. It is nothing we haven’t seen before in his other works, but it still is magnificent to look at. He also adds a few cameos from some of the characters we have all come to love, but in all honesty I had a lot of problems with the pacing of this film. It just took forever to get started and I had a hard time watching this. Perhaps the second film will be better in that there won´t need to be an introduction and we are already set into the action because the final third of the movie was pretty good. The film however is still very far from accomplishing what Jackson did in the original trilogy. He just pays so much attention to detail that the narrative feels too stretched out. This adventure film has its moments that make the movie worthwhile, but other moments feel completely dull and tiresome. I felt like there were several obstacles I had to get over before I could really sit down and enjoy the movie. This isn’t a bad movie; I would say it is more of a disappointing one considering it had to live up to the high standards of its predecessor. Another thing I felt didn’t work as well as in the original trilogy was the comedy. I found most of the funny scenes pretty unfunny actually and a little too forced. The jokes didn’t really work with me. The visuals as spectacular as they might be are not corresponded well with the narrative and pacing of the film which left me weary and tedious. Having that said, this is still much better than most of the sequels that have been made and fans will be pleased with Jackson´s work.

                                                                                                                  

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