The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies comes as a disappointing conclusion

“Will you follow me one last time?”

This is the question Thorin lays on his dwarves in “The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies.” Ever faithful, the dwarves decide to fight alongside Thorin once more.

Tolkien’s fans choose otherwise.

When in 2012 Peter Jackson announced his intention to film “The Hobbit,” by JRR Tolkien, expectations were high. Jackson  was the same director who had filmed the oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy (lovingly dubbed “LOTR” by fans).  In the end, though, perhaps those expectations were too high.

When assessing the Hobbit trilogy as a whole, it is hard to begin. As the movies progressed, the overall quality seemed less like Tolkien’s eloquence and more like the cheap spawn of typical action movies.

“The Hobbit” tells of the journey of Bilbo Baggins and a company of dwarves to reclaim the dwarf stronghold Erebor, now occupied by the dragon Smaug. It is an ageless novel for children, but Jackson’s adaptations of it went from acceptable to woefully unrecognizable.

The first part of the trilogy,  “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” was not wholly a disaster. Nostalgic chuckles arose from Tolkien fans at several points, especially during the riddles scene with Gollum.

The mistake came when Jackson also chose to stretch the Hobbit into three movies; see, the Hobbit is not a dense adventure series comparable to Frodo’s journey to Mount Doom, as LOTR is. Because it’s a short 300-page novel, “The Hobbit” is a poor choice be stretched into three two-hour movies.

Starting from “Part Two: The Desolation of Smaug” (Desolation of Tolkien would be a more apt title), the quality plummeted. Almost none of Tolkien’s literary touch was present.

Worsening the matter, a smorgasbord of fabrication ensued. For example, Tauriel, a fabricated elf character, fuels a ludicrous love triangle involving a dwarf and another elf.

Furthermore, Jackson’s insertion of material may have been necessary to bulk up his trilogy, but he is not very good at it. A friend once commented, “I’ve read better fanfiction than  this.”

I prayed and prayed that “The Battle of Five Armies” would come through and show a glimmer of LOTR’s quality, but the movie industry’s cliches plagued it as well. The battle was ridiculously drawn out, the interactions cheesy and the plot holes enough to fell a cave troll.

When assessing the Hobbit trilogy as a whole, it is hard to begin. I’ll start with the script. From “The Desolation of Smaug” onwards, the character dialogue began to sound less like Tolkien’s eloquence and more like the cheap spawn of typical action movies.

Take Tauriel and Thranduil’s conversation near the end. The immaturity of the characters’ lines destroyed whatever atmosphere remained. She states “If this is love, I do not want it … Why does it hurt so much?” And Thranduil’s worthy-of-wise-elf-king reply is “Because it was real.” Because it was real? Any sadness I had felt  was instantly dissipated at this response.  

And the music. In LOTR, the soundtrack is a masterpiece to itself. Who can forget the haunting violin melody of Rohan and ominous Mordor theme?

By comparison, the music of the Hobbit trilogy is insignificant, a poor imitation. I’ll admit, “Misty Mountains Cold” has its charms, but I recall no consistently notable music.

I suppose the Hobbit movies are not terrible; they are decent action movies in their own right, just not representative of Tolkien’s work and nowhere near the level of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a matter of personal opinion, I find that one movie with a faithful script and memorable music would have better represented “The Hobbit.”

To me, Jackson’s new change in filming style is a sad reflection of how society’s film, even book, standards have changed; few of the movies being produced right now could become classics. Many are not worth purchasing or rewatching. I doubt people will be holding Hobbit movie marathons as they do for LOTR.

The sense of loss after finishing the Hobbit trilogy is crushing. One is reminded of the elves in the LOTR, when they all begin sailing to the Undying Lands in Valinor because “the age of elves is over.”

Well, it would seem that the Age of Tolkien is over too.