Considering how much I love the three Lord of the Rings movies, I feel that the Hobbit trilogy was a massive letdown. That said, I've still preferred the extended versions of the movies to their theatrical releases. Until today, I had not seen the extended version of the third movie, The Battle of the Five Armies.
Going in, I wasn't expecting much. In the theater, it was my least favorite of the three. I hadn't heard anything from my friends about the extended version which suggested that either they, like me, just didn't have the patience to see it yet, or they didn't like it (had they hated it, I would have heard). Then I saw that the extended version had received an "R" rating. R. For a movie adaptation of a children's story. Knowing Peter Jackson's other movies, it wasn't going to be due to nudity or language, but gory violence. Also, since it had been so long since we had seen the other two movies, watching the third one meant watching the extended versions of the other two movies first. None of these facts made me particularly want to see the movie.
Over the past couple of weeks, we found time to watch the extended versions of the other two Hobbit movies. Today was the first time in over a week that we had the time to stay up late enough (and get up late enough the next day) to watch the third one.
I ended up liking it.
While the violence was worthy of the "R" rating, it was the over-the-top sort of gore that I've seen in movies like the Cornetto trilogy, almost cartoonish in its presentation and thus not overly offensive to me. The added scenes filled in blanks that I felt were missing from the theatrical version. Some of the conclusions felt more satisfying as a result.
I still feel that the Hobbit could have been better made as one or perhaps two movies. I still feel that this third movie dragged out a rather short section of the book. I still feel that many of the gravity-defying sequences were better suited to Final Fantasy movies than Middle Earth.
Still, if you enjoyed the Hobbit movies and haven't seen the extended version of the last one, I recommend that you make the time.
Going in, I wasn't expecting much. In the theater, it was my least favorite of the three. I hadn't heard anything from my friends about the extended version which suggested that either they, like me, just didn't have the patience to see it yet, or they didn't like it (had they hated it, I would have heard). Then I saw that the extended version had received an "R" rating. R. For a movie adaptation of a children's story. Knowing Peter Jackson's other movies, it wasn't going to be due to nudity or language, but gory violence. Also, since it had been so long since we had seen the other two movies, watching the third one meant watching the extended versions of the other two movies first. None of these facts made me particularly want to see the movie.
Over the past couple of weeks, we found time to watch the extended versions of the other two Hobbit movies. Today was the first time in over a week that we had the time to stay up late enough (and get up late enough the next day) to watch the third one.
I ended up liking it.
While the violence was worthy of the "R" rating, it was the over-the-top sort of gore that I've seen in movies like the Cornetto trilogy, almost cartoonish in its presentation and thus not overly offensive to me. The added scenes filled in blanks that I felt were missing from the theatrical version. Some of the conclusions felt more satisfying as a result.
I still feel that the Hobbit could have been better made as one or perhaps two movies. I still feel that this third movie dragged out a rather short section of the book. I still feel that many of the gravity-defying sequences were better suited to Final Fantasy movies than Middle Earth.
Still, if you enjoyed the Hobbit movies and haven't seen the extended version of the last one, I recommend that you make the time.
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