But yesterday, being Boxing Day, I attended the release of the last episode of The Hobbit - the Battle of the Five Armies. Actually, I thought it was an improvement on the first two episodes. Some things I liked and disliked:
2. The sequence with Gandalf escaping from Dol Guldur. I liked Saruman's performance, and especially Galadriel, who looked really menacing, more so than she did for a moment in FotR. I really liked that throughout the movies the role of Radagast was beefed up so much. Even in the books he appears a good character, but his role was never explained very much either.
3. The battle of the 5 armies was awesome, and Thorin's performance, especially the moment when he finally came to his senses was one of the best parts of the movie, I thought.
4. They included Bilbo's return to Hobbiton, in the middle of the auction, mentioned at the end of the book. Also that I can't really complain about the film departing too much from the book.
2. Gandalf not doing much when being rescued from Dol Guldur. He seems much older, much more battered around, a good deal less able and much frailer than he seemed to be in the LOTR trilogy.
3. Battle also a bit too drawn out and gory. It makes the rather drawn out Prince Caspian Battle of Beruna look like a country pub brawl by comparison. I also got a little tired of Legolas' almost impossibly gymnastic feats of warfare. Why do battles always have to occur in impossible terrain, with crumbling stairs, bridges and collapsing mountain peaks etc? Oh yes, that takes the place of bombing, I suppose.
4. In the book, Thorin was interred at the heart of Erebor, with the Arkenstone on his chest and Fili and Kili on either side. I would have preferred that this bit of the book had been kept in the film. Also, I would have liked to have seen Bilbo get back some of the things carted away from the auction.
I liked the use of the same actors and actresses throughout both The Hobbit and LOTR, though the new cast members and characters, like Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Smaug, Thorin & Bard were good. Cate Blanchette, who is an internationally famous actress, apart from her role as Galadriel in this film, lives a busy lifestyle in Sydney, as a normal mother, who does routine things, like daily taking her three sons to their school etc. Recently in a newspaper interview, she complained about some mothers at her sons' school who sound uncommonly like the sorts you might get in the Harper Valley PTA song. According to them, it seems, Cate Blanchette doesn't dress tidily enough, or help enough with the school. Whilst looking at Galadriel's depiction in this movie, I couldn't help thinking - Go Cate. Those criticizing mothers can "suck it up" for want of a better expression.