The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies- Extended Edition review

When news first broke out that Peter Jackson was going to turn his two-part film adaption of The Hobbit (a 300 page book at most- depending on what edition you have) into a trilogy, reception was mixed at best. I, for one, was excited in the prospect of seeing three more middle-earth movies. And now that all three films are out, still, reception is mixed at best. I know I'm in the minority (or the haters are a very vocal minority), but I really enjoyed the Hobbit trilogy. Sure, it fell into a lot of the same traps as that other prequel trilogy, but at the end of the day, I was satisfied with the end result. Did it need to be three movies? Probably not, but such is the way of things.

But when I heard that there were going to be extended editions of the Hobbit films, that's where I started to get suspicious. I love the first movie: An Unexpected Journey, but I couldn't fathom even one more minute being added into that film. Sure enough, the extended edition didn't too much for me. That's the only middle-earth film where I actually prefer the theatrical version. The new scene of toddler Bilbo meeting Gandalf for the first time was great, but I could've done without the Goblin King's song and nude dwarfs swimming in a fountain.

Desolation of Smaug's extended edition, however, was a vast improvement over the theatrical version (which I never was a big fan of). It included scenes more faithful to the book (the dwarfs introducing themselves to Beorn, and more scenes in Mirkwood like Bombur falling into the enchanted river), more scenes in Lake-Town that really fleshes it out more as a real place than just a set piece, and it's most significant inclusion was the character of Thrain. The entire sequence of Gandalf in Dol Guldur was completely re-edited to include that character, and it ultimately felt like a completely new movie with all the new footage and added backstory. I highly recommend it over the theatrical version.

And now we're at The Battle of the Five Armies. When I first saw this in the theater, something felt off about it. I could tell it was edited. Reportedly, "studio heads" got the best of Peter Jackson and the result was a film that just felt rushed and choppy. It was the lowest reviewed of the trilogy, just making the "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a 60%, and it was significantly shorter than the rest of the trilogy (144 minutes compared to 169 and 161 minutes respectively). News or a longer extended edition broke out before the theatrical version was even released. It was reported to have 30 extra minutes (which then became 20) and it was going to be rated R! I knew right then that this was going to be the definitive version of this film.

Let's get on with the review. The film begins immediately with Smaug's attack on Lake Town. I always thought it was jarring how it just jumps right in like that without an introduction, but I don't know how else to begin with the abrupt ending Desolation had. I noticed some quick new shots of Smaug noticing Bard on the rooftops and trying to knock him off. It was a nice inclusion to have the dragon see him as a threat, as opposed to the theatrical edition where he randomly turns around and just happens to see Bard on the bell tower. No idea why those shots were deleted in the first place though.

One thing that really got under my skin in this scene was the deletion of the thrush. I'm the very last person to complain about book-to-film changes, but this one really bothers me. In the book, Bilbo told the thrush where Smaug's weak spot was and told it to tell Bard. Omitting that takes away Bilbo's (the main character) involvement in killing Smaug (the main bad guy), which I thought was a complete betrayal to Bilbo's character development. Bard just noticing the blind spot on Smaug's body was just way too convenient. Regardless, this is still a very well done scene, and the absolute highlight of the trilogy.

Most of the new scenes are dedicated to the battle, but Dol Guldur has some significant changes. There's a whole new set piece of an orc trying to cut off Gandalf's hand to get his Ring. Galadriel shows up with her Ring and destroys the orc (and that's putting it lightly). This inclusion helps flesh out the backstory of the Rings of Power, and puts higher stakes on the scene itself.

Now on to the title battle. It feels much more fleshed out and focused than in the theatrical version. There's more hostility towards the dwarves and the elves, and they fight each other for a while before the orcs show up. When the orcs start pushing towards the mountain, and the dwarves try to push back against them, there's an added scene of suspense where the elves debate whether to help them or not. This help to flesh out the character traits of the elves and their change of heart to help the dwarves fight back. The battle also has some new one-off shots of brutal hits and kills as well, solidifying it's new R rating. When the 13 dwarves finally come out from hiding and fight, there are new scenes of them working together as a team to (creatively) kill some orcs. I wish these scenes would've stayed in the original version, as it helps develop these dwarves as individual characters.

The funeral scene.

But it's in the new chariot scene where the film earns it's new rating. To start off, the chariot wheels have spikes on them, which easily slices and cuts down anyone unfortunate enough to stand in it's way. Six trolls are decapitated simultaneously with blood gushing everywhere. A warg's head gets crushed later on down the road, and a few more heads gets sliced off. It's this scene alone that gives the new version of the film the R rating, and I'm glad WB decided to go through with the rating instead of dumming it down.

For the Alfred haters out there, rejoice! He gets a death scene! He accidentally gets catapulted into a troll's open mouth and crushed by the impact of the ground. It's a great scene, but it unfittingly feels like it's being played out for laughs (or maybe that was just me...)

The absolute MAJOR inclusion was the funeral scene for Thorin, Kili, and Fili. Why this wasn't in the original cut I have no idea. Because it was originally taken out, I thought it was going to be this elaborate 7-minute or so sequence, but it was only 2 minutes! So it baffles me why it was deleted from the final cut. (For pacing reasons Peter Jackson said in his commentary). It makes me feel like some scenes like this were deliberately deleted just for the sake of having an extended cut. Hell, the extended runtime for this (164 minutes) doesn't even surpass the theatrical length of An Unexpected Journey (169 minutes). Regardless, this is a very well done scene and it's hard not to get teary-eyed watching it.

Overall, I thought this extended edition was a vast improvement over the theatrical version, and that goes for The Desolation of Smaug as well. I really enjoyed the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy quite a bit, but I've always went back to the theatrical versions on later viewings. That won't be the case for this trilogy. The bonus features for each extended edition release always had over 9 hours of extensive behind-the-scenes features and this one is no exception. A commentary track is included with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens. It makes me wonder when it was recorded because Jackson talks about Christopher Lee as if he's still alive, and he never mentioned the R rating. The commentary tracks for the Hobbit trilogy are definitely worth listening to, especially The Desolation of Smaug.

This version of The Battle of the Five Armies is the definitive version of the film and the one that feels more complete. It's a real shame that this isn't the version the common audience member will see. People might dismiss the extended editions of The Hobbit because those films were stretched out thin to begin with (their words not mine), but I'd say that they're missing out quite a bit.

In (Partial) Defense of The Last Airbender.

Back in the summer of 2010, a little film was released: a live action adaption of the highly acclaimed animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender". Never has there been a film since probably The Phantom Menace that spewed all sorts of controversy. The acting was horrible, the writing was beyond lazy, the pacing was awkward, the cinematography was wretched, I could go on. Never mind the "racebending" movement it spawned for it's all white cast for what were supposed to be ethically diverse characters. The movie's terrible to say the least. Like so many other fans of the original Nickelodeon show, I was anticipating this movie. I wasn't familiar with director M. Night's Shyamalan's other work at the time, but I knew that people weren't that receptive to his movies for a while. So yes, this was my first Shyamalan movie.

Opening day, first weekend of July 2010, was when I saw the movie. I looked at some of the reviews, which were all negative, but just brushed them off. I was optimistic for this movie. Sure, another anime-to-live action movie called Dragonball Evolution came out the previous year with similar disdain, but Avatar: The Last Airbender is different. It has a wide range of fully developed and relatable characters, an exciting storyline, stunning animation, and lots of heart and soul. It's obvious that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko spent a lot of time developing and fine-crafting their own world for the masses to get lost in. The show has a strong fanbase, and it even won an emmy or two! There was just no way a live-action big-budgted summer blockbuster based on this material would be anything less than amazing. Even though Shyamalan's recent track record with The Village, The Lady in the Water, and The Happening were anything but ideal to say the least, people still believed (like Katara believing the Avatar would return after 100 years of turmoil) that if anything would to get the once-acclaimed director of The Sixth Sense and Signs back on track, The Last Airbender would be it.

My first red flag flew before the movie even began. I went to a 2pm matinee show, and the previous show was just wrapping up when I arrived. The theater manager and two other employees walked out of the movie just shaking their heads and saying "that was just terrible.", almost mimicking the end of the "Ember Island Players" episode. Since I already got my ticket and popcorn, I knew I was in for it now. The theater was respectively full. People in the audience ranged from age 6 to 60. It really showed me the wide range of the audience for the show, as opposed to the all-female audience for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse which opened on the same day. My first impression of the movie was...spotty to say the least. I believe I went through what they call "fan denial". I actually saw it twice in theaters to make sure I can form a proper opinion on it. (It was part of a double feature with Dinner With Schmucks at a drive-in theater, the last time I ever went to one since). It was obvious to me the second time around that it wasn't as good as the show, but I didn't actually flat-out hate it. It wasn't until the third time I saw it at home years later when I finally said "Wow...what a piece of garbage!"

The Airbender arrow design for the movie.

I mean really! It's horrible. My fan denial is gone now. The acting is just wretched. The cinematography...dear God! The Earthbending scene? There's no way a big name director like M. Night Shyamalan could've been involved in making that scene! The pacing? In my opinion, that's the biggest sin this movie has. For starters, they covered an entire season in only an hour and 43 minutes (a little over 90 if you don't count the credits. There's no time for the viewer to breathe or take in anything that's going on. If someone who was unfamiliar with the show saw this, I don't even know if they'd be able to understand the story. It moves at such a pace to make you believe you accidentally pushed the fast forward button on your remote. If they wanted to do the series justice, they should've had a running time of at least 2 1/2 hours. But that's also a double-edged sword, as I wouldn't want this particular version of Avatar to go on for any longer than it did.

But, despite it's laundry list of problems, I actually found some things to like in this movie (I have seen it more times than I care to admit...). For starters, I love the set and prop design. It genuinely looks like the show. The Fire Lord's palace looks breathtaking. It got to the point where I stopped pay attention to anything going on (which I'm sure most people did) and just marveled around at the design. The Northern Water Tribe city looks pretty damn good as well. The costumes look great (despite Princess Yue's unfortunate hairstyle from behind- if you'd seen this movie, you know what I mean).Aang's arrow tattoo is also something I really liked. Instead of going for the standard purple from the show, the artists involved with the movie actually took the time to redesign the arrow with all sorts of creative lines and shapes around it. So well done on that!

Another thing I really enjoyed was the score by James Newton Howard. I genuinely believe that the score from the movie is better than the score from the show. "Flow Like Water" is such a fantastic and emotional piece of music, and it's a real shame that the music is mostly ignored because of the film's negative reception. I actually own the physical CD and listen to it all the time.

The costume and set design is quite exceptional.

Believe it or not, I also found some things to like in the story structure. For example, when Aang, Katara, and Sokka first arrive at the Southern Air Temple, Aang's original home, it felt more fitting to have him find out he was frozen for 100 years while he was there. In the show, it didn't make much sense to me that Aang finds out that he was frozen in the iceberg for 100 years, then expects to go to the Air Temple with all his friends and family still alive. Even if the Fire Nation hadn't wiped them out, old age surely would of. Also, and this is a very small point, towards the end during Zuko's and Aang's climatic fight, Aang froze him in ice, almost the same way he was, which I think further cements the similarities between these two characters in a fairly subtle way.

Also, the deleted scenes on the DVD were really fun to watch, and it baffles me why they couldn't be in the movie. There was a scene where Aang visits a fortuneteller, and it plays out in such a way that I believed they actually ripped it from the show itself. It had the same quirky and fun sense of humor that the source material was all about. It tells me that Shyamalan actually had some sort of idea of what to do with this material. Shame it was deleted.

But I soon realized that all the good things in the movie is almost everything that Shyamalan wasn't involved in, or played little part in creating. It's still, by definition of a film making standpoint, a very horrible movie. Even the few things good about it still don't compare to the stilted acting, clumsy writing, poor camera movement, and relentless pacing. It was supposed to be the first part of a trilogy of films, one film per season, but I think at this point the possibility of a sequel is dead. Even if the film was a rip-roaring success, making a sequel to a movie that came out over five years ago would be a mistake. One of the biggest mistakes with this film was it's timing. It was just too soon for a movie based on Avatar: The Last Airbender to be made. At the time of release, the show only ended two years before, and premiered three years before that. Maybe it'll be rebooted in a decade or two, with a director that was only a kid when the series was at it's tip of popularity. Or maybe it should just remain as a TV series. Only time will tell.