I just finished rewatching a set of possibly the greatest adventure films of all time. While many people aren't a huge fan of the new hobbit trilogy, I really liked it, but am still a big LOTR fan. Rankings worst to best as always. A few spoilers ahead.
6. The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies
The main problem with the third installment of the hobbit is that it really lacks in the two things that were supposed to make it the best hobbit movie, and possibly even up with the Lord of the Rings quality. Those are the battle of five armies and bard vs. smaug. Smaug is dealt with first. After the awesome build up in the last hour of Desolation, Smaug was established as a great villain who really could do some damage. It seemed like it would take a lot to beat him. The film starts off right where the last left off. Smaug is wrecking Lake-Town to pieces. Bard breaks out of his cell, and has a three minute fight with Smaug before hitting his weak spot and killing him. That's right, Smaug dies in the first 15 minutes of the film. He doesn't kill anyone important before dying, and he only takes one hit before falling to his death. Once you get over that, you have to wait an hour before any more action starts and the battle is big- but totally lame. It's infested with distracting CGI, annoying characters, and it's not a very exciting battle. And it doesn't show much of the battle either. The story frequenly cuts away. I think that's the main reason no one really liked the last hobbit, but it's certainly not a bad movie. In fact, once you get past the disappointment of it, it's entertaining. The characters and acting are at it's finest. The deaths totally work and end up being really sad, unexpected, and not stupid at all. The ending is perfect. It sets up LOTR perfectly, and it hard not to be sad when the end credits roll to the song "The Last Goodbye sung by the actor who played Pippin and you realize it's the last Middle-Earth movie ever. The final installment wasn't bad, just disappointing.
5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a great film. It's not all disappointing, and in fact quite the opposite. At the time, I expected nothing from the hobbit and instead I got a fun, cool, adventure that had some really good moments. Why is it so low then? Because I'm comparing it to some of the greatest movies ever made. The reason why the first installment isn't as good as the other films ahead of it on this list, is that it takes a long, long, time to get into any excitement or any real adventure. The dwarf party is good the first time, but on rewatches you realize it's not quite what you came to see and is overly long. On the other hand, it introduces the characters well, and gives some good comedic moments. The next hour isn't too good. Sure, you finally get action and adventure, but none of it is too good, and there are far too many breaks and dialogue heavy scenes. At that point in the movie, it wasn't too good. Fortunately, the last hour more than satisfied. It had three amazing moments that are perhaps the greatest in the trilogy. First was the riddles with Gollum. It was funny, it was nice to see another familiar face from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and it worked very well story-wise in understanding how Bilbo got the ring. Next was the terrific action sequence in the goblin cave. Sure, it was ridiculous, but a load of fun. That sequence ended with a great line: That'll do it. The final scene was brilliant. The orcs push the dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf to the edge of a cliff and they hang on fall trees. After a whole movie filled with comedy, it was good to actually see our heroes in danger for once and the pinecone throwing might be my favorite thing in the whole movie.
4. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The second installment into the Hobbit franchise is such a great movie. It fixed that problem the first one had and jumped into the action right away. First came a funny moment with Bombur and a stay with a new guest, next was an interesting scene in Mirkwood with the spider, and then they're captured by the elves. And it that wasn't enough, next is a 15 minute long chase (?) sequences involving the dwarves floating in barrels down the river, fighting orcs with the help of elves. Legolas returns and although he wasn't quite as good as he was in LOTR, he does help make the action sequence a little better. Next, we're introduced to Bard- the lead human character in the trilogy. Bard brings Bilbo and the dwarves into Lake-Town, my favorite place in Middle-Earth. Rivendell was cool. Gondor was cool. The shire was awesome. Mordor was great. Even the elf home previously seen in this was pretty good. But as great as they all are- Lake Town blows them all away. Entering lake-town is a perfect scene, accompanied with music that captures the amazing setting perfectly. There's tension, and a set of interesting characters is introduces. Finally, the hobbits get to the mountain and the enter- and it's so, so satisfying. Next is a tense scene between Bilbo and Smaug, and Smaug is done perfectly. The film's final act is a 30 minute action sequences using the factory and mines as a way to fight/evade Smaug. The film is nearly perfect, and there's so many fantastic moments in it. The one fault it has is that Gandalf is missing from the dwarve's adventure- which is fine, but instead we see his boring side story which is always annoying because we're not seeing the much more dwarf story. A beautiful, fun, super interesting and all-around great film that really tells you why the Hobbit movies aren't bad.
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(I don't know as much about LOTR as I do about the Hobbit, so my write-ups will be shorter). The second Lord of the Rings film is truly amazing. The first hour is probably the best part. We see the adventure continued, not as one fellowship, but as three stories of the three groups. Sam and Frodo encounter Gollum and start their road towards Mordor, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli chase down Merry and Pippin, and Merry and Pippin escape the clutches of the orcs. The second hour had great moments like the ride into Rohan, Sméagol's argument/transformation, and Gandalf's great return. The film has the first epic battle of Middle-Earth, The Battle of Helm's deep. It's entertaining, and pretty cool. At the same time, we have another awesome battle- except it's more one sided. The ents take out Isengard by flinging boulders and breaking a water dam. It's a satisfying defeat in both battles and one more step to getting peace on Middle-Earth. Sam's speech is great, and the ending is perfect.
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Like the first hobbit, fellowship takes a while to get into the action. The forming of the team is a great moment. First it's Frodo and Gandalf, then Sam joins, and when they get to Bree Merry and Pippin have joined them. The Rivendell meeting is awesome and gimli trying to destroy the ring with his axe is a funny and at the same time, serious moment. The rest of the movie has the best scenery of the whole franchise, has interesting battles and plot moments for the rest of the movie. The ending is very good with Boromir's sad death and the splitting of the fellowship. A Perfect start to a perfect trilogy.
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
This is my third favorite movie of all time. The characters are amazing, each battle sequence is better and better-but the best part of it is the relationship between Sam and Frodo and the journey to Mordor. Sam is my favorite of the franchise and it's heartbreaking to see Frodo leave him in one the film's saddest moments. Gollum is a great villain and he not only deceives Frodo but also almost brings him to death. Sam's brave and daring rescue to save Frodo and support him to the end of the journey is amazing and the film is topped with a great ending fit for a king. And the ending is even sadder than the Hobbit ending.
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