The imminent premiere of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ brings us back the Middle Earth to the audiovisual world. For now, the first opinions of the Amazon Prime Video series are very good, but it is what always happens in these cases, so it is best to wait until its premiere on September 2. In the meantime, we can always recover the contributions to the universe created by Tolkien made by Peter Jackson.
Here I propose a personal review of the six films that shaped the trilogies of ‘The Lord of the rings’ Y ‘The Hobbit’, ordering them all from worst to best. I don’t think there will be many surprises when it comes to which trilogy is superior to the other, but you may be in for a surprise when it comes to where some of the individual titles rank. Without further ado, let’s go with them:
6) ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ (‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’, 2014)
Address: PeterJackson. Distribution: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, Aidan Turner, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Ryan Gage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, Jed Brophy
The big mistake of this trilogy was turning a cute children’s story into an epic adventure along the lines of ‘The Lord of the Rings’. The film that suffered the most from this was precisely a resolution that was ambitious in intentions but empty and boring in results. Even more spectacular visually than the previous two, only with the character of Thorin does he manage in a few moments to get out of the prevailing mediocrity. After this, I admit that I had zero desire to have anything to know about Middle-earth again.
Review of ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’
5) ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ (‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’, 2012)
Address: PeterJackson. Distribution: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, Aidan Turner, James Nesbitt, Dean O’Gorman, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, John Callen, Adam Brown, William Kircher
Peter Jackson had it almost impossible to live up to. A cinematographic miracle in the form of a trilogy of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ had been pulled out of his sleeve and here he wanted to repeat the play with a material that was not suitable for it. And it’s a shame, because Martin Freeman he is quite successful as Bilbo and manages that he does not really want to live an adventure with him. The problem is that everything takes longer than necessary when a very good movie of about 80-90 minutes could have come out of this -and I’m already generous with the footage- instead of an irregular show of almost 3 hours.
Review of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’
4) ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ (‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’, 2013)
Address: PeterJackson. Distribution: Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, Aidan Turner, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Ken Stott, Orlando Bloom, Graham McTavish, James Nesbitt, Cate Blanchett, Jed Brophy, Stephen Hunter.
A good pastime that combines Bilbo’s adventure with a greater prequel vocation to ‘The Lord of the Rings’. The comings and goings on the different fronts make everything more agile, the characters breathe a little more instead of simply having to fill extra minutes – although there is some of that, let’s not kid ourselves – and Smaug is a great success. On the other hand, it is still too long and it is still a transition film designed to overstretch the base material, but as “minor” entertainment it is the most enjoyable of this trilogy.
Review of ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’
3) ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ (‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’, 2002)
Address: PeterJackson. Distribution: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Christopher Lee
This is where things start to get more complicated. I don’t blame anyone who even considers ‘The Two Towers’ the best of the trilogy, since its start is one of the most dynamic when it comes to solving plots of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ and opening new ones -although there is no greater success than the arrival of Gollum – not to mention the incredible spectacle that remains to this day the Battle of Helm’s Deep. In my case, what places it a little below the other two is its central section, where its power of fascination falls slightly on some fronts, in part because it makes its status as a bridge film clear.
Review of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’
2) ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’, 2003)
Address: PeterJackson. Distribution: Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, John Noble, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan
An epic and satisfying close to the trilogy. It is true that it alters the original ending of Tolkien’s novel to accumulate several endings, but seeing it again recently I think I exaggerated a lot in relation to those epilogues, whose weight is less than I remembered -which is why it has ended rising from third to second position. And besides, they work better than everything related to Sanitation of the Shire, one of my least favorite things in the literary original. In addition, all of the above borders on the outstanding, including a multitude of scenes to remember and a great closure for the arc of most of its characters.
Review of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’
1) ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ (‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’)
Address: PeterJackson. Distribution: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Ian Holm
It was already my favorite at the time of its release and the review of the trilogy a few weeks ago confirmed it. It is not only that it introduces an adventure in a memorable way, measuring the slowest moments so that we get to know the characters with the different threats they have to face -the whole section of Minis Tirith is an absolute marvel-, it is that he feels the bases to achieve what I consider to be the definitive key for the trilogy to work so well by establishing the bonds between its protagonists in such a way that they really feel almost like a family despite their most diverse origins. That emotional hook was later correctly picked up by ‘The Two Towers’ and ‘The Return of the King’, but It never shone as bright as here.
Review of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’