The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a downloadable fantasy action-adventure film produced by New Line Cinema, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and WingNut Films. The film is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and was released on 1st December 2014. It is directed by Peter Jackson and features a cast consisting of Martin Freeman, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, Cate Blanchett, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, and Evangeline Lilly.
How to Stream or Download The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The full movie can be streamed or it can be downloaded from iTunes. There are many language versions available (audio and subtitles), however, there are not the much-sought Tamil and Hindi ones. To start streaming or downloading click on the link at the bottom of the review.
The Film Review
The Plot
The Battle of the Five Armies starts off with Bilbo and the Dwarves watching as the dragon Smaug burns down Laketown. Meanwhile, Bard manages to break out of prison and slay Smaug, killing its master as well in the process.
The people of Laketown then seek refuge in Dale with Bard as their leader. Soon, Thranduil, along with an elf army, arrives in Dale and forms an alliance with Bard to regain the lost treasure that was taken away from them by Thror.
Gandalf shortly appears and tells both Bard and Thranduil about a possible attack that can take place by Azog. Despite Thranduil’s dismissal, Bilbo heads out and gives away the Arkenstone to the army gathered outside in order to prevent war.
Thorin, after becoming aware of Bilbo’s act, tries to kill him but is saved by Gandalf. Thorin’s cousin Dain appears with his dwarf army, after which a battle takes place between Dain’s dwarves and the Elves.
Soon joined by Orcs, Ogres, and Trolls, the battle becomes more chaotic which forces Bard to withdraw his forces in order to defend the city. At the same time, Thorin -who is being followed by Bilbo- heads toward Ravenhill to kill Azog.
The two engage in a one-on-one combat and at the same time, Bilbo is knocked unconscious and Kili gets killed by Bolg. Eventually, Thorin manages to kill Azog but ends up becoming severely injured himself. Legolas, in revenge, also kills Bolg after which he goes on to seek a Dunedain ranger in the North called Strider, as per Thranduil’s orders. The film ends in a timeline 60 years later where Bilbo receives a visit from Gandalf on his 111th birthday.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: the Movie Production
One of the main features that made this movie’s battle scenes incredible was the use of Army Manager Production Tool. This new tool was introduced by the filmmakers in order to conduct visualization of the battle before it actually took place in real-time.
This, in turn, allowed the designers and supervisors to guide the cast accordingly. Another software called Manuka was used to create the part of the sequence which involved the burning down of Laketown by Smaug. Manuka basically creates sequences in a closed volume space in which, further simulations are added to create a realistic look.
Howard Shore, as with all the previous editions of this franchise, was chosen to compose the main theme song. The soundtrack was officially released on 8th December 2018.
The Battle of the Five Armies, due to its solid storyline and exquisite graphics, did considerably well at the box office by grossing over $956 million from across the globe.
