willsandy Reviews

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

An underrated finale to the Hobbit Trilogy

[8/10 · 22 December 2020]

As someone who grew up as a big fan of the book, as well as the LOTR films, I was sceptical when it was announced the 300ish page book would be stretched into three (very long) films. However, I feel like I'm in the minority here as I really enjoy this trilogy and by extension, this film.

While I agree that the third film is overly dependant on mediocre CGI and some of the characters (*cough* Tauriel) aren't especially well written, I still really like this film.

In contrast to An Unexpected Journey, it seems to drag less and have a more mature and darker atmosphere, with the exception of the scenes with Alfrid and The Master.

Another unpopular opinion: I really think the character development in this film is quite good. Thorin's slow descent into madness and his subsequent redemption is well handled and Bilbo's moral dilemma of whether or not to let Thorin have the Arkenstone is certainly interesting.

Also, I cannot stress enough how much I love some of the action in this film. From the stunning opening scenes of Smaug's destruction to the huge central battle. Also, why the hell did they delete the Gandalf rescue scene from the original cut, it is dare I say, one of my all time favourite scenes from the franchise and fills in several plot holes in the original release.

Overall, while nowhere near to the heights of the original LOTR trilogy, in my opinion, this is still a very solid film. While it's generally thought to be the weakest film in the series (although I probably prefer it to An Unexpected Journey), this is by no means a bad film, which is really a testament to the franchise as a whole.

(That was a lot of writing... I'm sorry)

Doctor Who: The Timeless Children (2020) Season 12, Episode 10

A Destructive Disappointment

[4/10 · 1 March 2020]

Well it certainly was a bit different from Tim Shaw... for better or for worse. After series 12 had looked so promising and the run of fantastic buildup throughout the series had got me thoroughly hyped, this was a very disappointing episode. I wouldn't have minded if Chibnall had made some big changes to the show, as long as they were done well, but retconning the whole history of the program and basically turning The Doctor into a god?! No, just no. The twist just felt unnecessary, as if Chibnall was just destroying the show's lore for the sake of it. Sadly I was really looking forward to this episode after the excellent buildup throughout the series. I'm not even going to talk about the continuity errors with pretty much every other episode of the show or the abysmal treatment of the wonderfully sinister Lone Cyberman. Overall, the good acting, impressive effects and emotional score couldn't save this episode from The Big Chib's lore-crunching plot.