Middle Earth is bid a bittersweet goodbye
MONTECASINO - Guests left the outside world at the door and entered Middle Earth for the premier of The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies at the Il Grande cinema in Montecasino.
The film, directed by Peter Jackson, is the third and final installment of The Hobbit trilogy.
In the film, audiences pick up where they left off in the previous film, The Desolation of Smaug, with the dragon Smaug headed for Lake Town and Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarfs reclaiming the Lonely Mountain.
For fans of the novel, the film also features, as the name suggests, the epic battle of Dol Guldur, while Gandalf the Grey finally confronts the Necromancer. Yet the binding factor in every frame of the film is the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins who reaches the end of his journey with incredible memories, new friends and a very infamous ring.
It was a bittersweet end for fans of JRR Tolkien because while the prequel film drops exciting references to the Lord of the Rings story, which follows on from the happenings in The Hobbit, it is also the absolute last piece of the Middle Earth puzzle.
The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchises have not only formed a major part of cinematic history, but having been filmed entirely on location in New Zealand, the movie has also become an important part of that country’s culture and history, a fact which was explored by the New Zealand High Commission, which hosted the premier in association with Warner Bros.
