All Six Middle Earth Films Ranked – Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit

I absolutely adore the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and as for The Hobbit trilogy … the less said about it the better. How would I rank all 6 films in Tolkien’s Middle Earth?

You can check out some of my other movie lists below:

Terrible

6 – The Battle of the Five Armies

Why would they do this to a beloved franchise …

After a promising start and a sub-par middle chapter, The Hobbit trilogy limped over the finish line with this terrible, unsatisfying conclusion.

The whole film just feels stupid and convoluted, and I just remember everyone in the cinema groaning when Legolas did that gravity-defying trick. Utterly abysmal.

Meh

5 – The Desolation of Smaug

This was where the magic of the franchise started to wear off a little bit.

There are some OK moments throughout this, but the whole business with the elves just seems so unnecessary. After reading the actual book that this franchise is based on, almost everything in this movie was added in to pad the runtime, and it really shows.

Good

4 – An Unexpected Journey

It may seem a little counter-intuitive to hate the other two Hobbit movies but not this one … but I have really fond memories of this film.

Sure, it’s not perfect, but I was so excited to return to Middle Earth again after so many years. Looking back on it, “An Unexpected Journey” isn’t THAT good, but I still had a fun time nonetheless.

Amazing

3 – The Two Towers

I consider all of the Lord of the Rings films to be absolutely outstanding, and the “worst” of these is no exception.

That full-scale battle at the end is incredible, and it was so satisfying seeing Gandalf return to save the day (more than once in this movie). I don’t really have a reason as to why this isn’t an “All-Time Great” film, I guess it just doesn’t have the iconic start and incredible ending of the other two.

All-Time Great

2 – Fellowship of the Ring

There are so many moments in this film that have become iconic, from the initial meeting of the fellowship to the Mines of Moria and beyond.

This really is the perfect storm – the story is magnificent, the actors are perfectly cast, and the score by Howard Shore is phenomenal. The only reason it doesn’t come in first is because the other film is way more emotional.

1 – Return of the King

I’ll admit, at three and a half hours long I wouldn’t be surprised if people were put off by this bum-numbing adventure, but this is one of my favourite films of all time.

The action is all top class, and the story really comes into its own will all the characters dealing with the situations they’re in. It’s a shame the last 20 minutes are just unnecessary send-offs, but I actually don’t mind it too much – a story of this length needs a fitting, suitably lengthy conclusion. I won’t see many films better than this in my lifetime.

Aaaaand that’s my list. You should check out some of my latest posts: