The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

I think this film goes a long way to explain why Jackson and company decided to split the novel into (at least) 2 films. The material after Smaug's death is grim, especially compared to the rest of it. And given the 3 key character deaths it makes sense that you would want to isolate this section and flesh it out. This is especially true if you are an action filmmaker. Character deaths should have dramatic meaning beyond whatever linguistic obsession Tolkien had. A character we have come to know going mad needs time to breath.

In some ways this is most complete Middle Earth film Jackson ever made. It stands on its own far more than the other 5 films in the series. It feels like an episode unto itself. I rather like as a experience because it is one of few times I have ever been able to follow a battle tactically in cinema with ease. It works as a story of a battle.

So yes like the rest of the Hobbit films this is too long-awkwardly trying to split the difference between the novel and the LOTR films. It is filled with redundancies and bizarre additions, i.e. Alfred But I think it has a lot of great moments-the chariot sequence is really great.

It never captures the charm of the first hour or so of film 1 but it avoids the bottom of the barrel that is the climax of film 2.