Unfortunately disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (7 April 2015)

I enjoyed An Unexpected Journey. Its reception was fairly mixed, and for good reason. However, I was thrilled to be back in Middle Earth. Desolation of Smaug was even better in my opinion, and Benedict Cumberbatch's performance as the dragon, coupled with outstanding special effects made Smaug the best part of the series (closely followed by McClellan and Freeman's performances). My only real problem was the cliffhanger ending and sometimes obvious filler. However, this movie is almost all filler. The best part of this flick was the, uh, desolation of Smaug in the first 15 minutes or so. However, my favorite part of the series is quickly dispatched and afterward only filler is left, it seems. This movie was the shortest of the three, and it certainly felt like it, but this is the movie I wanted to be the LONGEST of them all, since it is the last of the Middle Earth films. I suppose the reason it felt short was because there was no substance to it. An infamous amount of CGI was used, but the real reason I felt so detached was probably because the conflict felt contrived.Dragon sickness comes out of nowhere, The Elf king wants his necklace suddenly, but just as quickly the Dwarfs and Elves become allies, only for the Elf king to again abandon the dwarfs. The actors did their parts well, and the characters friendships felt quite real, but not much else did. I wanted to enjoy this movie. I wanted this movie to completely convert those against the Hobbit series, and I never wanted the Middle Earth saga to end. But alas, end it did, and it may have almost done the opposite of what I wanted, as it came near to converting me to the side against the saga. It is with a heavy heart that I score this film a 5/10.