TEA IS AT FOUR

Rating: 8/10 (28 August 2018)

Warning: May contain plot spoilers for people unfamiliar with the story.
The version I watched was only 2 hours and 10 minutes, a reprieve from the 3 hour marathons of bladder hell and missed scenes. The film picks up right where the other one leaves off, although it would have been nice to have included the last couple of minutes of the second one. After the defeat of the dragon, the film goes into about 40 minutes of badly scripted drama, which included lines used in previous films, making it a bit trite. I was looking forward to the battle which unfortunately consumed most of the remainder of the film. I reached a point I was wishing the battle scene to end, although the title of the film hints at what to expect.
The use of characters not in the book creates some plot continuity issues as well as creating those that weren't. Peter Jackson creates personal drama in the film which was not in the books. His fight scenes which consume much of the film series are typically one line or paragraph in a four volume series. Clearly some aspects of the books have to go like a chapter dedicated to the care and feeding of Shadowfax. Personally in the middle of battle, I don't think that ring would have left my finger.
As far as purchasing, I am a true fan and will patiently wait for all the series to be out on a special edition extended Blu-ray at an outrageous price I won't think about twice.