By far the weakest film of the series, a complete letdown

Rating: 4/10 (20 January 2015)

Frequent unwarranted comic relief, horrible and cringe inducing romantic subplots, strangely questionable CGI, Billy Connolly appearances and a sense of deja-vu, yes indeed ladies and gentleman, hobbits and orcs, the finale to our life in Middle Earth and the supposedly grand farewell to 3 years of meandering Hobbit entries is a massive misfire and solid evidence that something from the get go was a tad NQR about Peter Jackson's follow up to the spectacular and accomplished Lord of the Rings trilogy.
You'd be hard pressed to find vehement defenders of the Hobbit series and that is for good reason. From the moment that we all knew the seemingly short source material was turned into a 3 part trilogy many questioned just how the simple story of Bilbo (once more played by Martin Freeman well but not memorably) and his adventures with a bunch of dwarfs we can't remember the names of could possible be padded out into 3 two hour plus movies. The first entry into the series was validation for concerns that fans had then the second installment showed enough promise that we were justified in being excited for this last epic hurrah that is sadly such a non-event that you truly wonder if anyone will remember it in 10 or even 5 years time.
While we may have been well and truly spoiled with the LOTR series there is still no excuse for the often shoddy and amateurish way the Battle of the Five Armies comes together. After a promising start the film quickly descends into an arduously plotted film with even more atrocious scripting and it feels like once and for all that Jackson knew not what to do with the material at his disposal. After three films we still feel no real affiliation with Bilbo or any of the countless barely registering dwarfs and the whole film feels like it's just waiting for the battle to commence and when it does what a let down it is.
What should be something that matches the large scale carnage that flowed through the Two Towers and Return of the King is instead punctured by some worryingly laughable CGI, more delving into romantic subplots, oh and a man dressed as a women because that is exactly what we need to see when 5 vicious armies have gathered to do battle. It's a real shame that this meeting of foes is such a let down as small moments in this battle showcase just what could've been or perhaps just remind us that whatever Jackson was trying to do here, his done before and done it much better.
One eyed fans and those that merely wish to be reminded of past glories may find great pleasure in watching this last entry into a once great franchise but all those with their eyes open and brain switched on will be sadly disappointed in a film that will be quickly lost in time. Some good will from the glories of old save this film from the depths of one star failures.
2 ridiculous mountain goats out of 5
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