Big, epic spectacle with little substance,.

Rating: 5/10 (1 January 2015)

Disclosure: This review is written by a long-time fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's writing; one that has grown ever more dissatisfied with Director Peter Jackson's treatment of the source material, and is unable to just accept the films as stand-alone pieces of entertainment.
The latest and, (almost) definitely, last installment in Peter Jackson's Middle Earth films picks up right where its predecessor left off: with Smaug the Dragon literally steaming towards Lake Town, hell bent on wreaking destruction on the men he believes are behind a plot to steal his monstrous horde of gold.
As in the last film, Smaug looks and sounds fantastic. He is so grand on the big screen that he's probably worth the price of admission alone. That is, if you have any interest in the film in the first place.
After his part in the tale is done things cruise along at a surprisingly upbeat pace. Like all three films in the Hobbit trilogy, it has its slow moments (a natural side effect of making three movies out of one 285 page book), but this one is definitely the most action packed of the three.
The film's title is not misleading. Apart from the brief opening scenes and a briefer confrontation featuring a couple of wizards, elves and various wraith like super-baddies, almost all of the 140 or so minutes is taken up by the battle that Tolkien enthusiasts and 'Lord of the Rings' film fans have waited with such anticipation for.
It is certainly spectacular. In parts. The epic, wide shot sequences, in particular look amazing. Other shots, though, just look like they were taken straight from the, no doubt, soon to be released video game of the same name.
A major problem with the movie is that there are simply too many characters, with too many agendas, and too little screen time to develop any kind of empathy for them. There's an Elf King, Dwarf King, other Dwarf King, Elf Princess, Elf Prince (no relation), Elf Lord, Dark Lord, Witch King, White Wizard, Grey Wizard, Brown Wizard, Orc Chieftain and other Orc Chieftain. By the end you care diddly-squat for any of them.
Martin Freeman has done a fantastic job as Bilbo, but his involvement in proceedings here is incredibly small considering that he is, in fact, The Hobbit. Sir Ian McKellan is solid as Gandalf, but his 'swivel and slash' fight scenes could've been cut and pasted directly from 'The Return of the King'.
There are also a number of characters that just disappear, leaving you to wonder what happened to them at the end. One in particular (a concoction of Jackson's) is possibly the crappiest character ever, with no redeeming qualities at all. He's not even a good villain. So, just when you're hoping he dies a gruesome death he's just sent away. Off he goes. In the middle of a giant battle. No harm, no foul, and possibly to live out the rest of his days with some hot Elvish goddess (hey, if a beautiful teen Dwarven lad with permanent 3 day stubble can pick one up, anyone can).
All in all, it just feels like Jackson is trying to pack in too much cool stuff, at the expense of good story telling. It's like "hey remember when I made 'Lord of the Rings' and there were heaps of giant trolls? Let's just randomly throw a bunch of them in. Also, I think the previous five films had dangerously low levels of farm animals covered in armour. Let's remedy that. But, to counter balance that, we'd better cut Beorn: the awesome, shape-shifting, giant, bear-man down to one shot of about 5 seconds screen time. Literally."
Conclusion: If you're happy with big action, with little consequence and even littler substance see this movie.
5.5/10.
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