Review from someone who didn't read the book

Rating: 5/10 (15 January 2017)

An Unexpected Journey was decent but during the Desolation of Smaug, I could notice a sharp decline in quality and things began to really drag out. The Battle of Five Armies continues that trend. The CGI that is used in the battle scenes are absolutely terrible, which I'm sure you noticed in the first two films. However, there is a battle scene that is absurdly long. There is no sense of danger whatsoever. It's almost like they are fighting on the moon, weightless. The orcs pose no threat at all! And that Azog character, what a joke! Not only does he look like a cartoon character, his role is so stupid! There's also so many new devices that the orcs use in battle that we don't see in the LOTR Trilogy... they really catered to the kids in this trilogy.
The only good thing about this trilogy is that it pretty much forces you to go and watch the LOTR Trilogy again just to make up for this.