Never Again

Rating: 1/10 (14 April 2015)

I guess I'm just a stickler for faithful adherence to whatever book a movie happens (or claims) to be based upon. Having read The Hobbit numerous times since the late sixties, almost getting to know it by heart, one gets a pretty good idea of what Tolkien envisioned/intended/meant when he originated this tale. It is important (crucial even) to note and remember that in Tolkien's Hobbit, 'The Battle of The Five Armies' (the actual battle) consumes all of about 4 to 5 pages, depending on the size of a particular book. Never mind the totally unnecessary process of ballooning one perfectly simple book into three full-size feature-length movies. The trick, it seems, is to take any parts the book did not provide (in the writers' and director's view) any great amount detail and insert your own story- line/narrative/screen-play. Call it 'airy parts' in the original story. Another kind of 'air' are the quiet stretches, the contemplative sections, visits with friendly hosts, recovery from battle, etc. that Tolkien made great use of to convey the 'feeling' of these fascinating people and life in Middle Earth. Peter Jackson decides to rip all of such moments out and insert more action-for-action's- sake all while gaining width and girth until he has a 3-flick epic. He also seems compelled to drag in more 'hooks' into LOTR that either aren't there all, or were pieces left out of his Rings trilogy.
Peter Jackson seems to think he IS J.R.R. Tolkien, or at worst just a lackey for the marketing people at Warner Bros.
I've seen it and don't care to ever see it again.