That's what happens when you expand a single book into three movies

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2014)

Well, I have to say that I'm glad that's over. The final movie was well worth the price of admission, which in my case was a free ticket to a preview screening.
I found this movie to be a stretch and as the final movie in a trilogy that was getting less interesting the further you went into the series, I left feeling extremely disappointed, and glad I didn't pay for the premium experience (3D, Imax, etc).
There was a little too much CG this time around, and it wasn't even all that great. Case in point two close scenes with a rider approaching and leaving were clearly CG...they couldn't even afford to use a real horse and rider? Come on...
The battle scenes went on way too long and in parts were even more ridiculous than the "riding the broken wooden bridges all the way down to the bottom of the cavern..." scene in the earlier edition of this series, and since the battle scenes were pretty much all that carried this movie, well...
Yes, this movie does have to be seen and it should be viewed on a big screen. However, in the opinion of this reviewer, waiting until it appears in a second run theatre will provide better value for money.
It's a movie that wraps up a series, but when compared to Peter Jackson's original LOTR work it pales and is as pale as an orc who has been working in the basement of Orthanc. At night. With the lights out.