Disappointed

Rating: 5/10 (28 December 2014)

Let me first say that I was a huge fan of the original trilogy "Lord of the Rings". While I was not a huge fan of the Two Towers, I thoroughly enjoyed "Fellowship" and "Return of the King". Furthermore, I enjoyed the second addition to "The Hobbit" trilogy "The Desolation of Smaug", which was a huge improvement over "The Unexpected Journey". Which brings us to the "Five Armies"...
I was very hopeful that the 3rd part of "The Hobbit" trilogy would bring the same grandeur as the 3rd addition to Rings (ROTK). I was very disappointed in the "Five Armies". For some reason, I just feel like it missed the mark. I found myself bored at times during this movie. Peter Jackson's style can be a little tiresome at times, but I feel like it really brought this film down. The film did not focus nearly enough on the Bilbo Baggins story and focused on things that simply did not merit attention. "The Desolation of Smaug" was a much better film considering its pace, storyline and its focus on Bilbo. Evangeline Lily was one of the highlights of the film (and in Smaug) as Tauriel.
I was concerned when the film changed titles from "There and Back Again" to "The Five Armies". In my opinion, this was a fatal mistake as the focus was taken away from Bilbo and placed more on peripheral stories. "There and Back Again" should have remained the title. To me, this was the central focus of the previous 5 films and would have been a very fitting end to the story.
I gave the film a 5 out of 10. While the action sequences were great, the film itself falls flat. Overall, I was very disappointed in this film.