It feels rushed, specifically in Post-Production.

Rating: 4/10 (12 December 2014)

It's generally difficult to comment on story when it comes to something like The Hobbit seeing as its usually an incredible well written story adapted by strong screen writers. Unfortunately that's not the case with The Battle of the Five Armies.
Some of the heavier emotional moments were milked for all their worth while some of the potentially epic moments came and went with minimal attention, which is disappointing. A lot of the film felt cluttered with story elements, too many characters needing screen time and too many stories wanting to be told. At one point I found myself more interested in one of the secondary stories than the main plot – there's only so much brooding and call to bravery one can watch before it become predictable and boring. The chaos of war came across nicely but I'm not convinced it was deliberate where the 'sad' ending is definitely deliberate and quite effective. Another plot element that really draws attention to itself in a bad way is the sense of time. Jackson and his team usually excel at taking Tolkien's extended timeline and compressing it into a flowing film where everything seems to happen in close proximity while holding onto the greater integrity of the plot. The Battle of the Five Armies doesn't excel at this at all. There are references in the film that makes the viewer aware that more time has passed than what was presented which makes me cringe – the act of announcing a detail out loud to make sure the audience understands the full reach of the happenings is something you'd expect from unseasoned film makers. To throw wood on the fire the opposite time effect also occurs where the film effectively compounds time into making the audience believe that less time has passed (to keep pace) but then, the viewer is presented with the results of what should have been weeks or months and I find myself wondering about the validity of the narrative concept – which is something that shouldn't be anywhere near this immaculately written Fiction. In short, the film feels rushed, like it wasn't enjoying the full attention of its highly talented crew.
Some of the acting performances were disappointing. The characters are difficult to get your head around and there are some obvious traits and mannerisms that are required of the actors, which lead to some of the performances getting lost in character. Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield was great. The brooding again became a bit much but such is the requirements of the role and he did a splendid job at it. Lots of the fighting was weird to watch and more than once I felt Middle-Earth's physics fail. The fighting doesn't feel authentic neither does it sound it. A lot of the physical action reads like performers running through choreography which destroys the believably of the actions and characters in those moments. Again, this brings up that underlying feeling that somehow, the project was rushed.
Greater than my deflated expectations for The Return of the King (Jackson 2003) level grandeur and epic was the confusion I experienced with regards to the style and edit of the film. I remember The Hobbit parts I and II having a different style in terms of the edit, lighting and cinematography. Immediately after the credits rolled I checked to see if any of the key crew members had changed but no, the team is the same as Parts I and II, so maybe it's just me, but the style feels different. Post-Production also feels rushed. Some of the cuts in the edit are abrupt, the shots different to the style I've gotten used to and some of the effects seemed 'cheap', like Post didn't have enough time to give everything the attention it needed so they rushed to get everything done. Even the opening and closing credits felt alien to the other films in the series.
I love Fantasy film which usually means I take care not to coddle films in this genre and maybe in the case of The Battle of the Five Armies this has made me overly critical. That being said, I enjoyed it, but I definitely have some disappointment to this, the final installment of The Hobbit.