All 'battle' and little else, as the title suggests.

Rating: 6/10 (28 March 2015)

Hobbit 3. The last time we revisit Middle Earth and all its merry folk. So how amazing was this final venture? Not very.
The movie starts well, with Smaug the Fiery Dragon. Smaug was the best thing about the preceding movie, and he sure does liven up the beginning of this one. This fire breathing dragon gave me the chills, as ironical as that may seem.
Now, enter good ol' Azog. Azog the fair skinned, ambitious young lad, always frustrated and miffed off at everybody. Azog the Defiler never actually seemed a scary enough villain to me, just very mean. His character was considerably one-sided and Azog had this weird habit of stressing on every word he says, like a growling five year old. So, a vile, ferocious monster, with no depth whatsoever, is just that.
And I'd also like to mention the Mighty Gundabad Orcs, that are apparently very strong and fearsome, because anytime any character mentions them, they widen their eyes and take a deep breath. So, when all the characters convinced me of how terrible Gunadabad Orcs were going to be, it was considerable vibe-kill to see Bilbo throw fist sized stones from afar at the Orcs, to which they were knocked out cold, in an almost comical way. One would expect more from the much lauded Gundabad Orcs.
And that brings us to Bilbo, i.e; Martin Freeman. Freeman's comical prowess is undisputed of course, but this role actually required him to bring some more dramatic meat to the screen. I found Bilbo being too laid-back for much of the movie, cracking witty jokes time and time again, which while having been entertaining, undermined the seriousness of the moment.
And Gandalf? Never before has he done so little in a movie, at one point he himself says something along the lines of "Since when has my counsel counted for so little?!" He was speaking the truth. That isn't necessarily a problem, but along with other characters that are similarly thrown in, but have little to actually do, brings a feeling of vagueness to proceedings. Special mention would also go to the Elf-Goblin romance that was shallow and forced.
The story is simple. People, elfs, goblins and orcs fight very hard and for a very long time. Its a two half hour sequence of battle scene after battle scene between every possible creature you and I can imagine. But to be fair, the title does warn us very clearly. So, we can't actually complain too much on that front, but I believe we can say that there could've been more narrative depth and coherence to the script.
It has now come to my notice, that I've mentioned far too many cons and not enough pros. There are some really swell moments in the film. The background score for the movie complements the battle sequences very well. The battle sequences themselves were well done, if not legendary. And Thorin Oakenshield. He was the crowning glory of this movie. As much as it claims to be The 'Hobbit' 3, I felt that this installment was a lot more focused on the life and times of Thorin Oakenshield. Richard Armitage gave every scene his all, and added much dramatic depth to the story. Where Bilbo was comical, Thorin was intense.
All in all, the greatest fallacy of this movie, is quite simply it's lineage; in the sense that it is inevitably compared with the legendary Lord of the Rings trilogy, which can never be bettered. The comparison with the preceding movies is what works most against it, but these comparisons are very much valid. Still, The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies in all its visual brilliance, auditory resonance, and good performances, manages to make us feel epic along with all our Elf and Goblin kin, who fight valiantly.
Thank you Peter Jackson. And thank you, JRR Tolkien.