Too much going on, but an adequate resolution to this trilogy

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2018)

The third - and final - Hobbit film is a valiant attempt to recapture the 'Lord of the Rings' magic of Middle Earth, but too often feels tired and repetitive, especially in the sixth film in the franchise. It's by no means bad, it's just - as with the first two Hobbit films - unnecessarily padded, with lots of flashbacks and scenes of staring into the distance. I'm still not convinced the three Hobbit films couldn't have worked as one cohesive 3 & a bit hour film...
Even though the second film featured his name in the title, Smaug (Cumberbatch) is quickly dealt with and the plot hastily progresses to be about the humans - led by Bard (Evans) - tying to move into the Mountain with the Dwarves - led by Thorin (Armitage) & a mostly redundant cameo from Dain (Connolly). To complicate things, the Elves - led by Legolas (Bloom)'s dad - show up too and then the Orcs arrive. By my count, that's four armies. The fifth army never really eventuates... Gandalf (McKellen) & Bilbo (Freeman) are left stuck in the middle of all this.
There's some quick appearances from Elrond (Weaving), Galadriel (Blanchett) & Saruman (Lee), which are unnecessary and don't add to the plot. There's some good battle scenes, but nothing to top 'The Two Towers' or 'The Return of the King'. Some mild humour thrown in, but a lot of the film feels bogged down and aware it's "the defining chapter" or "the final farewell" as it's been billed.
Plenty of frustrating moments - Tauriel (Lilly)'s "romance" with Kili (Turner), Thorin's "dragon sickness", the get-out-of-jail-card that the Eagles pose. Despite these, the score is still great, with the use of the familiar motifs still effective and the cinematography beautiful.