It all ends here. For better or worse

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2014)

With Erebor back in the hands of the king, Smaug(Cumberbatch, snake-like) taking out his fury on Laketown which leaves the inhabitants as refugees, the gold and area are claimed, to varying extent, by various groups who may not agree, and a legion of Orcs on the way, the titular five armies will have to either fight each other, or band together against a common threat.
This resolves everything in the trilogy, and is smoother in doing so than Return, albeit that is in part because there is less to deal with. Ultimately, while some of us prefer the darker tone of this to the more child-friendly novel(which this follows quite nicely), this should not have tried to connect itself so tightly to The Lord of the Rings. Never reaching Star Wars prequel levels, this does go out of its way to simultaneously set up, and not dig too deeply into, where this leaves off and that picks it back up.
A lot is done with what was built up in these three. Strong male bonding, in particular the dynamic relationship between Bilbo(Freeman, awkward and homesick, yet still proving himself a hero, and utilizes his skills and wit to help solve the conflict) and Thorin(Armitage, obsessed with his newly found wealth, yet beneath, maybe still honorable). Will old enemies be able to settle their differences? Have some steps been taken that cannot be undone? Will everyone have a place to call home, and a future?
The climax is an awful lot of fun, and you can tell Jackson has been missing doing vast battle scenes between several sides each with hundreds of organized forces, and that, apparently, this will be his last chance to do so. It does end up too long, extending, well, padding, the shortest of these since it was decided there would be more than two in this series. There's room for fan-service, new creatures and settings, and for not only endangering the people we came to see and also their loved ones but then letting some of them disappear into the background. At its best, there is drama, it's poignant, and satisfying. This is not always the case here.
There is moderate(pushing PG-13, as has been done lately) violence and disturbing content in this. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the J.R.R. Tolkien Middle Earth epics. 9/10