emotional, breathtaking but still not perfect

Rating: 9/10 (4 February 2015)

The only thing that detracted me from giving this movie a ten is exactly why I decided to write a review on it.
This film, so far, has been the most negatively received film in the Middle Earth saga, for lack of a better term, and some how I can see why. Lord Of The Rings fans are incredibly dedicated and I think expect more than they will realistically get. These films, to me, are as close to perfection you will ever get.
However, I do take issue with a few things in this movie, one being how incredibly short it is, in comparison to its predecessors. The film seems to lack depth and detail and it left me feeling unfulfilled. This is primarily because I have read the book and know that several scenes have been left out. Of course I am aware that the extended edition will be released at some point and this does excite me because the scenes missed are some of the more crucial details in the book by J.R.R Tolkien. Another issue I have is the acting from certain characters, primarily the dwarfs and Bilbo. The scene in which Thorin Oakenshield is being pushed down with a blade by the Pale Orc was incredibly unconvincing, since Thorin's facial expression seemed somewhat relaxed considering he was moments away from death. I think Richard Armitage is an exceptional actor and Jackson is an exceptional director, which leads me to believe that Jackson wanted Thorin to look this way? The final scene between Bilbo Baggins and the dwarfs of Erebor was incredibly cold, considering Bilbo had been on the road with these guys for almost two years, I felt it lacked all emotion. And of course, the return journey was somewhat missed entirely from the film. My hope is that more will be added in the extended edition.
The film didn't lack emotion entirely, the final scene between Thorin and Bilbo was absolutely heartbreaking and I found myself crying A LOT! I also especially enjoyed the scene between Thorin and Bilbo when Bilbo tells him about the acorn from Beorn's garden, in which the acting was sensational. It was incredibly emotional mainly because of Thorin's dragon sickness and the way that Bilbo is the only person he can still feel emotional attachment to.
Again the CGI in this movie was nothing short of stunning and as near to perfect as you will get, but I do think the scene between Legolas and the Orc was rather ridiculous. I realise this is a fantasy movie with dragons and elves, but Middle Earth is meant to be an ancient time period on OUR Earth today, meaning surely the laws of physics still apply? Right?
However, this was just me being picky, all in all, I found the movie to be brilliant, and to top it off, we had the fantastic Billy Boyd performing 'The Last Goodbye' for the credits, which again reduced me to tears. The only reason I couldn't give this movie a 10 was purely due to the fact it wasn't 100% perfect.