That still only counts as one!

Rating: 6/10 (24 December 2014)

One film in three parts. Which is best? Which is worst? Hard to say.
I think I speak for the consensus when I say this trilogy is weaker as a whole than Lord of the Rings, and I'm guessing Jackson did this on purpose for the simple reason he knew it couldn't compare to what may be the most awesome trilogy that will ever be made. So he simply made a "good" trilogy, not opting for the "special classic" effect.
The fantasy story of Bilbo's journey among mightier beings in Middle Earth is told in this trilogy with some trivial changes, but none of the changes are "drastic" changes, including the romance between the dwarf and the she-elf.
This part of the trilogy is the most superficial, by far. The others had some bits of innovation. There is almost no innovation here. It's strictly hard core action.
The only strength of this film is that a few things happen that aren't the usual "predictable" things. These three involve the coward, the elf king, and the she elf. Everything else is very mundane.
The weakness of this film is the lack of humor. There is almost no comic relief. No "the big one, the big one!" No "what about second breakfast?" No "that still only counts as one!" The closest we get to comic relief is the coward character, and that is at best a scant comic relief, and not well done. The coward is so much like Worm Tongue of the ring trilogy that we already know there is a connection there. So much is the resemblance that Jackson would be appear more imaginative if he didn't make them related.
The lack of comic relief makes this seem like more of an ordeal, especially with the long drawn out battle scenes, the long drawn out musings of the dwarf leader, and the long drawn out tragic scenes of the romantic couple. Those who read the book, and probably over half of the others, know which three dwarfs will die, so it isn't much of a spoiler to say which three, but I won't spoil it.
Another huge weakness is the overkill of the super power bad guys. They loom like giants and appear too much like the Greek demi gods who can only be killed by other demi gods. This movie is much too classical Greek in that respect.
The characters are well drawn, though, especially the minor ones, and that is a strength. Indeed, that's what keeps the movie from being on the low side of average. It is strong on character, but weak on the very action it overkills on, an overkill necessary to please the geeks and dorks, of course.
In the long run, I call it the slightly weakest of the three because of the lack of comic relief. Jackson tried too hard to make this too harsh, to please the Hollywood hate cliché loving dorks. He sold out on this one big time.