It's fun but all the problems came earlier

Rating: 6/10 (15 February 2015)

While I have enjoyed this trilogy it has begun to feel like it was stretched a bridge too far. You get a strange feeling two would have been better for adapting the 300 page book and they probably debated this in the writing process but sadly they went the way that meant it began to feel too long and filled with padding with events and characters you didn't care enough about. The cast deliver as always and while there are parts of the film that I liked and thought were strong it suffered from its previous entries mistakes. While the scene in which Gandalf is rescued is done well and provides a fight scene with wizards and elves against the dark lord, it feels like the mystery origin story of the villain wasn't very interesting or entertaining because you knew what was going to happen. Seriously, you know what's going to happen and this film and neither of the others provide any relevant or new information that changes the story dramatically, it just shows what Gandalf was doing while the dwarfs were off being caught every so often. However, I was glad to see a good end to the dwarfs story which to me should have been the end of the second film, but I digress. The action was fun if punctured on occasion by scenes that didn't need to be there. I think Peter Jackson could have done better by getting as far away as he could from The Lord of the Rings and concentrated on the story of The Hobbit. Maybe one of two nods to the trilogy but never in your face. Less is more.
Basically a conclusion to a trilogy that was bogged down by a subplot that didn't do anything interesting in the origin story of Sauron, coupled with the dull love story, secondary villains and perhaps an over reliance on CGI.
Just all a bit too much in the end.