Great fun!

Rating: 10/10 (13 December 2014)

Thoroughly enjoyed this movie - somewhat lacking in areas, where some characters appear, then vanish without trace, but then again I expect that to be attended to by the time of this film's 'extended edition' release.
Very well paced, trouble is it's over in a heartbeat. Still epic, regards movie length, however it soon comes to a close, on account of it not once being boring, I guess, and my not wanting it to end.
The battle itself is long, however has many different areas of focus, for audience attention, condensing considerably towards the end, concerning main character involvement, and such.
I'm delighted Jackson gave us 3 movies, and I'm quite happy to see extra details, as taken from the Lord of the Rings appendixes, in addition to newly written material.
This film may be nothing more than a waste of money and time, in the eyes of certain Hobbit, LOTR's purists, however MY heart sits firmly in place with the movies, above and beyond the books which, in my honest opinion, are very difficult to read. Not that I CAN'T read them, just that I don't like Tolkein's of style writing. The Hobbit was always an easy read, but as for the rest - oh just give me the movies!