Visually striking with powerful emotional performances, the final Hobbit is held back by inconsistent dialogue and a dragging subplot, nonetheless it's a good finale

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2014)

I was really excited for this movie, like insanely excited, the first Hobbit was bit less than expected, the second one was great, so I thought this one would be great, and when I left the theater I was pretty satisfied, it was entertaining and a good finale. A lot of people are saying it's worse than the Lord of The Rings, I don't get that at all, I seriously think people are only saying that because The Hobbit trilogy wasn't groundbreaking, it's something we've seen before, in the form of TLOR, that series was majestic, there had never been anything like it before, so that's why people like it so much, it's the same with the Sam Raimi Spider-Man, it's kind of a bad film, but people think it's good because it was the first time they saw an awesome superhero like Spider Man on the big screen. Of course this is all my opinion.
The film ends the quest of the company of Thorin Oakenshield of trying to reclaim their homeland, The Lonely Mountain, which up until the last movie was inhabited by the dragon Smaug(epic), who left to go "discipline" the people of Lake-Town in Desolation's cliffhanger.
The acting in this movie continues to be incredible, just like the first movies, Martin Freeman is perfect as Bilbo, he nails every scene, especially the emotional ones. Perfect casting choice for a great character, seeing Bilbo's journey as a person was great, one of the high points of the trilogy. Also, Bilbo is WAY better than Frodo, in every single aspect, Frodo is completely useless! He just sits there with a constipated expression like a little p****(pardon the language), whereas Bilbo is the salvation of the dwarfs, remember Mirkwood? The Woodland Realm? One word, salvation.
Richard Armitage once again gave a great performance as Thorin, the leader of the company, his best portrayal in the three movies of course, because in this one, he actually had proper development, and that was very interesting to see, and Armitage really captured the fragility, the internal conflict, top-notch acting. His performance is brilliant, it hit me to my core, and the last scene almost made me tear up. And the exchanges between these two were excellent. The supporting cast is great too, they did the best with what they were given, Ian McKellen, always great to see him as Gandalf, very useless in the movie though, Luke Evans was very good, Orlando Bloom and the rest as well. Benedict Cumberbatch stole the show as Smaug once again, despite not having the screen a lot this time around.
The film has many breathtaking sequences, the battle of course, the great event, but what I was most anxious to see was Smaug going beast mode on Lake-Town, which was dazzling. The effects of everything burning up, Bard struggling to break free and fight the dragon, great stuff. However, it kept cutting away to the Master of the town and Alfrid, his dumbass assistant, yes they were comic relief characters, but they should have just died from the first fire blast, such foolish and useless characters, especially Alfrid, who unfortunately sticks with the film until the battle. The titular battle was also thrilling, well most of the time. Peter Jackson has not lost his extraordinary talent when it comes to large-scale battles, all technical aspects were first- rate in this part of the film, although it would have been very cool if all the orcs were real people with make-up, but you know, kind of impossible. It's mind-blowing at first, then drags on a bit, then an event happens with Thorin and it becomes exciting again, but again it begins to drag, and it becomes way over the top (I'm looking at you Legolas). But overall it's a good fight, visually striking of course, but the duration is too long, especially when you consider that a lot of the subplots which conclude in the battle are filler, 45 minutes is very long.
About the script, most characters in the film were under- developed, 7-8 of the dwarfs get no screen time at all, I think the fat one doesn't even talk, really the only ones who are characterized are Thorin and Bilbo. The elf-dwarf romance carries over to this film, which was already the biggest mistake of the second Hobbit, such a stupid subplot, makes no sense. Gandalf's side quest also ends in this movie, with a very cool fight scene with a few of the badass characters in the first trilogy. Oh yeah! There's a new subplot in this movie, just what it needs! And what's more, this one doesn't even have any meaning or resolution! There are many continuity issues, for example the worms and the goats, also the film lacks closure involving the fate of quite a few characters, the dialogue most of the time makes up for all these problems but there are some clichÃ©s that make you cringe, all that because of the romance between Tauriel(she-elf) and Kili(handsome dwarf). Come on, nothing's perfect.
I was satisfied with this film, it has very good action, great performances and it's not even very long, however the multiple useless plot lines made it seem a lot longer and less enjoyable. As a popcorn flick it's awesome, very entertaining, but it kind of lacks in a few aspects that make a film good. Overall I recommend this movie, it's very enjoyable, and the visuals are exceptional, just don't try to think too much about it during the film and after the credits roll, it'll make you dislike it more and more, and enjoy it less and less. 7.8/10