It 
was a very different world when Sir Peter Jackson first started working on a trilogy of films which would make him a major player in Hollywood, The Lord of the Rings. The “geek” genre was still in its infancy and a film based on elves and fantasy was still considered a huge risk meaning there was opposition to getting it made. Despite this Jackson persevered and the movies were a huge hit. This made a sequel inevitable and so after seventeen years and more shenanigans than at a Halfling Christmas party we have the last movie of the Hobbit trilogy.
Straight away, the problem of the series being stretched into three movies becomes apparent. The movie starts where the last one left off, with a huge dragon bearing down on the small fishing settlement of Laketown. This is a great scene but is wasted here at the beginning, not to mention the whole thing is over in ten minutes. It is puzzling why the dragon attack scene was not used to close out the second movie as it would have served as a fitting climax. Still they get a lot of credit for not splitting that last movie into two parts like every other trilogy these days.
With this being the last movie, there are many things to resolve before the battle promised by the title shows up. The plot starts by dealing with the pretty grievances and arguments that have been building up throughout the trilogy. This rockets up the tension and there are several points where you think that the dwarves will lose everything and that is before the orcs make an appearance.
When they do arrive the battle scenes are glorious, they are a massive improvement over the similar scenes in The Lord of the Rings. There are still plenty of shots of the battle as a whole to get a feel for what is going on but they are simply there to show the wider context. The film mostly zooms in to show the individual fights of main characters instead. This works brilliantly. The viewer cares about the outcome because the fights have two and a half movies emotional weight to them. Each fight is well choreographed and visually interesting.
The actors have had plenty of time to get used to their roles so each of them puts in a great performance but it is Evangeline Lilly who gets the gold star. Her portrayal is excellent and single handedly makes the rather silly love triangle plot from the previous film far more believable and emotional than it has any right to be. She plays perfectly alongside the stoic Legolas, with Orlando Bloom conveying with his face far more than his few lines allow.
Richard Armitage is given the chance to subvert the action hero cliche and relishes the chance to cut loose and show Thorin’s dark side, something only hinted at in the previous films. The actors are clearly enjoying themselves and none of the main characters lets the side down when they are given their moment to shine.
It seems like they struggled to make this make this feature-length and this shows in the pacing. The beginning is a bit to brisk with many issues resolved quickly and it seems that it simply wants to get to the fighting ASAP. Some plot points are brought up and then disappear which lead me to believe that they will reappear in the extended edition. Everything then slows down for the battle thanks to a fair bit of padding. However, this is not really noticeable thanks to the excellent acting.
The “dream team” of Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman finally get the chance to do something useful but it is a cameo appearance at best and gives very little payoff. There are many references to the Lord of the Rings which makes sense as this is a prequel but we really did not need so many reminders that certain characters were also in that movie. It will probably work well when they are played back to back but in the cinema it falls flat.
This movie marks the end of a journey through Middle Earth. It is an enjoyable standalone film but is easily the best of the trilogy. It builds upon the foundations of the previous two films and uses them to soar to new heights emotionally. A fitting end to the trilogy.
Ghosts Can't Eat 