The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Peter Jackson (Bad Taste, The Lord of the Rings 1-3, Lovely Bones).
	Actors: Martin Freeman (Hot Fuzz, The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy), Ian McKellen (X-men 1-3, The Lord of the Rings 1-3), Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness)
	Country: USA, NZ
	Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Epic
	Conditions of visioning: 15.12.2014, CINEMA theater, 3D, High Frame Rate
Synopsis: After having awakened the dragon Smaug (Cumberbatch), the company of Dwarves and Bilbo (Freeman) will have to protect their new fortune, while the King under the Mountain (Armitage) is changing.
Review: At last, the final chapter. I can still remember the day I went to see The Fellowship of the Ring in the theater back in 2001. I was not really looking forward to three new movies in the same universe, actually I haven't watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy in years, maybe because I have seen it too much. But in the end I got caught by the stories of Middle-Earth and had no problem watching An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug several times. Actually I am more motivated now to go back to watch the story of Frodo and the Ring again. The ending of The Battle... puts you in perfect disposition for that. I am definitely not expecting a third trilogy in the years to come, but we never know. So what of this third movie? As I commented after watching the extras on The Desolation of Smaug Blu-ray, I learned that there were supposed to be two movies only, which explains the kind of anti-climactic start of The Battle of the Five Armies, and the lengths I felt in the rhythm. Those lengths especially spoiled a bit my viewing experience, as they sometimes took me out of the movie thinking: "OK guys let's move on now!". Not that I got bored (there is enough going on the screen to avoid that), but after watching all three movies I am definitely convinced that two would have been enough. It would also have been a more refreshing experience to have Guillermo del Toro directing instead of the same Peter Jackson. Again, not that he did a bad job, but some more new ideas and views could have been welcome. I put a lower rating to the third movie because of the reasons mentioned above (lengths), although it is hard to rate them separately. Still, I think the second is my favorite, unlike in The Lord of the Rings where the third is really the culmination. I will definitely watch that trilogy again in Blu-ray in the near-future.
Rating: 6 /10