The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

In the final chapter of The Hobbit, the dragon Smaug has been awakened by Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield, as well as Thorin's companions, and as a result he unleashes his fury upon the unsuspecting town of Laketown. In order to kill Smaug and save Laketown, a lone man named Bard uses iron harpoons to try and pierce the almost impenetrable skin of the fire-breathing beast, eventually finding Smaug's heart through an opening in the armor-like skin. As Smaug falls to his death, celebration is cut short as the gravity of the situation sets in. The people of Laketown have lost everything, and they now look to Bard to lead them. In an effort to save his people, he reaches out to Thorin to honor their agreement of a portion of the treasure in exchange for getting rid of Smaug. However, Thorin is overcome with greed for the treasure, as well as power, so he backs out of the agreement and turns Bard and his people away. In time, as word spreads throughout Middle-Earth that the dragon Smaug is dead, other races travel to the mountain in a quest to claim what they believe is rightfully theirs: Thranduil, king of the elves; Bard and his people from Laketown; the dwarven army led by Thorin's cousin Dáin; and finally the orc and goblin army led by Azog. The danger of Smaug may of ended, but the Battle of the Five Armies for control of the mountain has only just begun.

Peter Jackson's vision for The Hobbit comes to a close with the third and final chapter, The Battle of the Five Armies. While the series as a whole doesn't hold a candle to the epicness that was The Lord of the Rings, The Battle of the Five Armies is a wonderful and fitting end to the series. The action is better, not quite as drawn out as the previous film (though it does feel like it overstays its welcome at times, especially in the final battle). Seeing Smaug in action when he attacks Laketown was a cool sequence, despite it being something I wish The Desolation of Smaug had focused on more. As with the two previous Hobbit films, there are events added that were obviously not part of the book; however, I am glad Peter Jackson left specific important plot points alone - ones that I won't specify here.The best part of the movie actually occurs in the credits: Billy Boyd (who played Pippin in The Lord of the Rings) returns to sing an original song he wrote called The Last Goodbye specifically for this final chapter.

Granted, even with all the things I did like, the inclusion of Legolas was still a big mistake to me. His inclusion still never seemed to add anything to the story other than to connect The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings. He also yet again either had way too much makeup or CGI used on him that made him almost unrecognizable at first. The continued love story between the elf Tauriel and the dwarf Kili was an unnecessary addition as well that, to me, took away from the main story. I didn't mind the characters themselves, I just didn't like the whole love story part of it.

That being said, this journey into Middle-Earth - which began in 2001 with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - has easily been one of the best cinematic experiences I've ever had. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a little sad when the credits rolled for this final movie. I can only hope that in the years to come either The Silmarillion (as well as other stories from Middle-Earth) makes its way onto the big screen, or someone is able to do something similar of this magnitude and recreate the magic of seeing stories such as this come to life.