Is it over yet? While Peter Jackson’s take on J.R.R. Tolkien’s prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy has occasionally been something of a trial to sit through, The Battle of the Five Armies finally gets almost everything right. Spoilers ahead: Picking up exactly where The Desolation of Smaug left off, the dragon is quickly dispatched, and the surviving humans regroup outside the Lonely Mountain, Erebor. Inside, Thorin Oakenshield (Armitrage), overcome with greed, walls himself, his dwarf brethren, and our titular hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) inside the great hall. Meanwhile, Gandalf (McKellen) is freed from Sauron’s grasp, and a vast army of orcs assemble for the final melee – which is a sight to behold and, indeed, everything a Tolkien nerd could ask for. All in all, an admirable capstone to one of the great mytho-cinematic achievements of all time, bringing both Bilbo and his audience full circle, home at last.
Opened 12/19/14