Speaking of the battle, which I’ve somehow gone six whole paragraphs without mentioning, it’s predictably spectacular. Predictable because nobody in movies today goes epic the way Peter Jackson goes epic. This is also why his restraint is bold. Peter Jackson, the master of excess, waits. The first hour is patient, devoted to developing and understanding the cast of heroes—Thorin, Bilbo (the titular character that has less to do than ever, regardless of how perfectly Martin Freeman plays him), Thranduil, and Bard—before smashing them together in a bravura battle sequence that lasts more than an hour and a half. The action wows, like a chill-inducing moment when charging elves leap over the backs of dwarves into battle. Most surprising of all is that his restraint lingers into the battle itself. We see surprisingly little of the fighting, with PJ frequently cutting to intimate fights, like Bard defending his children to a troll or Thranduil confronting ten orcs at once. A brief but badass cutaway to Dol Guldur with Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) aside, the action is almost entirely staged in one location, and there’s a claustrophobic intensity that gives the sequence a distinct quality separating it from Helm’s Deep or Minas Tirith.

Other than a few wide shots of army-on-army warfare, we experience the battle only through the leading characters, which keeps things grounded without undermining the epic epicness of it all. It’s the first Hobbit with a genuine sense of stakes, and a big reason for that is how Peter Jackson strategically hangs the story on the shoulders of the characters and its very capable cast. The filmmakers have crafted for us a vivid geography of the battle space, making it easy to imagine which faction is where, how they relate to each other, and how it all started with a king going mad. The Battle of the Five Armies works because of its focus, and we see a rejuvenated Peter Jackson unafraid to finally make bold choices. The third Hobbit’s failures are simple but its triumphs are complex, but in the end it’s nothing less than hobbit holes of fun. It is a satisfying, rousing end to our six-film journey through Middle Earth.

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