Meanwhile, the dwarves have established de facto ownership of the dragon’s gold, which they consider their own birthright and the movie culminates in a gigantic battle of orcs, elves, dwarves, humans and eagles all contesting their right to this unimaginable wealth. We are pitched right back into the chaos in which we left the second episode, as the dragon Smaug (boomingly voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) unleashes his fiery fury on Lake Town, whose buildings are made entirely out of wood – not great if you’ve got a dragon nearby. But it’s less conceited, more accessible and it makes do with just the one ending. It packs a huge chain-mailed punch and lands a resounding mythic stonk. The Battle of the Five Armies is at least as weighty as The Return of the King. And if poor, bemused little Bilbo Baggins now looks a bit lost on this newly enlarged action-fantasy canvas – well, he raises his game as well, leavening the mix with some unexpectedly engaging and likable drama. He has successfully concluded his outrageously steroidal inflation of Tolkien’s Hobbit into a triple-decker Middle Earth saga equivalent to the Rings trilogy, and made it something terrifically exciting and spectacular, genial and rousing, with all the cheerful spirit of Saturday morning pictures.
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