The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - B

Rated PG, 144 minutes
Wes's Grade: B

It's mostly for fans, but "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" is a rousing conclusion to "Rings" series

For fans of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" the latest film entry, "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" will be a bittersweet experience. It's all coming to a close, but does so such a splendid, spirited manner you may not care who's who (and if you're like me and unfamiliar with the Tolkien books, that's been the case for all these movies). I give credit to director, producer co-writer and general master Peter Jackson, who's done a terrific job in bringing the movies to life -though I'm still unsure that six  movies is really necessary - and while he does so again in "Five Armies" in typical, overlong and epic fashion, most of it is still entertaining. By entering the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), and his fellow Dwarves have roused the dragon Smaug who in his anger flies out to destroy Lake Town. In the meantime, the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan) has identified the evil Necromancer as Sauron  (Benedict Cumberbatch) who has returned to Middle-earth and ordered countless Orcs to attack the Lonely Mountain. The thrilling "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" is a thrilling, action-packed conclusion to this epic series, which seems a bit much at times except for providing extensive fodder for the fan boy set and/or the legions of fans of the series, which has helped make this a global, worldwide hit. "The Hobbit," to its credit, is more efficiently made and moves along quicker: it wastes no time in tying up the Smaug storyline from the second film (which is my favorite in this series) and moving on to the central battles that are the centerpiece of this film. Those battle scenes are the most memorable, sublime part of "Five Battles" and Jackson continues to amaze with the technical details, visual flair and special effects, all first-rate and likely seeing Oscar nominations. Freeman is given less to do here but grounds the movie well along with Armitage and McKellan, not to mention the ubiquitous Cumberbatch, who gets to scowl more here in voice form as the chief villlain, seemingly since Smaug's story ends over the prologue of the movie. And for fans of this series, a handful of major characters die here, but I won't spoil it for you except that overall "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," while overlong and busy, is still a rousing, fitting conclusion with some sublime visuals to keep the non-Tolkien fans engaged for nearly 2 1/2 hours.