Movie – The Hobbit: The battle of the Five Armies

Well I stayed awake for Hobbit 3!I almost didn’t go but it would have been a big break in tradition, having seen all of the Lord of the Rings trilogy at Christmas time and then the first two Hobbits. So I go, armed with the knowledge it’s shorter, just 2 hours 24 minutes, (my boyfriend saw it last week ) so I make it without the coffee break and nap in the middle. It turns out, this Hobbit is pretty fast moving. Everyone is after the treasure held within the mountain for various reasons and the orcs just want to cause mayhem. The five army battle does go on for a long time but we are kept entertained because there are tone changes from loud to soft, fighting on on bridges, on ice and on mountains and in castles. (which made eating Galaxy minstrels a bit tough as I won’t touch the packet during quiet moments, only when I’m drowned out by the volume, unlike the people sitting behind me who sniffed, talked and coughed throughout. I could have moved as the cinema was only about two thirds full but feared I could be next to a popcorn muncher or phone checker – which is even worse! Happily the volume mostly drowned them out).Anyway, once the dragon had destroyed a whole town by blowing it alight, I settled into identifying all five of the promised armies and watched, elves, dwarfs, orcs, more dwarfs, men and a wizard do battle with arrows, knives, monsters and magic. The huge cast set out to save Middle Earth and bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion.For those who’ve seen it, I’m unsure why he didn’t stab the orc in the face when he was under water – that would have sure meant the rivers are running red with blood as the orcs wanted it.  7½/10Smile factor 8/10