Three years. Three movies. One incredible story. Finally, The Hobbit trilogy comes to a thrilling end with “The Battle of the Five Armies”. This movie delves deep into the dramatic end that concluded J.R.R. Tolkien’s prequel to the Lord of the Rings series.

The movie begins in Laketown, the human city near the Lonely Mountain. It is being ravaged by the dragon, Smaug (voice of Benedict Cumberbatch). He destroys everything until he is killed by the human leader, Bard (Luke Evans). Meanwhile, the dwarves, led by Thorin (Richard Armitage) and joined by Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), stay in the mountain. Thorin, having gained control, has become greedy and sick with what Bilbo calls “dragon sickness.” He refuses to help the humans, as they did not help his father two generations ago. The elves, led by Legolas (Orlando Bloom), come to the mountain to seek their share of the riches within, but Thorin will not give any away; he is busy looking for the Arkenstone, a precious gem previously owned by his family. The elves and humans are then attacked by the Orcs, but Thorin still will not fight. Gandalf the Wizard (Ian McKellan) comes to help but still struggles to turn the tide. The battle rages on to a climatic end (I can’t tell you that; go to the movies yourself and find out!).

I did not particularly care for The Hobbit. I thought the first one was decent but with every year they just seemed to be repeats of themselves. To be frank, it seemed that every part of the trilogy was just about an adventure picked up by a rag-tag team of random people, in which they touchingly bonded and then were tragically killed in some way or another. Every movie had an overblown romantic relationship between the characters that ended in one of their deaths and a whole lot of tears. Tolkien’s original masterpiece was decimated by special effects and a far too violent storyline. On a positive note, the effects, though unnecessary, were stunningly vivid. I also thought that Benedict Cumberbatch, even though his role was too short, played the voice of the dragon remarkably, inspiring fear in those who came before his path. This movie, although well-executed in terms of action, was otherwise uninteresting and would put even the most sedate Tolkien fan into a seething rage.