The Battle Of The Five Armies opens in spectacular fashion, wasting absolutely no time in depicting Smaug's (Benedict Cumberbatch) destruction of Laketown, burning it to a crisp in what is easily the movie's most technically sound display. It's a superb way to start the movie, as it provides plenty of hope that the flick will be 144 minutes of pure pay-off, and though this isn't the case, it at least doesn't waste more time building up Smaug's assault. The scene arguably doesn't last long enough, and Smaug is perhaps killed a little too easily by Bard (Luke Evans), but it's still a supremely bada** moment, with some exemplary visual effects giving this movie the strongest intro sequence of the three Hobbit films.