The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies Spoilers - 12 Major Revelations Reviewed

12. Bard Kills Smaug

The shock factor wasn't exactly through the roof on this one, as the writing was always very much on the wall for the charismatic dragon (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch of course) and the trailers weren't shy with their revelations. But the pleasure of this sequence, which opens the film at break-neck speed is very much in the telling: Smaug is terrible and awesome, Bard is the last bastion of his people (even if his heroism is somewhat overshadowed by that of his son). Ultimately Smaug falls after destroying almost the entirety of Laketown, shot by the iconic black arrow after Bard manages to escape the jail he was left in at the end of the second film. Seeing the pair face off is a great thing, and the sequence is easily the most impressive part of the film: the destruction is massive, the death toll presumably mega (though very few people actually seem to die on screen) and it's just a shame that there had to be any time devoted to Alfrid Lickspittle, the worst character in Middle Earth movie history. It does seem a little odd that Smaug can destroy whole streets but his flamey death breath somehow manages to miss Bard, his family and the dwarves who remain in Laketown. Especially since everything around them is on fire.