Ranking Every Single Middle-Earth Movie From Worst To Best

While The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey showed a few issues in regards to feeling overblown, it was nothing compared to Battle of the Five Armies, and lying between the two is a film that bridges the gap between thoughtful and over the top.

This film started to show how overblown the series was becoming, with two specific segments that should have been simple being pushed to the max and losing any sense of charm. These examples include the barrel scene and Bilbo's encounter with Smaug.

The first of these two was a charming scene in the books that saw the dwarves sneak out of their elven entrapment by sailing downstream in empty wine barrels. It was a fun and creative way to escape their position, but in this film, the entire sequence is designed as an overly convoluted battle sequence. This instantly strips it of its original charm and turns it into a CGI filled mess.

Secondly, the encounter with Smaug and Bilbo should have been an exciting battle of wits. Instead, it became a large scale cartoon chase that turned the intimidating Dragon into a goon.

It doesn't go as far as Battle of the Five Armies, but still, this movie digs too deep into the world of spectacle rather than decent narrative. Again, there is simply too much crammed into what should be a simple story.