10. It Delivers An Epic Battle That Justifies The Expansion From The Books...
"So began a battle that none had expected; and it was called the Battle Of Five Armies , and it was very terrible."
Covering just five pages and recounted more as an historical event than through its characters eyes, the battle that formed the title of the final Hobbit film was little more than a footnote in the book. Bilbo observes the battle from a distance, watches as the eagles fly in and is then knocked unconscious. There was more book devoted to the unexpected party than the war between the orcs, dwarves, men, elves and eagles. But, of course, as a conclusion not just to a six movie series, that final battle needed to be an epic event and the film certainly achieves that. It might not have had the emotional clout of the Battle of the Pelannor Fields or the shock and awe of the Battle of Helms Deep, but it did measure up. In this final film Peter Jackson gave fans a worthy adaptation of this mighty event. There will be more films in the fantasy genre, but it is hard to imagine any delivering quite the majesty of the battles presented in this film and The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy.