The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies - 5 Reasons It's Awesome (And 6 Why It Sucked)

2. The Final Battle

Say what you want about how Jackson has dealt with adapting The Hobbit, but after around 7 hours of build-up, the final battle certainly delivered the epic scope and insane action fans were hoping for. Kicking off roughly half-way through the movie, the titular battle lasts approximately 45 minutes (including a few short breaks for dialogue), and is a mostly relentless stream of smaller, self-contained fight sequences featuring almost all of the major characters. Some of the more impressive moments include Kili (Aidan Turner) being killed by Bolg while protecting Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) killing Bolg (complete with a hilariously ridiculous skipping-stone sequence), and of course, Thorin (Richard Armitage) and Azog killing one another as the battle comes to an end thanks to Radagast, Beorn and the Eagles. Though it still can't quite find a way to live up to the immensity of The Return Of The King's final battle and there are a number of technical issues holding it back from true greatness, it's still easily the most scintillating action in any of the Hobbit movies, and proves that Jackson's still got what it takes.