The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Comparing the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy and the _Hobbit_ trilogy was already like comparing apples and mediocre oranges, but none so mediocre as _Battle of the Five Armies_. Don't get me wrong, I love a "battle" as much as the next guy, more maybe, I don't even mind a movie that's 95% battle, but in this? It does. Not. Work. _Five Armies_ is a movie that never made it out of pre-viz, let alone to a polished, well-rounded, final cut. I enjoy it to some degree when running through a Middle-Earth marathon as a whole, but only when the group I'm with will let me roll my eyes and complain about it. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._