The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies – reviews of series end

What you need to know

The conclusion to Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies opens in UK cinemas today. The final instalment of the epic fantasy series is directed by Jackson and adapted by Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo del Toro from J.R.R. Tolkien's classic novel.

Five Armies follows the adventures of Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his dwarf companions who have entered the Lonely Mountain and disturbed the dragon Smaug, unleashing its fiery wrath on the world. Meanwhile, the evil sorcerer Sauron has returned to Middle-earth to launch an army of Orcs on the Lonely Mountain. With Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee and Orlando Bloom.

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What the critics like

Jackson's Hobbit trilogy goes out with not merely a bang, but a 45-minute baroque, virtuoso battle scene that unfurls in "a CGI-gasm of sweeping aerial views and grandeur", says Kate Muir in The Times. Unlike the first two fantasies, Five Armies has no sluggish downtime, yet among the clash of steel and iron, there is also breathing space for personal drama and humour.

"Third time's a charm" for Jackson's Tolkien trilogy with what may be the most purely entertaining film of any in the collection, says Todd McCarthy in the Hollywood Reporter. What we're in for, and happily so, is far more of dashing guys like Legolas, born-to-kill Orcs marauding in all their grotesque glory and Christopher Lee kicking ass like no 92-year-old ever has before.

It's a fitting conclusion to Jackson's trilogy and "a triumphant adieu to Middle-earth", says James Dyer in Empire. At under two-and-a-half hours, there's little flab on Five Armies - Jackson has crafted a grand old tale to do Tolkien proud.

What they don't like

As the different armies collide, "the film risks becoming chaotic and confusing", and there are some moments of mawkishness, especially at the finale, says Geoffrey MacNab in The Independent. But for all its loose ends, Five Armies is the strongest, boldest film in the Hobbit trilogy and provides just the send off that the series deserves.