Battle Royale Ends ‘Hobbit’ Trilogy

At the Boston Globe, Scott Foundas reviews the final movie of “The Hobbit” trilogy: “This is the way “The Hobbit” ends: not with a whimper, but with an epic battle royale. True to its subtitle, “The Battle of the Five Armies” (revised from the initially more pacific “There and Back Again”), the final installment of Peter Jackson’s distended “Lord of the Rings” prequel offers more barbarians at the gate than you can shake an Elven sword at, each vying for control of mountainous Erebor. The result is at once the trilogy’s most engrossing episode, its most expeditious (at a comparatively lean 144 minutes) and also its darkest — both visually and in terms of the forces that stir in the hearts of men, dwarves and orcs alike.” More here. (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures: Martin Freeman, left, and John Callen in a scene from “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”)