Now for those who haven't watched this movie and are following the LOTR and hobbit movies, even lazily, then all you have to read is this : Go, watch it!
Those who have seen the movie can continue and share in my impression about this movie.
It was amazing all the way. Hobbit sequels started off very childishly, expanded its territories in the next and set up the great battle of amazement for the end. All through the movie I was only having a bad feeling; why is this scene(any one for that matter) so short. There's going to be a lot of complaints in here. Spoilers. Why did Smaug die so fast, why was Bolg killed so easily, why Azog wasn't let to live for a few more minutes? Why did this movie have to be just 144 minutes. Well, these are my serious concerns. Knowing Peter Jackson who is famous for making 4 and a half hour movies, deciding to cut out the final hobbit movie into just under two and a half hour film is outrageous.
Peter Jackson is a master when it comes to heroic action filled epic battles and this time around he did just what he was good at. The movie doesn't waste time to kill of Smaug, which, now i think should have been an apt end to the last movie. The movie does work a lot on Thorin's character inconsistencies, and the moments that leads to the war are all gracefully done. The action sequences that followed and the thrilling war is a master piece. But what was not done gracefully was tying the knots and smoothing the end. It was very abrupt. The war ended very abruptly. He concentrated more on the one on ones, which is sad. We know what Jackson could do with a handful of people and CGI. I wanted more, and I am sure there was more. A lot of scenes from the trailers never made it to the big screen.
There was little Benedict Cumberbatch. There was more of Cate Blanchett, but we could have had more. The action on top of the Necromancer's hideout, was quite the fun, but too short. In the beginning when Hugo Weaving and Christopher Lee made their appearances, I really thought Peter has gone the extra mile to tie a few knots linking this to LOTR, but I was so disappointed in the end. There was no Smeagol. There was no Frodo. There was just the mention of Strider. Maybe Peter took some people's complaints of adding more to Hobbit, seriously. But I am one of those who liked what he did with the additions, in the case of the previous two films. But in this one, I would take the other direction. Legolas and Tauriel visiting Angmar, made no sense. Hugo Weaving and Lee was wasted. To an extent even Ian Mckellan was wasted here.
The grand CGI and admirable fight scenes makes this movie a must watch, but from the script side, Peter Jackson did make a lot of sacrifices. Hoping to see a better version when the extended storyline comes out.
PS: Do watch it in the biggest screen you can find. It's worth it.