The final installment of Peter Jackson’s second trilogy, “The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies,” is finally upon us. The movie starts right where the last left off, with the residents of Laketown evacuating the village while Smaug begins his fiery vendetta. As the town is destroyed, Bard escapes imprisonment amidst the chaos and kills Smaug (within the first 10 minutes of the film no less) with the last black arrow and his son’s help.

Meanwhile Bilbo and half of the dwarfish company see the final moments of the dragon’s life come to a close from the Lonely Mountain as Thorin begins to go mad, coveting his newly earned riches in the dragon’s keep and forcing all of his friends to search for the kingpin of the dragon’s wealth, the Arkenstone. Tensions soon rise as the citizens of Laketown and the elfish army arrives at the foot of the Lonely Mountain, all wanting a portion of the treasure, and willing to go to war to get a share.

The film shows off a distracting display of incredible visuals and special effects, creating an amazing view of the battle field and the combatants, but which does little to hide the fact the plot is overstretched far beyond that of the original story. While based on a great story, a majority of the film is comprised of (albeit spectacularly choreographed) over–extensive fight scenes that go on and on. And while the special effects can be stunning, computer graphics were excessively used in many scenes, taking away from the film with huge flashes of light and exaggerated destruction.

All in all the film was a good experience, but just a good one. The entire trilogy could probably have been condensed into one film, perhaps making for a better experience the over-eight-hour span of three movies.

Final score: 7/10