The first two films in the Hobbit trilogy were, admittedly, rather lacklustre. Neither were excellent, but they were, at least, passable, and served their purpose of setting up this, the final instalment of the series. I came into the film with moderate expectations; I had heard good things, but didn’t want to expect too much.

The Battle of the Five Armies proved itself a fantastic film, benefitting from hours of setup, with most, if not all of the loose threads tied up in what is pretty much 160 minutes of action. A few subplots fell short (cough cough Tauriel romance plot cough cough), but The Battle of the Five Armies was, overall, a satisfying conclusion to the Hobbit trilogy.