Movie Review: ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’

Peter Jackson’s genius shines through clearly in “The Battle of the Five Armies,” as with the others, in the writing and directing. He captures both the beauty and intensity of the story through the sweeping landscape shots, battle scenes and personal moments between characters. The movie tracks with the book for most of the storyline, but it does also finish out the “extraneous” additions from the previous films. The majority of these scenes (though without some of Jackson’s ...