Alright, so it's out in the U.S, and has been elsewhere for some time now.
My thoughts. (Spoilers for 80 year old book ahead at your own peril, and and some for stuff added to pad the film)

I enjoyed it. It is basically a two-act movie, not counting the first 10 minutes which are really the conclusion of Desolation. There's probably more action here than any of the others. I might call this the best Hobbit movie, at least as far as theatrical versions go, but Two Towers remains my favorite Middle-Earth movie overall.

Good acting all around, especially from Freeman.

I liked how Thorin's dragon-sickness was conveyed in a manner which allowed Smaug to retain some relevance to the story after being slain.

If the Shadow of Mordor has made enough for sequels, expect Tauriel to appear. You can take that to the bank.

A very surprising (to me) addition were creatures called the "eaters of the Earth" or "were wyrms", which are basically the sandworms from Dune and used by Azog to tunnel through mountains for his army. I guess they're a deliberate conflation of the "nameless things" below Moria and the "wild were wyrms of the last desert" briefly mentioned in the books.


You can tell a lot of things were left out, I suspect most will show up in the extended edition:

-Where was Legolas while Smaug was attacking Lake Town?

-Radagast and Beorn aka Sirs Barely Appearing in this Picture.

-Apparently the jewels Thranduril wants were a reminder of his wife. But that explanation is left out of the theatrical cut. I'm also hoping for an explanation of when he got his scars.

- So, I guess Thranduril ultimatley decided not to withdraw his forces from battle after Tauriel and Legolas shamed him? I mean, I guess that's obviously the case, since they're still there at the end, but I don't think we saw that decision.

-Alfred the Craven needed to either get killed or redeem himself somehow. Personally, I would have had him die like Burke from aliens, with wargs in place of xenos.

-I would have liked to see some Azog realize Bolg died and react to it in some way, not crying, but just wanting more vengeance.

- Gandalf seemingly vanishes the last third of the final battle.

-So, after all that, what happens to the Arkenstone?

-For that matter, who was King Under the Mountain at the end? Balin? Dain? Anybody? Bueller? The book says it's Dain, right? But the map at the end still seems to put Dain in the Iron Hills, unless that's just from Bilbo never updating it?