Five Armies, Considerable Waiting

I finally got out to see the third Hobbit movie today. And, man... I think it's debatable exactly how much of a mistake it may or may not have been to split this up into three movies, but what I can say for sure is that, for me, this one defintely suffered from the year-long wait between installments, and particularly from the choice to end the second movie right in the middle of the action and then to pick it right back up again in part three. I walked out of The Desolation of Smaug feeling excited (albeit frustrated), but by the time the theater lights faded out onto The Battle of the Five Armies, all momentum was long since lost, and it took me forever to get back into the swing of things again. Cliffhangers, I think, work way better on TV.