The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Ex Edition $12.09

Armies is dead in both outlets, which is a shame, since it is the only one of the Hobbit Trilogy that is essential to own in the Extended version. Journey's additions, though it does offer up a bit of fan service to Lord of the Rings, and give us more of Sauron being a dick (always a good thing), are nonetheless so modest they don't have much impact on the overall quality of the film (and it's debatable whether that slight impact is good or bad - I personally like it), while Smaug's scenes, which generally consist of needless extra exposition, or more scenes with the corrupt ruler of Laketown and his corrupt assistant Alfred (both of whom we get more than enough of in the standard cut) actually slow the film down and make it less enjoyable. However, Armie's added scenes are mostly battle scenes, and fill in the gaps of the standard cut (such as where the Great Blind Orc came from, or where Thorin got the goat he suddenly shows up riding on) and perhaps best of all, the dwarves and elves do not get interrupted before they begin fighting (something I found extremely lame in the theatrical cut, especially since their rivalry had been played up so much in both this trilogy and The Lord of the Rings) but instead have at each other for several minutes before the orcs show up. The overall Battle of Five Armies, which felt truncated and incomplete in the original cut, now has the epic feel it so desperately needed, and finishes the series on a strong note. No wonder it's sold out.

 
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