‘The Battle of the Five Armies’ runs rings around other ‘Hobbit’ movies

Thankfully, director Peter Jackson saved the best for last, because the greatest thing about the first two installments of his “Hobbit” trilogy was the menu they inspired at Denny’s.

Seriously, that Hobbit Hole Breakfast was fantastic.

“The Battle of the Five Armies” isn’t so spectacular as to erase the memories of the bloated slog “An Unexpected Journey” and “The Desolation of Smaug” were at times. But it is good enough to make you wonder just how much more enjoyable the experience could have been for everyone except the die-hards if Jackson had stuck with his original plan to make two movies instead of three. Trimming some of the fat from the first two and reserving the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) for the second half not only would have made for tighter storytelling, it would have saved the studio $100 million or so.

But enough about what could have been.

When last we visited the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo (Martin Freeman) was wondering “What have we done?” as Smaug was on his way to destroy Lake-town.

It doesn’t take long.

That devastation kicks off a lean — at least by Jackson’s standards — 144 minutes of nearly wall-to-wall action. There’s no time for the singing, belching dwarves of “An Unexpected Journey.” There’s barely any time for the romance of “The Desolation of Smaug.” There’s a very good reason the title was changed from “There and Back Again” to “The Battle of the Five Armies.”

With Gandalf (Ian McKellen) imprisoned at Dol Guldur, Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and Saruman (Christopher Lee) take on the ghostly forces of the Dark Lord Sauron (Cumberbatch again).

Elsewhere, Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) leads the human survivors of Lake-town to the gates of the Lonely Mountain, only to find them barricaded by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), the newly crowned king. Thorin, consumed with dragon-sickness, has gone back on his word and won’t surrender any of the newfound treasure as promised.

Thranduil (Lee Pace), who also stakes a claim to some of the mountain’s riches, arrives on what appears to be some sort of a moose and, in along with his army of elves, brings a team of Clydesdales hauling aid for the survivors in a scene that feels like Middle-earth’s answer to those Anheuser-Busch holiday commercials.

Azog the Defiler (Manu Bennett) marshals his legions of Orcs to the front lines.

Then Dain Ironfoot (Billy Connolly) rides in on an armored warthog, signaling reinforcements for the dwarves. And it. Is. On.

There’s so much action, Legolas (Orlando Bloom) finally runs out of arrows.

Some goblin mercenaries are thrown into the mix. And I think I heard something about Were-worms. But for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you who or what makes up the fifth army in “The Battle of the Five Armies.”

McKellen is always a welcome sight, although the script — again credited to Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Guillermo Del Toro — doesn’t give his Gandalf all that much to do. Evans makes for a dashing hero as Bard. And, as the royal pain Thorin, Armitage is so much better-suited for battling orcs and other beasties than fleeing tornadoes as he did in August’s “Into the Storm.”

As always, though, the heart and soul of the story is Bilbo, and Jackson simply couldn’t have cast anyone better than Freeman to bring the Hobbit to life in all his hairy-footed glory. The “Sherlock”/“Fargo” star can do more with silence, a shrug or a stare than many actors could deliver with a soliloquy.

Not everything works. Several characters are given short shrift. The cartoonish, cut-rate Russell Brand villainy of Lake-town henchman Alfrid (Ryan Gage) feels like something from an entirely different movie. And at one point near the end when the dwarves of Erebor — Balin, Dwalin, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Dori, Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur — assembled, I swear there were a couple I’d never before laid eyes on.

(For what it’s worth, I also hadn’t noticed the skulls some of the orcs wear as codpieces. Then once I did, I couldn’t look away.)

But with “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,” Jackson and company manage to stick the landing in a way that should leave fans satisfied with their final visit to Middle-earth.

At least until Jackson realizes that Bloom doesn’t seem to age — and may, in fact, be immortal — and sends Legolas on another series of adventures.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.