The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (12A), directed by Peter Jackson

Four stars

THE story so far, as all Hobbit-fanciers know, is that when we last saw our intrepid trekkers they had arrived to face Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch) guarding his gold.

Thus it’s no surprise that now Smaug arrives to strike fear in Laketown with the population trying to escape being burned alive.

The only one to face the fiend is Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) in a battle that makes all the others pale in comparison.

Yet credibility is stretched as five armies mass to lay claim to their share of the treasure, only to be denied.

That’s because Thorin (Richard Armitrage) has become seduced by gold fever, much like Bilbo (Martin Freeman) did with the cursed ring.

Apart from splits within the ranks of their friends, they have to contend with two Orc armies in a sequence that begins to resemble a scene from Alexender Nevsky.

The finale between Thorin and the Pale Orc is the only other scene which commands rapt attention, as their fight to the death has numerous resurrections.

It all resembles a computer game, with loads of running and stop-overs for a fight before continuing the course of the narrative.

With all the old gang turning up to sort their own differences, Christopher Lee appears in a cameo as Gandalf (Ian McKellan) arrives to take a curtain call.

The only new character that carries any gravitas is Billy Connolly as Dain Ironfoot, bellowing with rage astride a pot-bellied pig as he bashes bone-crushers.

This latest in the franchise will obviously appeal to fans because, despite the creative narrative licence, the film at least stays true to the book’s conclusion when Bilbo arrives back in Bag End. Yet there’s a hint that the story’s not over, which is very possible given the fact that most of the film includes characters who never had a literary incarnation.