Seams are showing in final chapter of ‘The Hobbit’

“The Five Armies.” Takes forever to heave to its lumbering outcome.

Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” film series has finally ended its extended run with its final chapter, “The Five Armies” and, not a moment too soon!

The movie franchise that started out so spectacularly, whimsically and lovingly more than a decade ago has come to a sputtering conclusion.

Most simply and ignominiously, it’s simply run out of cinematic gas—and the loving impulse to delight, excite and inspire.

This last time around, the armies cited in the film’s title are massed around Erebor, where sundry forces of elves, hobbits and wizards engage in the ultimate battle for world domination—more specifically, the once winsome “inner” universe of Middle-earth.

An hour into the protracted, complicated World War, we get the antsy feeling that we’ve seen much of this before.—And, so we have, because a number of the sets and locales used here were already extensively showcased in the series’’ penultimate chapter, “The Desolation of Smaug.”

So, what else is left? The stretched-out final armed confrontation takes forever to heave to its lumbering outcome—a finale so heavy and laborious that we occasionally nod off when we should be bristling with excitement.

Alas, a thrice-told tale has no more pep and zap to offer, and so we snore—instead of asking for more!

As for those five clangorous armies, they mess up the battlefield with their growing, galumphing numbers—and are really about two too many!

Our admiration for filmmaker Jackson remains steadfast, but we wish, for his sake, that he had a better and less overtly profit-motivated sense of when enough has become—much too much!