NEWS: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies @ Tyneside Cinema

Originally titled There and Back Again, the third instalment in Peter Jackson’s elongated Hobbit adaptation, The Battle of the Five Armies, opens at Tyneside Cinema on Friday 12th December, finally bringing Martin Freeman’s Bilbo to the end of his journey.

So far, the pint-sized hero has traversed misty mountains, played riddles in the dark and encountered a terrifying dragon voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch. Whatever your misgivings about the previous films’ leisurely pace, you can rest assured that the finale will dedicate itself almost entirely to the eponymous scrap-on, which will make the Battle of Helm’s Deep look like a tiff in the Bigg Market. While it remains to be seen whether Orlando Bloom will surf-board again down an enemy infested staircase, loyal audiences are guaranteed more snarling Orcs, crossbow-firing elves and swooping eagles than you can shake a wizardly staff at.

There are plenty of loose ends to tie up, what with stroppy serpent Smaug still on the rampage, and the future of Middle-Earth hanging (sort of) in the balance. Billy Connolly also makes an appearance, riding into battle on a CGI pig, which is as good a reason as any to see the film, we reckon. Return visit to Middle Earth for sixteen-film adaptation of The Silmarillion, still to be confirmed.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opens at Tyneside Cinema on Friday 12th December.