The honest truth is that I came out of the cinema remembering a quote from the late Peter O'Toole as Laurence of Arabia: 'We killed too many really. There's been a lot of killing, one way or another'.

Honestly, this is a very violent film for a 12+, though I'm sure that kids are more sophisticated now than they were even in the days of the Lord of the Rings cycle a decade ago, and probably are not as disturbed by this as I am. No doubt the Orcs mutilated, beheaded and massacred in this film with happy abandon are bad guys, but I expect Orcs have mothers too. [Actually, we think they're manufactured via a sort of gloupy pod thing. But point taken. - Ed.]

Much has been made of the way that a relatively short book has been translated into three lengthy films (which involves a lot of importation of The Silmarillion and other elements of the Tolkien canon) but the real issue is that this has been done by lengthy action sequences of fight and flight, rather than real development of the story or of character. Yes, these scenes are often exhilarating, but some people do find them a bit of a trial. It's been said that Peter Jackson hadn't actually intended to make three films, but found himself with tremendous quantities of excellent footage that he didn't want to waste – though I'm hoping that is not true because it would suggest a rather wandering directorial vision.

The special effects have moved on substantially since Lord of the Rings - CGI effects are ubiquitous, with the Orcs being largely generated creatures rather than actors, and elves being even more lively and athletic than before, and not necessarily because Orlando Bloom has been doing a lot of weights. The dragon (once we see him), is a tremendous and exciting beast but entirely 'generated', though Benedict Cumberbatch's voice does inject convincing character!

So this did look rather like a mid-sequence film, in a way that certainly didn't apply to The Two Towers, and felt a bit longer than entirely necessary. But there was no doubt about the dramatic spectacle and technical brilliance on display – and for sure, the third instalment will make little sense without watching this one!