I’m going to get this out of the way before Wednesday night

I liked The Battle of Five Armies.

No, it wasn't perfect, but even imperfect, I believe it's a better retelling than the original book (as I’ve said before).

And let's be honest: I don't want perfection in creative stuff – I want creative stuff – I want invention and experimentation and the unexpected.

I don't want The Hobbit copy-pasted onto a movie screen and, (thankfully) that's certainly not what Peter Jackson gave us.

• He gave us love where Tolkien never thought to invest it.
• He gave Legolas a reason to defy his father and ride to Rivendell in fifty years.
• He gave the Arkenstone more meaning and more merit.
• He gave Thorin's line more of the tragic doom that seems to haunt all dwarves, satisfying the expectations set up by the oh-so-dwarvish ending of Desolation of Smaug (something else I talked about already, at length).

I am happy with the movie for all those reasons and a hundred more that I can't list, because I haven't seen it yet, of course.

The things I've mentioned, I trust will be there.

Not hope, the way I hope the next Star Wars movie will be good.

Trust. Belief.

Because Jackson has absolutely earned it.