MEMM Day 24 - Favorite moment/line in The Battle of the Five Armies

Get comfy.  You know I'm truly madly deeply in love with this movie, but I've managed to narrow this down to my twelve favorite parts.  I tried shaving it farther, but I couldn't give any up to make it a nice round ten, so twelve it is.  And this is in order of how they happen in the movie, not of how much I love them -- if I could pick one favorite, I wouldn't be listing twelve!

1.  That little smile of dawning awareness that he could possibly kill Smaug -- that's my favorite part of the whole opening sequence.  Well, that and when he tells Bain to look at him, not the dragon.

2.  Bard's reunion with his daughters -- that look of relief he has!  The husky way he says, "Come here!" when he first sees them, the way he clutches them to him -- all so wonderful.

3.  Then there's Elrond's arrival at the evil fortress, and the subsequent fight.  I love that fight!  Especially how beautiful his cape looks when he's fighting.  It's hard to capture, but I tried:

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.  I want one!

4.  Then there's the whole exchange between Thorin and Bard, which I dearly love.  Bard starts out really hoping he can just make this ugly altercation end before it really begins.

Thorin says he's listening, but he's really not.  He's already made up his stubborn mind.

Bard starts to feel this isn't going to work out, and he gets pretty sad over it.  Can dwarves really be this stubborn?

Thorin's like, "Yeah, you have no idea how stubborn we can be.  If I make sexy eyes at you, will you get scared and go away?"

And Bard's all, "You've got to be kidding me -- what's wrong with you?"  And then that hand-slam of frustration -- delicious!

5.  I also love the way Bilbo sneaks past those guards.  It's pure Martin Freeman adorableness -- the most obvious sneaking actions ever, and it cracks me up.

6.  I know we all love it when Bilbo reluctantly admits he's the hobbit who stole Thranduil's keys and helped the prisoners escape.  "Yeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssss."

7.  But I also deeply love it when he tells them he's not doing it for them, he's doing it for his dwarf friends, even though they're stinky and rude.

8.  Then there's this shot.  Wow.  Could Thorin's return from madness have been more majestic?  Nope.

9.  And his reunion with Kili -- ohhh, so heartwarming.

10.  Okay, and this is a moment that I loved a whole lot even the very first time I saw TBOTFA.  When Thranduil sees the slain elves, he reminds me so strongly of Legolas' reaction to Boromir's death in FOTR.

This sort of wonderment, of working to wrap your head around the reality of death.  Yeah, I know elves don't exactly die like humans, so it's not the same thing, but anyway, Thranduil's expression really reminded me of Legolas', so I like it.

11.  And I love Bilbo's farewell to the dwarves.  Oh, it makes me tear up every time.  Such a poignant, sweet moment.

"Don't bother to knock."  Awwwwww!

12.  Finally, I love Bilbo's parting from Gandalf.  He's such a different hobbit than he was at the beginning of the first movie, isn't he?

This shot of Gandalf as he leaves is probably my favorite single image in the whole movie.  The light is gorgeous, and it looks like the most perfectly Middle Earth place I can imagine.

(I know I totally didn't adhere to my own rules here, but I'm sorry, I just can't pick one.)