Hobbit: Fire of the Dragon, The

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Hobbit: Fire of the Dragon, The
Faneditor Name:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2013
Original Running Time:
161 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
120 minutes
Time Cut:
41 minutes
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
This is the lean version which retains all the greatness of the movie and drops all the fluff, making it a better paced and more entertaining movie overall. Fire of the Dragon dispenses with many superfluous elements of the film like the elf-dwarf love triangle, the dwarves being left behind in Laketown, the orc assault on Laketown, as well as any other deviations from the main narrative.
Intention:
When I watched Desolation in the cinema, I remember what a good start the movie had, and how awesome and well crafted the scenes with Smaug were, while how frustrating it was every time they cut away to some nonexistent plot device (ie. Tauriel and Legolas, Bard running around Laketown, Bolg attacking Laketown, etc.). I don't know why but the way they drew this movie out to nearly 3 hours by padding it with extra materials which took great liberties with the source material, a book I loved since I was a kid. As much as I admire Peter Jackson as a director, I felt like Desolation was a good 2 hour movie trapped in a 3 hour mess. This version cuts out the extra material and keeps the narative focused on Bilbo.
Additional Notes:
While most extra material is cut out, two scenes are retained in their entirety in this cut, namely the barrel escape and the dragon battle. If you enjoyed these sequences in the theatrical cut, then this is the version for you. I will be releasing a separate version soon which cuts both these sequences cut out (a 'purist' edition without barrel battles or molten gold, called 'Into the Fire')
Other Sources:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey--song Misty Mountains Cold

Special Thanks:
Aztek463, njvc
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit the Desolation of Smaug blu ray. I took notes on how I wanted the scenes to flow and edited them as such.
Cuts and Additions:
1. The prologue with Gandalf and Thorin in Bree is deleted.
2. Other than a brief shot of them chasing the dwarves, all the scenes of Azog and Bolg (the orcs) stalking the dwarves as well of the scene of them at Dol Guldur are deleted
3. Bilbo being tempted by the ring outside Mirkwood forest is cut, along with the Sauron eye shot (I felt the brief shot of him being tempted earlier was sufficient to tell us the ring was evil)
4. Legolas' Gimli reference is cut
5. Entire scene of Tauriel and Kili, and Tauriel with Thranduil is deleted. There is no love triangle. There is only one exchange between Kili and Tauriel in the jail cell
6. Shots of orcs ceeping up on Mirkwood are cut, making the orc attack more of a surprise.
7. Gandalf at the Nazgul tombs trimmed-- cut the lines "You're asking me to abandon my friends, etc."
8. Barrel scene left intact. The Kili/Tauriel concerned glance is cut. Kili's arrow to knee is bound and never spoken of again. He's all better in this version.
9. Cut scene of Legolas interrogating an orc, as well as Bolg tracking the dwarves.
10. Trimmed Laketown scenes for pacing.
11. Cut all scenes of the four dwarves being left behind. Cut all scenes of Tauriel/Legolas (after the Mirkwood battle.)
12. Cut all scenes of Orcs attacking Laketown.
13. Gandalf vs Sauron, is kept in, but moved to before Bilbo enters Smaugs lair.
14. Entire Smaug sequence intact in one flow, except a brief cutaway for about 30 seconds where Bard tells his kids he'll kill the dragon and grabs the black arrow.
15. Cut scenes of Bard running around Lake town and getting arrested.
16. Cut Bilbo's last lines "What have we done". Last lines now Smaug's.
17. The end credits scored with Misty Mountins Cold from An Unexpected Journey, before I See Fire.
Cover art by ranger613 (DOWNLOAD HERE) image
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User reviews

12 reviews
 
75%
 
17%
 
8%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
8.9
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.9(12)
Audio Editing
 
9.5(12)
Visual Editing
 
9.6(12)
Narrative
 
7.7(12)
Enjoyment
 
7.7(12)
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Overall rating
 
6.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
1.0
Enjoyment
 
2.0
First of all let me say that I downloaded the wrong version and wanted to see 'into the fire' but instead watched this...
Now saying that, I was hugely disappointed. Yes the love triangle and the elves antics are gone, but this is still a rubbish movie, no offence to Ranger613, it's not his fault.
There is just no tension and it still feels like everything is pointless and it is just leading to a battle with a dragon.
The scene at the beginning at Beorns house is completely pointless, they get some horses, then swiftly abandon them and go into a forest. Wtf? Likewise going to the elves achieved nothing and even laketown and going up in the toilet. There is ZERO character development and ZERO tension. None of it matters.
Being a fan of the book, Ranger613 did an excellent job as usual and it was my mistake in downloading the wrong film, I'm sure his other version is superior in every way, but I'll hold out for a three in one where this film is almost completely cut out.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
No
Format Watched?
Blu-Ray
Owner's reply November 16, 2014

Hi yoshif8tures, first off, thanks for downloading and watching man, always appreciated. But I think the points you made are things you dislike with the original movie which I cannot fix-- I can only cut as much as I can out; the Hobbit will always be what it is: a disappointment-- best I can do is make it more palatable by hopefully improving the pacing and trimming things. While I could have completely cut out Beorn and Mirkwood altogether, the movie would then be about 45 minutes, and more importantly, would deviate even more from the books than Peter Jackson did, because those things did happen in the book, they were just executed really poorly. If I may make a suggestion? my Into the Fire edit does not change anything in terms of plot other than cut out even more-- there's no crazy barrel fight, and there's no dragon fight at the end-- it still has the same Beorn, Mirkwood and Laketown scenes, so I would maybe skip it? Because it would be more of the same and I can't fix the problems you refer to. Even though many people are disappointed with the way PJ handled these movies, I'm still glad they're at least still making Tolkien's stuff--they're very flawed but still fixable, and I'm sorry this edit didn't work for you. I always appreciate the feedback tho, and thanks again for watching my friend! Cheers, Kris

Y
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(Updated: August 28, 2014)
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
I just recently watched Desolation of Smaug, took me this long because I was let down by "An unexpected journey". Being a person who has read LOTR, Silmarillion, Hobbit and Unfinished Tales several times, I was very disappointed with the direction that Peter Jackson has taken with The Hobbit. It seems like he has gotten the same "sickness" as Lucas, CGI and action overload and bad narrative.

I must say that I enjoyed this edit much more than the original, even though I think even more could be cut (but here "Into the Fire" will be for me"). At a technical note this edit is very good, couldn't detect where the cut's was made.

When It comes to narrative an enjoyment I had to take some points away. Even though I liked it more than the original, the original film is such a mess that it's a difficult (impossible?) task to edit this into a really good film. But as I have read on the forum, some of the scenes I feel is over the top and included in this version will be cut and trimmed in "Into the Fire", so really looking forward to that one.

I don't think we will have a really good version of this film until "Battle of the five armies" is released in EE. Then the very talented editors will see all they have to work with, and how much they can cut in these films.

Thanks ranger for your effort :)

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Blu-Ray
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
The disorienting introduction to the Hobbit part 2 is still present. Although I don't know how you could explain how our heroes got from the relative safety at the end of the Hobbit part 1 to the dangerous beginning of the Hobbit part 2.

The edits at the end of the film, namely the chase sequence in the Lonely Mountain and Laketown where welcome. They moved the story along at a far superior pace to the theatrical cut. The editing of the chase scene in the Lonely Mountain left me a bit spatially confused. I found it difficult to figure out where the other characters where that where off screen but obviously still running about. This was not a problem with the Theatrical cut of the film and possibly the reason for the unwanted extended chase scenes.

The only problem I had with the Laketown sequence being cut was I don't think you cut enough. At one point the action jumps from the chase in the Lonely Mountain back to Laketown. We get a scene with Bard's daughter saying something and Bard grabs his arrow from the ceiling of his home. Then the action jumps back to the Lonely Mountain chase.

As Smaug never actually reaches the town that scene could have been removed. Cutting that scene may have caused more continuity problems in editing than it was worth however. Regardless, it was a bit jarring going from the well paced action sequence of the Dragon chase to a man grabbing his arrow then back to the chase.

Overall this cut was better experience and I am happy that I had an opportunity to view it.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 1
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I loved Desolation of Smaug when I saw it in theaters. It felt more like a Lord of the Rings film than its predecessor did. I've read The Hobbit, but I didn't mind the additions Jackson made to the film, and for the most part, the film didn't really drag that much. However, as was the case with edits of Unexpected Journey, I never really noticed (or cared, take your pick) how bloated the film was until watching Ranger's cut.

Ranger skillfully cuts away the extra fat of the film without sacrificing any of the core story of the film. That's right, a little over 40 minutes cut and nothing truly important was left out. That being said, leaving out four of the dwarves staying behind in Laketown and the love triangle means that this version of the film probably won't mesh perfectly with the theatrical version of Battle of the Five Armies. Ranger has said that he intends to edit the entire trilogy, so there is certainly that to look forward to.

As a film on its own, though, this is a great edit and I can't find a reason to not recommend it to anybody. Keep up the good work, Ranger. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work. We all are!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
After seeing Desolation in both 2D/3D and much lamentation, I could not heartily recommend it to any but the most devoted of Tolkien fans. The excessive use of green screen, extended drivel of a love interest and meandering motives of Thorin left me wanting. Smaug, while a lengthy portion of the tail end of the film, added some respite from the failure to tighten the script.

ranger's edit does precisely what I hoped it would do. I nearly forget the parts that were cut, helping maintain a good pace, while not overexposing some of the later mysteries. Many edits trim too much, leaving holes in your narrative that are filled by past viewings. My wife watched this cut after a single viewing of theatrical Desolation and enjoyed it far more than the original without being able to explain why. That's a high water mark for me. Helping to focus the viewer on the key story elements brought out more of the magic of Bard and the Master, which I was a bit too tired to enjoy after the first hour of orc-riding elves and pointless love connections.

Again, bravo. Looking forward to your next edit.

User Review

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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