Review Detail
8.9 12 10
(Updated: June 24, 2014)
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
8.0
This is my first of hopefully many helpful reviews on this site. First let me say a huge THANKYOU to all of the dedicated faneditors of many beloved but flawed movies. Your continued work has truly given so many of us a whole new experience of watching movies loved and/or hated. The quality of work I see is amazing and deserving of huge accolades for what has been brought to this community. I wished more people knew of the hard work and genuine skill at your craft as I'm sure much love and time goes into each project.
Now onto this fanedit. I'm a big fan of Lord of the Rings trilogy, I'm in no way a book purist as I had not even heard of the books when the original trilogy came out. I actually walked into the wrong movie in the theatre on accident, never saw a preview of Lord of the Rings, didn't know a thing about it even when the title scrolled up, let alone that it was based on a book, but low and behold I was taken away from the first scene and could not leave my seat to go watch the actual movie I paid for. I was glued to the screen and it has forever become a top 5 favorite of all time since. 10 years pass and I'm super excited for the new Hobbit trilogy. I ended up reading this book after becoming a fan of Lord of the Rings so this time I knew what to expect. I enjoyed part one for the most part, not to the level of love for the original trilogy, but still left the theatre wanting more. Skip to next year, I go to watch Desolation of Smaug in IMAX opening day, and I was in awe of my emotions inside. I HATED it. I cant tell you how many times I looked at my watch hoping it was almost over. Nothing about it felt fresh and exciting. It felt like one long dramatic soap opera stare of eyes after another for ridiculous epic moment effect, followed by a horrendous and utterly unbelievable love triangle (really! this beutiful elf has a thing for this greesy 3 foot dwarf), and then the main villains Azog and Borg (which were characters I hated in part one) who were obviously poorly done cgi creations with horrible dialoge and really served little needed purpose. They were far from intimidating like the villains in Lord of the Rings. The barrell scene was way over the top, Smaug when you FINALLY get to the mountain after what felt like 3 days in the theatre, was overlong and not that spectacular.
This edit fixes almost everything! No love triangle, Azog and Borg are almost eliminated from this cut, which actually makes them somewhat of a welcome sight when they appear for a brief scene or two, the barrel scene is still intact but because I'm not worn out by the time it comes, it is far more manageable and somewhat more exciting. Not positive if some of the long stares were cut down but I didnt seem to notice as many of them. Basically trimming almost an hour of the film allows it to move scene to scene at a far better pace so that even the little things that suck actually seem better now. The Smaug finale is still a bit too long, but maybe the Into the Fire cut will approach that. Now I'm actually looking forward to the last movie in the trilogy this year, though I have little hope for the theatrical cut, but thank the Lord, Ranger613 brings hope of a better cut of that too!
Overall:
Visual Editing: Flawless, never mistaken as an edited cut
Audio Editing: Flawless, never mistaken as an edited cut
Enjoyment: Original Movie: D-
Enjoyment: Fire of the Dragon: B
Now onto this fanedit. I'm a big fan of Lord of the Rings trilogy, I'm in no way a book purist as I had not even heard of the books when the original trilogy came out. I actually walked into the wrong movie in the theatre on accident, never saw a preview of Lord of the Rings, didn't know a thing about it even when the title scrolled up, let alone that it was based on a book, but low and behold I was taken away from the first scene and could not leave my seat to go watch the actual movie I paid for. I was glued to the screen and it has forever become a top 5 favorite of all time since. 10 years pass and I'm super excited for the new Hobbit trilogy. I ended up reading this book after becoming a fan of Lord of the Rings so this time I knew what to expect. I enjoyed part one for the most part, not to the level of love for the original trilogy, but still left the theatre wanting more. Skip to next year, I go to watch Desolation of Smaug in IMAX opening day, and I was in awe of my emotions inside. I HATED it. I cant tell you how many times I looked at my watch hoping it was almost over. Nothing about it felt fresh and exciting. It felt like one long dramatic soap opera stare of eyes after another for ridiculous epic moment effect, followed by a horrendous and utterly unbelievable love triangle (really! this beutiful elf has a thing for this greesy 3 foot dwarf), and then the main villains Azog and Borg (which were characters I hated in part one) who were obviously poorly done cgi creations with horrible dialoge and really served little needed purpose. They were far from intimidating like the villains in Lord of the Rings. The barrell scene was way over the top, Smaug when you FINALLY get to the mountain after what felt like 3 days in the theatre, was overlong and not that spectacular.
This edit fixes almost everything! No love triangle, Azog and Borg are almost eliminated from this cut, which actually makes them somewhat of a welcome sight when they appear for a brief scene or two, the barrel scene is still intact but because I'm not worn out by the time it comes, it is far more manageable and somewhat more exciting. Not positive if some of the long stares were cut down but I didnt seem to notice as many of them. Basically trimming almost an hour of the film allows it to move scene to scene at a far better pace so that even the little things that suck actually seem better now. The Smaug finale is still a bit too long, but maybe the Into the Fire cut will approach that. Now I'm actually looking forward to the last movie in the trilogy this year, though I have little hope for the theatrical cut, but thank the Lord, Ranger613 brings hope of a better cut of that too!
Overall:
Visual Editing: Flawless, never mistaken as an edited cut
Audio Editing: Flawless, never mistaken as an edited cut
Enjoyment: Original Movie: D-
Enjoyment: Fire of the Dragon: B
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
H