Review Detail

This went in quite an unexpected direction from what was expected after watching the trailer. Its begins with some lines from Saruman as was expecting but that was it for the superfluous narrative from him. While the inclusion of the Bree scene with Thorin and Gandalf which most single filmers drop lead me to believe Saruman was going to weave in the Dol Guldur sections with a curative aplomb, this indeed did not happen at all. The pacing being tantamount to the embellishment in Wraith's eyes it seems. And the pacing is certainly quite elegantly attended to in this edit. The HBBT as a true LOTR prologue is it? Great expectations!!

What strikes one most beyond that. And what it is in fact the thing that immediately puts this edit at the forefront of 'The Hobbit' edits is the work done on the visuals. Its got an old school 80s fantasy adventure look to it now in the vein of 'Legend'. More real, and yet more ethereal at the same time. Fuller textures. Fuzzy ambience filters. No idea; but its some retro magicianing!!!

In terms of the takings and the leavings I guess there will always be misgivings but U just can't argue with good pacing, and on top of this is the sense moodyness that the editor is going for that demands a no nonsense approach. My first missing piece was the burying of the treasure in the troll cave: I think that could be slipped in allright. And then the shock of the missing eagles rescue although one finds herein Beorn gains an edge; becoming part of the fire The Company is cast into out of the frying pan. It adds a sense of antiquity to the nature of the world setting. A certain fantasmagoria Tolkein no doubt intended but is erstwhile lost in interpretation. We do like the shades of grey to liven things up. Shading to the film's visuals going a long way to contribute to this heightened mystique of shadowyness. Darkness lurking beneath the light. Yet not all black and white....

Sometimes though, things are simply locked in place and that is that which brings me to the one major misgiving that ironically I somewhat begrudge. At the mountain things go nicely with the frakkas at the back door. Its a straight up key in hole payoff with no small print to besmirch the viewer. Only issue arises with the latter events with Smaug. I didn't like them myself at first. But talking about payoffs such a sudden demise is a heavy anti-climax. We need The Company to fight him in their forges with the golden burst out of the front gate to boot. Its just got to be done. Thorin looks way too bad without this sequence. These dwarves are our heroes. We need some heroics. Gold around front gate on Smaug's exit is glaring. Gold all over the bell on the rallying charge too. Gold is the best filling for holes after all....

While it is somewhat ludicrous, it does have a definite theatrical glory that - may be - made good by the stylistic editorial leanings towards the golden era of fantasy adventure Wraith makes happen in this aspiring fanfare of promise for LOTR fans!!!

I will not go into some of the stuttering video and audio irregularities here. It looks like Wraith is comitted to perfection as at present I have witnessed two reuploads of version 19 of 23 where some ironing out of kinks was done. Such a load of visual and soundtrack adjustments must be overloading the software. By the time U are reading this review they will probably be gone. Full lava flows from Mount Doom from me. Cheers!