Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits, The

Very fine handling of the CGI cringe-fest of the theatrical version of the Middle Earth opus The Hobbit. Stromboli's is a noteworthy addition to the efforts among the educated fan-base to turn a turgid slab of marble into a beautiful statue.

Most omissions are timely and well considered although I have a minor issue with the sudden appearance of Orcs in the final battle, a direct result of the expunging of the Azog subplot from the original film. There is a common shared view between fan editors of the Hobbit trilogy that Azog is a foreign, Peter Jackson-imported element in the saga which is of course true if one wishes to stick to the novel but in the context of the films Azog served as a primary antagonist whose presence haunted the company climaxing into the Orc attack. Therefore the final confrontation between Thorin and Azog comes naturally and not somewhat abruptly as in this and other fan edits. Besides, Azog is shot in a way that indicates a pretty important big shot (not a replaceable Orc commander like Gothmog in The Return of the King). Probably no editing can change that.

Nevertheless, this edit made me appreciate the film infinitely more. The Hobbit is essentially a road story, much like The Fellowship of the Ring (in my view the best of the LotR trilogy) and this cut certainly comes close to the task of elevating the commercialized Hobbit trilogy to the quality ranks of the latter film. The episodic format the editor follows was quite clever and fitting to the structure of the story and it helped neutralize some editing issues like the transition from film 1 to film 2 of the trilogy. This fan edit is undoubtedly a work of great care and love. I feel, however, that the ultimate The Hobbit fan edit, is yet to be found.

I was very skeptical going into this as I am not fond of The Hobbit movies. Consider me very impressed with this edit. With so much fat trimmed off, each episode feels like it tells its own little story while still keeping in focus the big picture. As an adult having seen the original movies, I feel it does tarnish some of the experience since I know what was originally there, so it's easy to see the seems at times. With that said, I consider the source material and what was had to work from and the seems are very small. If I saw this version as a kid, this would be like my equivalent of watching "The Neverending Story". It would be with me for a long time and make me all the more excited to see a sequel like LOTR. While this is the only fanedit I've seen thus far of The Hobbit, I can definitely say it's worth adding to your collection.

So I have a unique perspective when it comes to watching this edit. My grandpa gave me his extended copies of LOTR and The Hobbit to watch for the first time. I spent 11 hours watching LOTR for the first time and they were very long but enjoyable. However, I was told by others after I had finished it, The Hobbit was a bit of a mess and someone suggested looking up a fan edit of it to save time. I then come across this cut and after considering the two that are here on IFDB, I decided to watch this version and I have to say, it felt very seamless and not bloated at all. The episodic format especially helped give me a bit of breathing room as the LOTR extended versions I couldn't find a good place to stop. I would even say it is pretty close to the quality of the LOTR trilogy as best as it could and I highly recommend this edit to anyone interested. I will be saving this copy and even share it with my grandpa when we I get the chance.

As others have already said - this is probably the best way to watch Hobbit movies. It concentrates primarily on Bilbo and Dwarves and cuts out most of the other plotlines, from which the movies only benefits. As far as i can tell, visual/audio quality has been superb every second of it. Editing is very smooth and feels like it has been done by a real professional. The source material itself however is not even remotely in the same league as LotR trilogy, so naturally there are things that even the best of the fanedits cannot fix, but overall this is definitely deserves the praise.

Attempting to reimagine the Hobbit franchise into something stomachable has become a favourite pastime of various editors in recent years, spawning dozens upon dozens of edits over the years. The original films were a bloated mess overall, with any scene of notable quality being crushed flat under the weight of the surrounding trilogy's endless cavalcade of shoehorned b-plots, excessive CGI, and a main character who gets little overshadow somehow.

With those past flaws in mind, I am happy to report that the work Stromboli has done here is nothing short of extraordinary. By mixing the narrative structuring, editing techniques, and CGI touch-ups of a variety of editors (including his own important additions) into a cohesive whole, he has managed to make an episodic version of the Hobbit which surpasses the original in every conceivable way.

The audio and visual quality were superb, with the editing somehow being rarely noticeable in spite of the sheer complexity of the cuts.
The narrative of this cut never fully breaks its own internal logic at any obvious point, managing to be mostly book accurate while also not being afraid to flesh out action sequences/characters if it improves the series. The elimination of so many problem plot-lines/characters/scenes without losing any vital information is both a testament to the skill of the edit and how much useless filler was stuffed into the trilogy.

Finally, the pacing of the edit was a notable highlight. The only time I felt it drag a bit was during the titular final battle, but even then it still blows the original pacing away. Overall, the pacing made the action set pieces of each episode much more enjoyable.

I would recommend this to just about anyone who likes fantasy shows. One last note: there is a plethora of audio/visual quality options to choose from for this edit if your particular about that and have the space for it. Thanks for the edit Stromboli!