Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits, The

Compliments to Stromboli Bones and all who helped on the project!

A great edit, no doubt!
It is very well done following the adventurous narrative of Bilbo Baggins and the group.
Revealing the story as it goes by, step by step, as for example Azog being introduced later in the movie, instead in beggining of the journey as a story or flashbacks.
Cutting out all of Dol Guldur and side stories was the best choice from my point of view!

I have to say the 5 parts edition suprised me big, when I saw how those were made!
In the end of pt. 2 thou after being saved by the eagles on the cliff, then in the next scene Bilbo seeing Azog scouting party again is very
sudden. Would love to see a transaction scene going down the mountain or what ever can be filled!? If possible

An honorable mention is the 5.1 audio and the enhancement on Thorin's voice under the 'Dragon sickness'!

Overall A great project! Truly enjoyable for watching the pure adventure of Bilbo Baggins!

So this is the first Hobbit fan edit I've seen. Overall it's very good. I'm not really one to compare the edits vs the original (or the book for that matter) and I mostly just base everything on the "enjoyment" factor. I would say I enjoyed all 5 episodes very much.
I'm not sure yet if I liked 5 bite-sized episodes. It seemed like I was watching a mini series. I watched the first 2 episodes on a Saturday night, the next 2 episodes Sunday night, and the last episode the following Saturday.
Losing Radagast and most of Legolas is indeed the best lol.
I do think that shortening everything and editing this way made the whole story much easier to follow.
However, I think the origin story of how the dwarves lost their home to Smaug is quite important to be shown first thing. If someone who has not seen the original trilogy watched this, s/he would have no idea why suddenly a bunch of dwarves barged into Bilbo's home. I suppose this would really be putting the audience in Bilbo's perspective. In any case, who am I to judge becuase as far as I know, most fan edits also removed the origin story and just let it unfold itself later.
There were some glitches in the audio but Stromboli told me he was aware and fixed it.
Thank you Stromboli for my very awesome first fan edit!

*Edited for v3

I had several complaints on an earlier version I watched. Stromboli has gone through and fixed most of them with his current version. I think right now this is the best edit of the Hobbit out there!

The vast majority of transitions are great and mostly unnoticeable. This goes for visual and audio transitions. I absolutely love the pacing, especially the beginning and end. You aren't rushed between each chapter as most Hobbit edits are. You get to breathe between each mini-story. The latest version has better pacing in the middle chapters.

Another thing I enjoyed was keeping in a lot of the dwarf character moments. I know they get a little goofy, like Bombur breaking the bench, or the burps at the table, but a lot of other edits lose the group dynamic by taking so many of these out to make it more serious.

Since the story of the Hobbit is basically a bunch of self contained mini-adventures, putting the format in 5 hour long episodes rather than longer movies works great. Each one has a start and a proper conclusion.

Individual episode notes:

E1: I think this episode is perfectly paced. Loved how it started a bit slower than most edits, and then ends well right after the trolls. I think this episode was done exceptionally well. I wouldn't change a thing.

E2: Also loved this episode. The story is mainly confined to the caves and then their escape and works really well. The whole Gollum sequence is fantastic. And the escape from the wolves is great. Most of my original complaints were fixed. Just one thing I think would serve this better:
- A lot of editors cut the goblin cave escape fight way down, but not usually completely out. I wish some of it was left in. They jump very quickly from Gandalf arriving to them escaping the caves. It was nice to see some of their capabilities as fighters because they haven't done much yet.

E3: Stromboli reinstated the longer sequence in the forest and the pacing is much better now. I like that some of the river barrel fight was left in. I think it's a fun battle that most edits cut completely out. I just wish Kili's leg being shot could have been removed as it creates a bit of a continuity error because his injury just gets forgotten after that.

E4: Overall this episode was pretty good, mainly focusing on the dragon and his demise, and then the buildup to the battle of the five armies. I do wish we could have spent more time with the dragon and have his death be the climax of the episode, but the episode works very well regardless. This edit gives a bit more fleshing out of Bard than other edits I've seen especially the book edits. His character works much better than those other edits in my opinion. I only have a few critiques:
- During Bilbo's time with Smaug there is a cutaway to Thorin not wanting to go in to help. This scene feels weird without any buildup of Thorin going crazy. I think it could have been left out. After the dragon dies there are more natural scenes building to his madness.
- Also, the scene a little later where the dragon breaks out and Balin comments that it is a dragon just feels out of place. They already heard the dragon before when they were debating to go in to help Bilbo. If the scene before was removed then this one would feel better.

E5: This final episode concludes so well! This is definitely my favorite edit of the last battle. It isn't cut completely down like so many edits do, and it feels like a proper finale. A big change was to not show Bilbo delivering the Arkenstone to Bard. While there were some good character moments there with Bilbo, I like Stromboli's choice to cut it. It worked really well. The goat ride up to the top of the fortress is kept in. Other edits kind of just have them appear up there. Much better choice to keep it in. The only thing about this episode that still doesn't work for me is Thorin's change of heart. Him simply recalling things his friends said to him and then going back to normal is so anticlimactic for his arc. I'm not sure there is a way to fix this though, so no fault to the edit. Other than that I loved this ending!

I will say upfront that I have never truly enjoyed any version of The Hobbit movies, despite seeing theatrical, extended, and multiple fanedits. So for me, a version that makes these films work is a much bigger ask than someone who just doesn't like the LOTR setup bits or hates a few select lines. I have massive problems with
the overall tone management, (https://boxd.it/4CcDTd)
the basic plot adaptation to film, (https://boxd.it/4CdoSr)
and the central performance: (https://boxd.it/4CdYA9)

So, no, this fanedit did not fix these issues for me, and did not turn the films into something I want to rewatch. I think this fanedit takes a very middle-of-the-road approach, combining elements from other edits to come up with a even-handed cut that will appeal to everyone. With nearly 200 reviews here and most of them glowing, clearly it works. Personally though, I think I need a much more severe cut. Maybe an absolutely brutal edit that streamlines these things to a razor and eliminates all goofiness would do it. Or more likely, one that embraces the "kids' bedtime story" approach and eliminates all seriousness and horror and gore. But the middle-of-the-road was one that I couldn't really get behind, as much as a lot of it worked seamlessly. Removals of whole characters and sequences were barely noticed, and the technical aspects of the edit are flawless. There are even subtitles! Much appreciated.

All in all, it seems unfair to bash the edit for not fitting my personal approach. I've sent my quibbles to the editor privately, but for here I'll just say: if you were fairly happy with a lot of The Hobbit and just wanted a less egregious telling of the original story, but with lots of the big blockbuster excitement, this could very well fit the bill. It's sort of Fast, Fantasy, & Furious!

As others have stated, taking the films and structuring them into five separate movies was a welcomed addition and it was done in a way that felt intuitive. The pace of each film gave a steady, consistent narrative that didn't feel sloppy or rushed.

A stunning feat all its own, the transitions were overall unnoticeable. I understand that Stromboli is currently working on his edit and upgrading the source files to make a higher quality edit. I'll be honest in that I did not notice any lack of quality at any point in my time with this edit. It was put together with tactical precision that doesn't remind the watcher that they're watching an edit. From a technical perspective, there weren't any scenes where care wasn't taken in the transitions. My only notice was a transition in the story with the eagles scene, but that has been reworked and fixed since I saw it and is now unnoticeable and done very well.

The removal of Azog as a main antagonist and instead using him as a powerful Orc worked very well. One could argue that this breaks the build-up that the original film held, but Azog's storyline, especially his battle with Thorin on the summit, is now put together in a way that feels right. The exaggeration of Azog, especially the ice breaking scene, was tweaked in a way that flows very organically.

Overall, this edit was a pleasant experience that really pays homage to what the hobbit movies should've been. You can tell that there was a lot of love and passion that went into this edit with spectacular execution.