Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits, The

Let me start by saying that I wasn't an Hobbit fan until I watched the fanedits. And only had the discs because someone had gifted them to me to pair with my LotR discs.
I didn't like the originals at all. There was potential in them but poor execution/editing. I would rate the originals as an "ok", a 5 out of 10. There was just too much nonsense in them. The fanedits raised the quality to a 7 or 8 out of 10.

I initially watched M4_'s edit during the weekend. And I liked it so much that I ended up rewatching The Hobbit during next week; but this time went with Stromboli Bones' edit.
If you're wondering which version to watch then it mostly depends on how much free time do you have. They are both equally excellent and have made The Hobbit something I intend to rewatch, through their fanedits.

I always find it difficult to write reviews because I easily forget things. Particularly the supposedly "small" things.
But I guess that is the effect of a true craftsman. Removes the warts so you never knew they were there. Polishes the rough edges so everything looks smooth.
In any case one only needs to scroll through the list of changes to see how much work was put into it.

Since I watched both fanedits in such a short period let us hope I don't mix something up here.
And the above section of the review is common to both.

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Stromboli Bones' edit is fantastic. It cuts out 99% of the nonsense and bad subplots while still leaving plenty of meat for a 5h feast.
From the technical point of view I have nothing to add. Everything is flawless and perfect to my eyes.
From a director's point of view as far as I can remember I think the only changes I would have made would be:
- trimmed the scene of the dwarfs doing the dishes
- included the scene where Bilbo approaches the Elven king and Gandalf with the Arkenstone - any reason for removing it?
- have the dwarfs song as the ending theme - yes I'm aware it plays later, but would be nice as the first one

I loved this edit. As a passionate fan of the Lord of the Rings films, I always felt disappointment with The Hobbit films - a feeling shared by many. As others have noted, the theatrical cuts were overlong, bloated, and a narrative mess due to adding far too many unnecessary plotlines and characters.

"The Battle of the Five Edits" fixes this. I always believed there were strong elements (Martin Freeman as Bilbo, well-written scenes like Riddles in the Dark) and a good couple of films to be found within the mess. Stromboli Bones chisels away at the rocks and carves out the gems.

The narrative is focused on Bilbo and the dwarves. Azog the Bad CGI is diminished to a minimal role towards the end as an orc general. The White Council subplot is cut, as is the horrid "love" story. I think we get a glimpse of Tauriel from afar, but that's about it. Legolas is here, but only in a true cameo - no running up falling rocks or leaping around Laketown. Speaking of Laketown, Alfred (apologies for those who had blocked out that memory) is gone. As is Radagast the Comic Relief.

Above all else, this edit cuts the cringeworthy attempts at humor and the poorer writing moments. It establishes a tone that is much closer to the Lord of the Rings, and much more in the spirit of the book. The format of five hour-long "episodes" (essentially making it a limited-release series) works, and the cuts are very well timed and executed. From a technical perspective, the editing is very well done and flows. The recut of the end of the Desolation of Smaug and the re-edit of the arrival to Rivendell are particularly impressive, given their source material.

The Hobbit was always one of my favorite books, and The Lord of the Rings my favorite movies. I feel like this edit has given the world a Hobbit that is a worthy addition to the series, and for that I am deeply grateful.

As I am writing this the last scene, of the last part of the edit is playing and my eyes are wet, my throat has a lump in it, and I have goose bumps on my scalp. The Lord of the Rings, in its conclusion, would bring this emotion up in myself. Never before has The Hobbit been able to cause my heart to swell like this. Jesus, I have watched this movie over the last two (2) days and am so damned upset it is over.

Ok, let me pull myself together. This is a masterpiece. I love this movie. It all works. A lot was removed from the original films, and based on what is left, it should never have been there. I blasted...are you frickin' kidding me?!? I just got it together, the credits are rolling and now Billy Boyd is coming through my speakers singing "The Last Goodbye." ... ... ... I am going to try this again. I initially blasted Peter Jackson for The Hobbit. Then I read about how the production went and all the issues with time, money, and the studio. I realized it wasn't his fault. He did the best he could with what he had. After watching this I see poured his special kind of magic in to these movies as much as he did for LotR. It was just hidden beneath all the "extra". Without pale orcs, inter-species romances, and innumerable extraneous scenes there is an absolutely brilliant movie here.

The sound, the video, the narration, and the enjoyment are perfect. Ok, I know if I go digging I could find SOMETHING I could critique but I am not going to do that. This is it, this the seminal version of this movie. I think it is fitting as such. This edit is a compilation of primarily five (5) major edits and then the editor decided parts of two (2) other edits were needed as well. I can not imagine the number of hours and work went in to making this movie. Considering the total hours used between the eight (8) editors, including the one who wove them together, it makes perfect sense that this would be the result. This feels like someone's life's work and considering the cumulative effort that was put in, it might as well have been.

Let me be clear, I don't care if you like The Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings, or even JRR Tolkien's work; if you like high fantasy in any way shape or form, do yourself a favor and watch this film. I just restarted the credits because I just want to bask in the ambiance of this movie just a little longer...

Thank you Spence, Dustin Lee, L8wtr, Adam Dens, DonKamillo, Wraith, and M4 for all the time and effort you took in making your edits. Stromboli Bones I thank you for having the vision to weave all their respective projects in to a seamless masterpiece. Kudos to you all.

Admittedly, I haven't checked out any other fanedits of The Hobbit, but this particular one is a phenomenal retelling of the film trilogy. I also haven't had the pleasure of reading the source material, so proceed knowing this review has been written from the perspective of the filthiest of casuals.

The Necromancer subplot has been separated into its own bonus episode (I've yet to experience it, but it's available for those who are interested), and its sacrifice enabled Stromboli to create an absolutely breathtaking & flawless adventure narrative. Changing the overall format into five episodes at one hour each makes for easier watching (and easier binging) over the stretched thinness of the original three movies.

Each of the scenes have been edited superbly, and clearly with care & consideration. The actual Battle of the Five Armies in front of Erebor is no longer an acrobatics & CGI clown festival, but an immense war between four races, to name but one example of how Five Edits retells Tolkien's masterpiece and redeems Jackson's adaptation into an unexpected journey reminiscent to the brilliance of the original Lord of the Rings.

Absolutely watch this if you're looking to reignite a passion for fantasy on the big screen.

This is a great edit. Combining the best of the top edits was genius, as was splitting it into 5 hour-long episodes.

Breaking into episodes makes it easier to digest the whole massive work. The breakpoints are pretty good. I was initially annoyed with the first one, continuing on until Bilbo sees Beorn in bear form, then I thought "aha, teaser 'coming next'" treatment.

Now, I haven't watched (or obtained) all of the five edits Stromboli based his on so I'm hitting many of the ideas fresh here. I'll definitely get my hands on the ones I'm missing, and watch the ones I've been remiss on. So many great ideas in there.

The excising of the side plots was masterfully done with no continuity issues that I could detect. I did miss Radagast a bit, but the story didn't suffer for missing him.

Cutting Azog down to "just that Orc general in the final battle" worked wonderfully well. If you hadn't watched the originals that is just who he would be. This added side plot was one of my pain points in the originals and it's fixed here.

Same with the love triangle. That's just annoying and distracting, good riddins I say.

In goblin town there's just enough silliness left in for the children's book origins, but not so much as to be annoying. It's a (tiny) bit of a shame to lose so much of the running fight in the dwarves' escape, but keeping the bad physics CGI would have been worse. Bilbo's Riddles in the Dark section is perfect; losing the added goblin and change to how Bilbo finds the ring resolved the little issues there.

The handling of Smaug was just as masterfully handled. Just enough of chasing Bilbo to maintain a good flow between the chat in the treasure room and Smaug having enough & leaving to raze Laketown. Losing the battle there was great; much as I enjoy most of the sequence, it is over the top an unnecessary. Smaug bursting out of the gates was an especially satisfying shot--no more gold! He looks right! Reworking the sequence and reactions of the dwarves was great--it makes more sense now.

Lastly the battle of the five armies was well handled. Just enough silly/over-the-top stuff for the children's book origins was left in. Reworking Azog/Bolg and the heroes' final fight at the summit worked extremely well. Before that, the handling of Thorin's dragon fever, Bilbo's actions, and the Arkenstone also worked very well. Lots of extraneous stuff eliminated and moving things along.