Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits, The

I absolutely hated the original Hobbit films. Yes, I get it, the big wigs wanted 3 films. How do you turn a couple hundred page book into 3 movies? Peter Jackson didn't know but he did his best. Amazing cinematography. Terrible plot. Not Jackson's fault per se, but he had to do something with it.

This person went through all of that and distilled it down into a watchable experience for those of us who read the book in our childhoods and made it palatable. This is an excellent attempt, and one worthy of praise. I think Jackson himself would love it, if he were allowed to say so. This is really good. It basically dispenses with all of the crap that isn't needed. Well done sir.

An excellent edit with very good pacing and editingI recommend the optional chapter 4.5 which fills in Gandalf’s whereabouts.
There were a few times the edits were a bit disorientating, and personally I would have liked more Smaug esp as it is the main protagonist, but this is the version I will watch going forward. Mad props and thanks to Stromboli for sharing his work.

This edit takes advantage of the episodic nature of the story, allowing the narrative to unfold in a serial format that keeps the viewer engaged from start to finish. The technical work of the editing is superb, with seamless transitions that almost never feel out of place. One of the standout features of this edit is how it streamlines Bilbo's story while retaining all the important character beats and plot points. The pacing is really good, with every scene serving a clear purpose in advancing the story. It flows much more smoothly, without any of the pacing issues that were present in the original cut.
One minor critique is the amount of time still spent on Thorin's dragon sickness. While this is an important aspect of the character's journey in the original Peter Jackson's vision, the edit could have benefitted from cutting some of the first scenes to make this change less sudden at the beginning of episode 4. Additionally, I missed some foreshadowing of the arrival of the orc army at the end, which would have heightened the tension. Despite all the result is magnificent and one of the best fanedits of The Hobbit.

Masterfully edited together. Achieves the goal it sets out to accomplish.

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.