Lord of the Rings, The: Book II - The Ring Goes South

I can only give this fanedit a perfect review since I just truly loove this version of LOTR so much more than the original cut / edit (both theatrical and EE). To me all of Kerr's 6 books are a masterpeace. Only thing distracting is that, as far as I know, there is no HD-version of it available, so when watching the Hobbit fanedit beforehand, the quality difference is noticable. Let's hope an HD version comes out someday. This will be the version I will watch from now on if I watch the LOTR. Thank you Kerr for the work you put in!

As with Book I, this edit accomplishes its goals. It follows the books much more closely than the original release, or EE.

I especially appreciate the alterations with the Elves, both Rivendell and Lothlorien. The Aragorn/Arwen love story felt forced in, and there is a reason Tolkien put that as an appendix. Removing it helps move the main plot along. Removing almost all of Galadriel's creepy telepathy worked very well. It always felt overdone to me and Kerr brought it down to just enough.

The cuts for Moria work well. Gimli's anguish at finding Balin's tomb really hits now. Cutting overlong battle sequences with improbable physics and the spider-orcs helped a lot.

The one place it felt a bit rough was the end. The edits were a little disjointed, but Kerr had to work with the material at hand. I had to check the book to refresh my memory on the first book's telling of the breaking of the fellowship. Sure enough, Kerr rearranged it to much more closely follow the book.

Great, great editing! I really enjoy these book cuts and feel that Kerr has managed to trim the originals to closer mimic the books. Difficult to do at times, I'm sure, what with the limited material to work with. Sometimes it's just too hard to cut around one of Jackson's alterations. But all the changes and re-arrangements done by Kerr feels right. Well done!

Review by joebshmoe — March 16, 2009 @ 11:23 pm

I enjoyed book 2 >slightly< less than book 1. Book 1 really felt perfect, but with book 2 the nature of the editing begins to show a bit.

Still – this was a great watch, and the technical quality continues to amaze!

REALLY looking forward to how you take on books 3 & 4, as these should be VERY interesting to bring back down to the tolkien realm (and not the PJ imagined story).

As a Tolkien fan I am eternally grateful for your efforts with your book-cut series!!!

entertainment 8/10
fanediting 10/10
video 10/10
audio 9/10
original 8/10 (the fellowship of the ring – extended edition part 2)
fanedit 8/10 (but an improvement for those familiar with the story)

total 8/10

March 26, 2012

I loved these. Not to much to say about it that hasn't been said by other reviewers, but if you're a Lord of the Rings fan, check these edits out.