M4's The Hobbit Book Edit

I have searched a while for a version of this film that is more faithful to the book. I have seen a few other fan edits without satisfaction. I am so happy to have found M4's wonderful adaptation. I don't have a single criticism of this version, especially considering the limitations of the source material.

I purchased a Blu-Ray burner so that I could experience this film on the "big screen". The audio and video quality is stunning. I was blown away with the special features, additional scenes and especially the audio commentary.

Thank you M4 for giving me a proper film adaptation to one of my favorite books from my childhood.

Well, I've been debating which Hobbit edit to take a chance on - after all, these are long films which require a degree of commitment on the viewers behalf, or at least for me anyway - and with all the positive reviews received, not to mention how exciting the description of this book-style edit sounded, I thought I'd go for M4's version. And boy, am I glad I did.

Firstly, I don't hate Jackson's Hobbit trilogy as it is... I don't particularly like it either though. What I see amongst the three films are potential squandered by a bloated runtime, some awful gravity defying CGI sequences, and too many attempts to tie it directly into events which take place in LOTR. Plus, whilst the production design is beautiful, the digital film nature and high frame rate of the films has never sat well with me, even on repeated viewings. So, M4's cut list and intentions for this edit basically ticked all the boxes for me.

My wife and I watched this in two sittings, perfectly split using the brilliantly timed "intermission" by M4. I really enjoyed this aspect of the edit, as it gives that epic old fashioned feel to it, from the days of Ben Hur, Ten Commandments etc. Visually, this edit looks stunning, with the subtle use of the 35mm filter and colour correction making an amazing difference - somehow it gives more organic life to the film and certainly helps it sit alongside the visuals from LOTR far better. Also, in terms of visual editing, this is pure perfection. No hard, bad or unnatural cuts to speak of. That old adage, if you hadn't seen the original, you would never know anything was missing, certainly rings true here.

Narratively speaking, this almost gets the job done in seamless fashion. The added effects work on Thorin's face as the Eagles carry them off and then land at the climax of An Unexpected Journey, is sublime work and solves the problem of having a scarred and wounded Thorin when M4 was obviously wanting to change the narrative at that point. The only thing that felt a little off was how Gandalf disappeared a couple of times with no real reason given. I can't pretend I didn't notice that, but I wouldn't really want this edit to be any longer than it is, and it's not a deal breaker or anything like that. Also, not having Thorin succumb to the dragon sickness meant that his sudden change of mind is a little too sudden to swallow, but again, it's no big deal.

Audio editing - another huge thumbs up. Clean transitions, never for one moment did my ears think I was listening to something which had been fanedited.

Overall, this is the way I want to experience The Hobbit. As one epic film which can stand on its own two feet, without having to keep calling back to storylines from LOTR. The worst of over the top CGI has totally gone - thank you so much for removing nearly all of Legolas, meaning we don't get his gravity defying walk on bricks sequence - and it's simply a much more believable, engaging and entertaining movie. Absolutely loved it, and an example of a very gifted faneditor at work.

Absolutely loved this edit. THe narrative really ulls you in as it cuts out all those unneccessary additional storylines. I loved the project so much I even got to making subtitles for it.

Edit is absolutely incredible. Made me go back and rewatch the whole hobbit trilogy for first time in years. Love the feel of the film and turned it into one great evening watch

M4 achieved his goals in this edit. It loses all the weird time-filler side plots, it loses the physics defying antics of the elves and dwarves. Focus is back on Bilbo's adventure.

The technical aspects of the edit are flawless. I detected no issues with cuts or transitions and audio was great. The intermission was put in a great spot. I actually paused the movie a few seconds before it thinking it was a good place to take a break.

For the cuts, I liked how the early portions were adjusted; the story got going quickly and the meeting at Bag End was well trimmed. Really, up to goblin town I think it's all just right. I could have done with a bit less of the song there, but the rest was good. There was just enough running battle to get a sense of the escape; I prefer that over completely removing the running fight. Riddles in the Dark was very on point, I love that scene.

I like how the warg fight and eagle rescue was reworked, very well done. It is smooth enough that I hadn't realized the amount of work done until reviewing the change log. Again, I'm really happy with the edit right up to meeting Bard.

Perhaps because I know the original material well, the initial meeting with Bard has a big continuity hiccup--at least to me. Since the entire barrel fight is cut, there is no context for the fresh damage to them that Bard fingers; since this contributes to his suspicion of the dwarves' story it is a bit jarring to me. Granted, the battle needs to be trimmed, a lot, but there could have been a bit left to explain that. I'm undecided on the Laketown entrance scene being entirely eliminated; it felt a bit abrupt suddenly offloading, but that could be my familiarity filling in the missing bits again. Otherwise, losing all the unnecessary side plots worked well.

The dwarves' entrance to Erebor, and Bilbo's meeting of Smaug runs really well. Getting Smaug recolored when he bursts out of Erebor is masterfully done. The attack and defense of Laketown works really well.

Really my only quibble for the Erebor/Battle of the Five Armies section is that everyone simply teleports to the top of Ravenhill. A couple of short clips of the Dwarves travelling up on the boars would be enough. Otherwise it is a great reworking of the sequence. You get all the drama and major events of the battle without any silliness or side plots distracting from the main story.

While this isn't my favorite edit, it is really well done and worth the watch.