M4's The Hobbit Book Edit

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9.8 (58)
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2 reviews with 7-9 stars
58 reviews
 
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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.9(58)
Audio Editing
 
9.9(58)
Visual Editing
 
9.9(58)
Narrative
 
9.6(58)
Enjoyment
 
9.6(58)
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(Updated: August 14, 2023)
Overall rating
 
7.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
7.0
Narrative
 
6.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
The idea that The Hobbit trilogy can be boiled down into a single four-hour movie is my main issue with the narrative the faneditor has chosen. I appreciate the concept but I think it removed aspects of the film and clipped the pacing to such a degree that it was significantly less enjoyable to watch than many other Hobbit fanedits.

While I want to applaud how much work and expertise had to go into the edit, I still think much of the movie magic was lost. Scenes as signficant as Bilbo versus Smaug or the many action scenes during the Five Armies battle were trimmed down, along with many elements being, completely removed, to the point where one could blink and miss a plot point. Also, with its rapid pacing, much of the grandeur of the film's visuals were lost in the much quicker current of the pacing

If I wasn't familiar with the original film or other fanedits, I may have watched this with more enjoyment as a kind of TV edit of the story, but as a film I think it was lacking in it's use of story elements, visuals and a more dramatic pacing that would have otherwise improved it as a film.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
No
Format Watched?
Digital
Owner's reply August 15, 2023

While I appreciate the review, some of your critiques leave me puzzled. The Bilbo versus Smaug sequence was not significantly trimmed down but you say it was. Which parts did I remove? The sequence plays all out together unlike most edits, which not only is like the book (the goal) but arguably improves the flow to not intercut with Laketown shenanigans.

You docked my visual editing category implying you didn't like how my edit looked, but you didn't mention of any of the actual visual editing--were there issues with the color grading, film grain, new VFX? Same with the a/v quality, my release is pretty high bitrate even with DTS audio/lossless soundtrack sources which is not too common, but you still docked me. If you don't like the goal of the project that's fine, but I think all edits deserve a fair analysis.

R
2 reviews
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Overall rating
 
8.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
8.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Absolutely accomplishes what it sets out to do, by reducing the bloated Hobbit trilogy to an enjoyable length by cutting out non-sourced sections, and does so with visual enhancements that bring the end product much closer to something worthy of sitting next to the best versions of the LOTR films -- the Red Book cuts, for my money. However, unlike those which are necessarily more episodic in nature, cutting down the Hobbit films to just novel beats has the effective of causing the pacing to be somewhat lopsided and anticlimatic as others have noted. Characters' relationships feel undeveloped one moment and then fully formed the next, with the actual growth missing, and sections of information missing but referred back to in a few places (mostly to do with the Elvish enclaves and their politicking).

A technical marvel, but there may be other versions of the Hobbit that provide a slightly more organic viewing experience. (I've got about a half-dozen to hand so my work is cut out for me...)
R
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