Hobbit: Into the Fire, The

Dear Peter Jackson:

Please hire the 613th incarnation of Ranger Kris. He'll make a fine addition to your editing team and just might save you 15% on car insur. . . wait, fuck, wrong script. If you'd hired Ranger Kris earlier, he could have saved you scores of millions on unnecessary CGI, but at this point in the game, he can at least pare your last installment of The Lord of the Hobbits to half of whatever length you think the audience should endure. In other words, Ranger Kris can halfling-ize your halfling movie. Thank you.

Wearing a flaming Sauron disco suit,
ssj

I've fallen way behind on reviewing edits that I have watched, and I have watched this one twice. I will keep this short. It is perfect. I had never watched any of the Lord of the Rings movies, nor the first Hobbit movie---neither had I read the books. But reading some of the summaries and reviews here for the different edits, I decided to try, since my main reason for keeping away had been the length. I am currently reading The Hobbit and loving it. So for me, this edit is the sequel to Kerr's Hobbit, the Arkenstone Edition, since that is the only version of the 1st movie I had seen. And it works perfectly. There is no hint that anything at all has been cut, re-ordered or fan-edited in any way. It simply plays like an excellent movie. I have every intention of watching this a third time, along with a 3rd re-watch of Kerr's Arkenstone cut of the 1st Hobbit, before I may actually venture to the theater in December to see the unedited 3rd and final movie. I am really a big fan of this edit, and reading the book concurrently with it, it makes it even more impressive to me. If there were going to be big flaws, I would definitely notice them since Tolkien's words are so fresh to me now (I have only just read beyond the point where this edit ends). I suppose I owe it to myself to see the original Jackson version now, but I know there is no way it could be better than what you have presented here. I give out a lot of pretty positive reviews around here, but this is one I wish I could give an "11" instead of just a 10. Just excellent and highly recommended to everyone! It also got my vote for edit of the month.

RangerKris successfully strips this film of it’s over the top antics and gratuitous violence. Center stage is the hobbit for which the story is named. Smaug is no longer part of a series of cut-rate and beatable video game bosses–he is the greatest of calamities. A delight to watch, Into the Fire is the masterfully edited story rescued from The Desolation of Smaug.

Thank you RangerKris.

My wife and I watched your work yesterday night on the big screen, and all I can say is THANK YOU! She wouldn't even go see D.O.S. in the theaters because she'd been so disappointed after watching AUJ. But the work you did chopping it down and focusing the narrative made an amazing difference. We could really FEEL the story of the Bilbo (instead of just cursing PJ every two minutes). Also a special thank you for all the technical work you put into your edit. I know most of what you do is "invisible" to others, but all that time, care and craft makes a massive difference when folks like me sit down to lose ourselves in a lovingly crafted return to middle-earth.

"Bilbo...his name is Bilbo."
Peter Jackson seems to have had the same problem as Thorin - forgot who the main character is. Into the Fire takes us back to Bilbo Baggins and his story, it's that simple.

RangerKris, I thank you again for your undertaking. It has given me a Hobbit movie that satisfies my need for a true to Tolkien experience. I appreciate how open you were to suggestions on the discussion board during the editing process, allowing everyone to chime in on what a purist version would be. The visual and audio editing was excellent as usual. I will be watching the final Hobbit installment with much more ease, knowing that however packed full of over the top, extraneous material, I will have hope for a purely Tolkien ending.

P.S. Maia Sauron was pulled off masterfully!