Hobbit: Into the Fire, The

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Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.6(19)
Audio Editing
 
9.7(19)
Visual Editing
 
9.6(19)
Narrative
 
9.3(19)
Enjoyment
 
9.3(19)
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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Another brilliant edit by RangerKris.
I was waiting for this one since I saw ranger's first edit (Fire of the Dragon) which I thought was excellent, but this is even better.
Technically the Audio / Video quality is excellent, the encoding is very good, color rendering and motion estimation and detection is very good, no blurring, no jerkiness or pixelation of any sort
Visual editing, you just would not know that this was an edit, seamless transitions that flow naturally. Same goes for for the audio.
I deducted one point from the audio editing and audio quality because I wish ranger would do a 5.1 surround sound. It makes watching on a big screen with a sound system a bit more enjoyable.

The narrative is excellent. fast and focused with no distraction or side tracks. If you showed this film to some one who has not seen the original theatrical cut, they would never now there was something missing, the only negative thing that can be said is the missing dwarves that were left in lake town; but this is not Ranger's fault, the material to fix that is simply not there; even that little drawback is mostly not noticeable, you have to be really pedantic and nitpicking and do a head count to notice it.
For diehard Tolkien fans this edit is god sent to save us from the excesses of PJ.
When it came to Enjoyment, I decide to watch all three versions back to back, the original, Fire of the Dragon and Into The Fire; I can tell you right now, the original fell down immediately, I just could not finish it, it was a 2 horse race and Into the Fire came ahead just by a nose ;)
I would recommend this edit to any Tolkien fan, and to any one who has even never heard of Tolkien or the Hobbit, it is just a very good and entertaining movie.
I hope that Ranger would tackle unexpected journey and produce a purist edit out of it, and when Battle of the Five Armies comes out, that he would take all three parts and produce one coherent smooth movie out of them.

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
An outstanding edit which reveals some brilliant film-making by Jackson et al.

I think this edit can be summed up by wife, who has not seen the original DOS "But this film is really excellent! Why the criticism?"

The editing is seamless. The characters such as Beorn, Bilbo, Thorin, Gandalf, and Bard are given razor sharp focus, with great character moments. The editing of Smaug is just superb. And the pace of the film. Wow. This is a rollicking 90 minute adventure.
What is cut? Mostly orc battles (extras fighting), video game sequences (bouncing river raft and the Smaug Boss Battle vs. dwarves), and focus on secondary characters (Legolas, Kili?, and lady elf). Hurra!

Sound is disappointingly stereo AAC, which I had to fiddle with to sound decent through my surround sound system. (I docked 2 points from A/V quality for that)
Visual fidelity a-ok.

There was one music cue which sounded off to me - as they leave lake town, there's a brief view on the boat with an off musical cue before the shot of Thorin. I would recommend cutting straight to Thorin and the music there.
(And a little repeat on Bilbo's running sound when the great flag falls on him? I noticed it second time round).

An amazing 63 minutes has been cut from this - and it isn't noticeable at all. Class editing (and shows how much filler was in the original release!)
Oh, and great little flash of Sauron in his "Angel of Light" form. Loved it!

I watched this edit two nights back to back and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. Kudos ranger, this is masterful editing.

(PS: For a first time viewer the silver Smaug works fine - my wife thought it was dragon scales glittering in the moonlight.)

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(Updated: September 11, 2014)
Overall rating
 
7.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
7.0
Narrative
 
6.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
This was my first experience with an edit of Desolation of Smaug. There were some great decisions made but other things didn't quite come together in execution. I'll break my review down into good elements and things that I was left with mixed feelings about:

The Good:

-Cutting most of the stuff with Bolg and Azog was a good move. It definitely helped to quicken the pace and shows how little the film needed these scenes.

-Cutting the Tauriel/Kili/Legolas love triangle. This was very effective. It felt largely shoehorned into the original film so nothing of value is lost here.

-Cutting the dwarves giving up and leaving. This was some pretty brilliant editing and a great change.

-The new intro: I liked it a lot. The original opening scene was hardly missed. That wide shot of the eagles makes for a great opening shot.

Mixed:

-Cutting the fight at Laketown: I always felt the Elves venturing to Laketown was largely unnecessary, but how its handled here is a bit of a mixed bag. The editing is mostly sound, but narratively it's a bit strange that some of the dwarves don't go to the mountain with no explanation given. This seemed like a large plot hole to me. We can clearly see that some of them are missing from the boat and later scenes at the mountain, but no explanation is given as to why they stay back. Also Kili's leg wound becomes a bit of a red herring.

- Bard stuff: I missed some of this. Particularly, the transition from Bard and the Dwarves to Stephen Fry up in his loft now feels rather abrupt as the connection of Alfrid is no longer there. In general, the Bard vs. Stephen Fry stuff feels like a vestige of the original film that you tried to minimize but couldn't completely cut, and ends up coming out as a half-baked non-sequitur.

-Gandalf's story: Moving the encounter with Sauron to earlier didn't work for me. It made this plotline seem even less connected to the rest of the film, and it felt like a false climax. The plotline was rendered an aside that begins and ends in the middle of the film. Frankly, since this is supposed to be a purist cut, I would have went all the way and cut this plotline entirely.

-Barrel Escape: I appreciate the desire to cut this down as it is an action scene that ultimately adds nothing to the plot, but the result is just a choppy and unengaging scene. I would have left this in rather than go with the cut you ended up with, which is essentially the Dwarves going down the waterfalls as the elves dispatch a couple of orcs in the background. The scale of the orc attack is not really felt and the edit doesn't feel smooth and seamless.

-No Golden Smaug: This is the main reason I choose to watch this edit over your "Fire of the Dragon" edit. This extended action sequence in the final act absolutely killed the pace of the movie for me. The editing is mostly handled well except for one thing: Silver Smaug. This essentially kills this aspect of the edit for me. I realize there aren't a lot of options here for an editor, but the change in color timing for the few shots of Smaug here is absolutely noticeable against the rest of the footage, and the change from gold to silver doesn't really make this scene suddenly make sense. This was a good idea that just didn't come together in execution.

Overall this edit was a mixed bag for me but I still appreciate the effort that went into it. You definitely have some editing talent so I'm looking forward to your future edits!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
No
Format Watched?
Digital
Owner's reply September 12, 2014

Thanks for taking the time to watch and review. A few points of contention-- 1) I really don't think the missing dwarves were noticeable. There are no scenes showing them falling behind, and unless one were counting , or was extremely familiar with the original (which may be the case), I don't think three missing dwarves were glaring. 2) Gandalf's encounter with Sauron is in the same place as in the original (before Smaug). I kept the scene because despite not being explicitly described, Gandalf did go there in the book. The orc attacks on both barrels and town however, never happened, hence the cutting. 3) The 'cool' color grading for final shots of Smaug was consistent through all the remaining shots of night-time Erebor and Lake town, and I don't think was noticeable. The silver sheen is silver sheen. Again, depends on whether you are looking out for this or not. Anyway, I'm sorry this edit did not work for you, thanks again. Cheers.

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Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
This was pretty damn fantastic! To me, it proves that action/adventure spectacles can still be great, even if it's "just a 90-minute movie". The story moves at a fast pace and we don't get slogged down with people we don't care about. The Smaug finale is excellent, I loved it as a single flowing scene, and great visual editing there!

Highly recommended for anybody let down by The Hobbit Part B.

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Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Owner's reply September 12, 2014

Thanks man! Highly appreciated and am glad this worked for you

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