Hobbit: Into the Fire, The

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9.5 (19)
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19 reviews
 
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Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.6(19)
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9.7(19)
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9.6(19)
Narrative
 
9.3(19)
Enjoyment
 
9.3(19)
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(Updated: January 18, 2022)
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Watched this a few weeks ago and forgot to drop a review!

Into the Fire is everything Desolation of Smaug should have been. Everything ridiculous and/or egregious has been excised, and while there were some parts left in that I personally don't love (mostly just one: Dol Guldur) Ranger has structured and trimmed this edit so well, that I found them surprisingly tolerable!

If you want to watch what The Desolation of Smaug SHOULD and COULD have been, look no further!

My only complaint, is that I do think the re-color of Smaug breaking out could use some TLC.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
S
Top 500 Reviewer 27 reviews
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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Not much to say that hasn't been already said. This is as close to perfection as a fanedit can get. The theatrical release made me sick to my stomach. This version, however, I loved. PLEASE do an edit of part 3 when it's released.
C
Top 1000 Reviewer 3 reviews
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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
What a fantastic edit! This is by far, to me, the best standalone edit of this film. The amount of bloat that exists in these films is absolutely shocking, and by trimming it to the breaking point you've exposed an exciting film that could have been.

Quality is great across the board, video and audio.

My only qualms with the edit would be:
- I'm not a fan of how you open the film, with the group on the eagles. It feels how Battle of the Five Armies feels: Like that scene should've been at the end of the previous film.
- Smaug breaking through the wall still just doesn't look right, even with the gold removed. It's definitely much better, and maybe knowing it's meant to be gold is making me feel this way, but I'd almost rather not see him break through the wall at all.

Other than those two things I loved every decision, especially the way you cut the barrel sequence.

This is a superior work, and definitely deserving of all of its rave reviews.

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Personally I can not wait until Jackson's Battle of the Five Armies is available on DVD/Blu-ray - that way faneditors can be unleashed to put together an edit encompassing all 3 bloated Hobbit films into hopefully one epic movie. For now however, one could do far worse than check out Ranger's Into The Fire edit of the second movie. 63 minutes may sound like a lot to cut, but when watching this excellent exercise in how to save a movie, it becomes painfully clear just how bloated and overlong this needless trilogy of movies really are.

Amongst the many improvements, I would single out the huge improvement of the barrel sequence which no longer feels like some CGI excuse to have Legolas leaping all over the show, and perhaps even better is the way in which the finale no longer has to subject us to more set-piece nonsense as the dwarves go through various levels in computer game fashion to douse Smaug in gold. Ranger's editing hand is invisible during these sequences - quite excellent work.

In fact, there's only one scene where you could really feel the editor at work. As the dwarves leave Laketown for Erebor, there is a jump cut of a sort and it just stands out as an "edited" scene. A small complaint however, as I loved how the Orcs no longer attack Laketown. Indeed, other than this, Into the Fire is a genuinely excellent exercise in how fanediting can improve on the original film. My go to version? You bet it is. I can only hope that Ranger may have a go at making one huge Hobbit fanedit of all three films at a latter date. I whole heartedly recommend this to everyone, a quite sterling piece of work. Thanks Ranger :)

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
L
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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I would like to thank you for the time, effort, and motivation that you displayed in completing this edit. I do not see how, based upon the limitations of Peter Jackson's work, it would be possible for a better version of this movie to be put together.

I am an admitted Tolkien purist and while I find faults too numerable to list in Jackson's versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings you have accomplished something truly remarkable with this version of the film. Thank you for reducing Legolas' and Tauriel's roles, as well as Azog and Bolg, cutting the ridiculousness of the barrel chase, the absurdity of the Smaug chasing dwarves and being covered with gold, and most of all thank you for removing the asinine Kili/Tauriel love story. I almost exploded in the theater when I saw that.

Overall, your edit is infinitely better than anything produced by Jackson and will find its way onto my shelf as the only version of DoS that I will watch. You truly did some remarkable work. Keep up the good work.

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Digital
C
1 reviews
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