Hobbit: The Spence Edit, The

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! And did I mention, Wow!

As someone who's enjoyed The Hobbit movies while still acknowledging the flaws, I'll admit, I've been skeptical as to how a single film would've worked. Well, that skepticism has been put to rest. This edit streamlines all three films beautifully. In fact, I can honestly say that I felt like I was watching a film adaptation of The Hobbit as opposed to a prequel trilogy to The Lord of the Rings.

I have a few nitpicks such as I would have liked to have seen the Necromancer excised entirely but what *is* still there makes for a nice little taste of what's to come in The Lord of the Rings. Also there are some moments that come out of nowhere that the other reviewers have brought up but overall, if you wanted to see The Hobbit but balked at the idea of it being three movies, this is the edit for you.

This works very well and really shows that it should have been a single film. I didn't notice any technical issues though I'm probably not the best reviewer for that. I marked down one point in A/V Quality for not providing 5.1.

My positives are too numerous to detail here. Suffice it to say this removes almost all the major issues I had with the films. Some highlights:

- The abridged opening. Initially (before seeing the theatrical DoS or BotFA) I was concerned that cutting the opening too much might not allow us to adequately get to know all the various characters we're going to have to keep straight. But in the end, most of the dwarves are just glorified extras that we really don't need to get to know. Introducing Bilbo, Thorin, Balin and Dwalin is enough.

- Though the Stone Giants scene never bothered me as much as some, its absence helps the movie get moving.

- The more ridiculous elements of Goblin Town are mercifully removed, keeping the focus more on the Riddle in the Dark where it should be.

- The seams between films are very well done. Only one minor issue there and it is mentioned below.

- Very much abridged barrel ride!

- No more molten gold!

- The majority of the elves physics-defying athleticism is gone.

- The end battle is feels much more focused, and for me at least, the focus on character helps to make it MORE epic.



Some minor narrative issues I had as I watched:

- Gandalf 's rather unexplained absence from the troll scene is a bit weird.

-While the transition between AUJ and DoS works very well overall, it's a bit strange to suddenly have the company on horses only to send them off moments later.

- The barrel sequence is well done but ends rather abruptly. And the cut from the first encounter with Bard to Gandalf is weird. It feels like it skipped ahead. It needs one more beat if possible before the transition.

- Radaghast is out of place as he is never really introduced.

- I would have liked to have seen no trace of Dune-esque worms, but it's extremely brief.

- There's still some elvish athletic magic, which apparently extends to the reindeer they ride. But again minor gripe.

- I'm much happier with this version's take, but Thorin sort of magically comes to his senses. I'd rather have that than how the theatrical version presented it, but if there's anything in the EE that might help, it would be beneficial imo.

- Another personal gripe is those damned eagles. I would have liked to see them removed completely.

- I'd also have liked to have seen the auction gone. I think cutting from Bilbo seeing Bag End again right to Ian Holm would work. Although I would miss the "he was my friend" line.

Overall, I thought this was great work and it certainly works as a single movie. If some of my gripes could be addressed when the BotFA EE comes out, a v2 would be most welcome! My gripes are all minor, however, and this will be the version I most likely watch in the future.

Long story short, this is the go-to edit for the Hobbit Trilogy. If you consider having a LOTR marathon, consider adding this film to it. This is an excellent prequel which stands right beside the LOTR trilogy in terms of quality and narrative. The audio/video editing is also next to perfect and this movie does not feel like an edit whatsoever. My friend hasn't seen the Hobbit at all; he really enjoyed this film and he couldn't spot one edit made to this Trilogy

The Positives:
. The small things this edit does really helps preserve the LOTR trilogy e.g. making Bilbo discover the ring in a way more true to The Fellowship and not having one of the dwarves forcefully recall that Gimli is his son etc.
. Huge chunks from the movie were cut which helped move the story along gracefully
. The transitions between films were unnoticeable
. Making the movie linear and not have it overlap The Fellowship
. TDOS doesen't grind to a screeching hault after the opening act
. The Lonley mountain segment isn't a confusing wreck like it is in the original
. The faster pace keeps the story interesting

The minor nitpicks:
. There is a bit of an anti-climax in the end battle
. The movie begins very quickly, giving us no back story on what occurred before Bilbo's adventure

Overall, this edit is excellently radical and it proves to me how the The Hobbit could of easily been one movie. Well done Spence!

And if your feeling adventurous, could you be able to do an edit of entire Star Wars Prequel Trilogy? ... that would be fantastic ;)

This is now my go-to-version of The Hobbit. So much more enjoyable than Peter Jackson's overly long version. Here we get Tolkien's single book in a single movie. Still long? Yes. Does it feel too long? No.
The flow of the story is seamless, as are the video and audio editing. The one audio problem is that the volume is very low, you have to jack it up to hear all the dialog. Subtitles would help. If anyone made those, please share. Otherwise I may make the srt file myself.

My critique, in "play-by-play" style:
- The edit opens with a short pan across Hobbiton and then immediately goes into a conversation between Bilbo and a newly-arrived Gandalf. Gone is the Prologue, older-Bilbo's narrative, and Frodo.
- Cutting "are there any other wizards?" line makes Radagast's intro later a little sudden
- I missed Balin's explanation of sword names since it helps explain "Sting" later on
- Very good keeping Azog/Sauron conversation--helps promote the idea of "bigger things afoot"
- Trolls handled well, good work removing most of the juvenile humor
- I personally missed bombur breaking the bench, but that scene isn't necessary
- Excellent editing of Bilbo no longer falling from cliff
- Goblins handled well--especially the cut to Orcrist falling to ground with the other swords. very clever. Like most edits, the Goblin King's fall down into the depths is assumed to be his end.
- Subtle but excellent edit of finding of the ring. In Spence's edit, the sword illuminates the ring, but Bilbo doesn't notice it at first--then he does a double take and stoops to pick it up. In the Maple Films edit (which is my go-to edit of the Hobbit Trilogy), he just does the double take--we don't get the slow reveal of the ring on the ground. It's a very quick edit, but it really made a big difference toward not making the finding of the ring so sudden (in the original cut, he sees gollum drop it, which introduces a host of problems of its own--the least of which is that Bilbo really is a thief since he knows the ring belongs to Gollum long before meeting him).
- There's a huge cut of the entire "Out of the Frying Pan" chapter as well as the Eagles and Beorn. There's a -lot- of material gone, and while I would have preferred to keep Beorn added, the cut works fine for the most part.
- One thing -not- explained by the previous cut is the rather noticeable plot hole of them suddenly having ponies again.
- Why didn't Gandalf warn them to "stay on the path"?
- For a moment, the elven musical theme shows up during the spider fight--a very strange choice. It didn't sound bad, but it certainly didn't fit.
- Ha, you just had to keep one, over-the-top, Legolas-surfing-on-a-spider scene in there, didn't ya?
- As expected, Tauriel and the love triangle is gone
- A minor plot hole: Kili's injury is not explained, but I suppose it's not too much a stretch to just assume it was a consequence of tumbling down a ramp and through rapids in a barrell.
- The pacing feels a bit fast for Bard to just show up suddenly.
- Radagast kind of comes out of nowhere since we've neither heard of nor seen him before he shows up in the high fells. As mentioned earlier, might have been nice to retain the Bilbo/Gandalf conversation of "are there any other wizards?"
- Balin's line "only a black arrow could have pierced the dragon's hyde" is retained, but his son explaining that Girion left a weak spot is cut. This has consequences later...
- Excellent work getting rid of Alfrid and minimizing the master. Pacing is a bit quick, but ok
- Also as expected, the Dwarves are never separated in Laketown, and there is no orc/elf raid
- The cuts from sunset to moon to keyhole are a bit rough, the pacing too fast
- There are some audio issues when bilbo enters Erebor--the echoes (presumably the surround channels) are a good several seconds early
- Awesome work with Bard simply using his last arrow to slay Smaug. The extreme nature of the many cuts to Laketown lead to some issues, though. Since we were earlier told that only a Black Arrow could do the job, and Bard was never informed of the weak spot since the dialog with his son is cut, he effectively doesn't know there's a weak spot (in the book, a little bird told him--literally...). This means that when he busts out of that window, carrying only a standard bow and a quiver of standard arrows, he's essentially facing down the dragon out of desparation, trusting only to luck. This doesn't quite sit right with me. Another problem is that, since the Master was never properly established as a mustache-twirling villain, I kind of feel bad seeing the poor guy get squashed by a falling ex-dragon. There's only a split second to note that his barge is filled with gold. At the same time, he can't -not- be killed since it's necessary for the Master to be out of the picture in order for Bard to progress to leader of his people.
- Thorin's madness comes on a bit quick...
- Good handling of battle, other than the somewhat silly part where the moose scoops up a half-dozen orcs and Thranduil beheads them all in one swipe.
- The battle at Ravenhill handled very well--even explains how he got orcrist back w/out too much wacky Legolas antics.
- I would have preferred to have Radagast completely removed from the final rally (as he has been in other edits--the Maple Films edit, for example).
- Good cut of "I lost that ring anyway"--Bilbo lying to Gandalf just didn't seem right
- Interesting idea, moving older-Bilbo's narrative to the end, but I think I prefer it as an opener as it has been in other edits.

The Spence edit is an extremely innovative and high-paced edit. It comes in at a half-hour shorter than many book cuts while still retaining many of the non-book cut scenes (the White council, Dol Guldur, High Fells, etc). Visual quality is fine, but the musical score can often cover the center (voice) channel. Still, it's amazing how much material has been packed in while keeping the flow mostly intact. I personally prefer a Book Cut, but this is a very well done edit--a joy to watch, if for no other reason than to see Spence's impressive work.