Review Detail
9.1 12 10
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Great work on this edit! While I did enjoy the theatrical version, and am looking forward to the seeing the extended edition - a two hour runtime is much easier on my backside. Like at the theater, I viewed this with my 10 year old, who said she preferred your edit. While scenes with Frodo, Azog, the White Council & the stone giants certainly were fun to see on the big screen, they aren't necessarily missed when viewing this film as a complete (or 1/3 complete) story.
The Great: Moving & dividing the prologue was EXCELLENT! We already have the intro with old Bilbo, so its nice to just get the story of the unexpected party started.
The troll fight cut was a necessity as it seemed like a waste of time where the dwarves looked like warriors only to be too easily defeated with no damage to the trolls.
While the warg chase was a throwback to the beautiful scenery used in The Two Towers; its elimination really keeps the journey moving, a major criticism of the LOTR films.
Thank you for trimming the Goblin king and subsequent chase scenes, these appeared to be too long & busy in the theatrical version, and the added "humor" of falling and smashing was not missed by me. Even the Erebor shots were done nice & proper, a change that might not have been considered by many.
Video quality was excellent, no artifacting at all. Only issue was my blu-ray player and TV couldn't figure out the letterboxing which left the picture cropped. Audio work was perfect with surround sound left intact. It seemed like a slight jump cut after the troll fight, but not sure what else be done visually (audio was spot on).
The Good: The showdown with orcs looked like it could have actually gone down that way, until we see the leader of the group unconscious during flight & requiring revival by Gandalf. Its too bad there weren't enough useful shots during these scenes that this part of the narrative couldn't be skipped. Omitting the acceptance speech played well into these changes, but even my kid found it hard to believe Thorin was knocked out without explanation. While I thought the addition of Azog was a fun way to create a more important villian for the film in the same vane as Lurtz in FotR, I'm sure we'll see over the next 5-6 hours of this trilogy that there are much bigger stories to tell.
Overall, a great addition to the world of LOTR edits which I can happily put up next to the official releases.
The Great: Moving & dividing the prologue was EXCELLENT! We already have the intro with old Bilbo, so its nice to just get the story of the unexpected party started.
The troll fight cut was a necessity as it seemed like a waste of time where the dwarves looked like warriors only to be too easily defeated with no damage to the trolls.
While the warg chase was a throwback to the beautiful scenery used in The Two Towers; its elimination really keeps the journey moving, a major criticism of the LOTR films.
Thank you for trimming the Goblin king and subsequent chase scenes, these appeared to be too long & busy in the theatrical version, and the added "humor" of falling and smashing was not missed by me. Even the Erebor shots were done nice & proper, a change that might not have been considered by many.
Video quality was excellent, no artifacting at all. Only issue was my blu-ray player and TV couldn't figure out the letterboxing which left the picture cropped. Audio work was perfect with surround sound left intact. It seemed like a slight jump cut after the troll fight, but not sure what else be done visually (audio was spot on).
The Good: The showdown with orcs looked like it could have actually gone down that way, until we see the leader of the group unconscious during flight & requiring revival by Gandalf. Its too bad there weren't enough useful shots during these scenes that this part of the narrative couldn't be skipped. Omitting the acceptance speech played well into these changes, but even my kid found it hard to believe Thorin was knocked out without explanation. While I thought the addition of Azog was a fun way to create a more important villian for the film in the same vane as Lurtz in FotR, I'm sure we'll see over the next 5-6 hours of this trilogy that there are much bigger stories to tell.
Overall, a great addition to the world of LOTR edits which I can happily put up next to the official releases.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
H