Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits, The

I just finished episode 1.

The pacing is fantastic and captivating. It truly immerses you in the world of this high-end Middle Earth miniseries.

I wish the opening and closing titles felt a little more professional, but I understand motion graphics are complicated.

The editing and, more importantly, the storytelling
Is top-notch in this beautiful edit

I can’t wait for the other episodes.

This one was great for me.
The episodic format especially suits me and my wife to draw it over the week.

Every story episode and ending feels natural.
Video and audio quality is excellent, more color saturation pops the colors and subtitles are available.

An unexpected highlight was the removal of the shield wall jump, great job!

The only awkward cut I noticed is the arrival of the eagles, Thorin's look and posture are too different from the shot before.
It's not even that bad, I just kept returning to it, imagining if it could be improved.
I'm no editor but I feel like it would be better if the eagles arrived at the start of the Thorin-Azog fight (something like Azog smirk->Azog's army->Azog looks up surprised ->Eagles over Thorin) so we have concurrent story stakes.
OR, if you leave the eagles after the fight, then just don't show the eagles over Thorin (Bilbo already announces them) and instead show them and Beorn fighting when Thorin is looking over the cliff.

Anyway, of the few edits I've seen this ticks almost all my boxes and I believe it will become a regular addition to the LOTR marathon.

I have never been a hater of the original trilogy. I liked Unexpected Journey, I loved Desolation of Smaug. The only one I had problems with was Battle of the Five Armies. That was the one I felt like had the most problems and was the one that felt the most 'shoehorned'. Despite me liking the movies overall, I could clearly see the issues. Bloated action, unnecessary storylines, just plot bloat in general. I saw that, I just didn't care that much. Now. Does the fan edit fix the issues?

Hell yeah. Fan edit DOES fix the issues. Love storyline? Gone, reduced to atoms. We lost Evangeline Lilly's character along the way, but it was the sacrifice the edit demanded. Interesting enough, you watch the edit and you realise how unimportant that whole plot was overall. Purely added to stretch movies into the trilogy from the original two movies plan. The same goes for any other storyline really. Any action scene. All of it was trimmed down, but in the end you don't feel like you're missing out. On the contrary, action doesn't drag, nor does the more quiet scenes take over and make you snooze. The balance is perfect. Which only highlights how the theatrical cut added too much. Did I personally enjoy Bombur's barell spin massacre? Yes. Do I miss it in the cut? No. Was it a right decision, then? Yes. And the cut is filled with similar changes

Narratively, everything falls into place, regardless of the scenes cut. Then again, it does not have a quiet perfect conclusion. The final episode is the only one where I would say there were some noticeable narrative leaps. Why are orcs at the mountain all of a sudden? Where does Thranduil go? He's just like 'I've spilled too much elvish blood, peace' and he's out. Legolas is there one moment to help Thorin, then vanishes from the story. The unusual orc kills one of the main dwarves and...he's gone? Where is his comeuppance? Where does Bard end up? This is the story about Bilbo and Dwarves, alright. But Bard has a huge part to play in the story, but in the end we last see him charging into the orcs in the city. Then the story doesn't tell us, what happens to him. Listen, I get that all fan-edits are limited by the footage they have. And if the original had those problems, then the fan-edits can't be expected to fulfill that void. However, I still think it's necessary to point that out

One of the other main plot points which ended up on the cutting floor was Azog chasing the dwarves through the movies. The story builds up their rivalry with Thorin, which goes into their final battle. Azog is completely gone from the edit, apart from him appearing during the final major battle. In the edit he comes off just like some orc general, who's leading the armies. The whole relationship aspect with Thorin is gone. I liked him being cut, but that's one of the things where you're like... maybe it shouldn't have been? The final confrontation feels less important, than it was in the theatrical cut

Overall, me and my wife, we enjoyed that edit very much. Technically I have nothing to say against it. Blended together perfectly, as it was meant to. Does it improve the original? Yes. It removes the redundant stuff. The stuff that doesn't make the movies better, but simply makes them longer for better or for worse, depending on your taste. So, the flow is much smoother and much concentrated. Apart from the mentioned Azog above, I think everything else was justifiably cut

Do I recommend it over the theatrical cut? Huh. That's interesting, because I can't say that I do for one hundred percent. If you hated the original, you may very well try this one, because it fixes many issues you may have had the first time you saw it. Did you like the theatrical cut and want some new experience? Sure, go for it. That makes it interesting to see, but I can't say that this cut will be your 'go-to' version of the series. Does this cut make it a perfect movie experience? Not really. There are still some fundamental issues with the story, which, honestly, I can't put into words and describe. It's more like of a feel, like something's just not right. In the end, the fan edit did its best and that what matters

I give out huge respect for everyone's sweat and second that was put into making the fan-edit. I surely enjoyed it. That's one of those edits where you see fundamental changes done well. Entire storylines are cut, and yet, the movie still works as is. That's the magic of the editing, and that's what makes it truly special

This is the only enjoyable way to watch these movies! Very well done edit that I enjoyed more than the extended or theatrical versions of these films. Enjoyed the titling for each episode as well. I look forward to more of your work!

This is a very well-done edit. Cutting nearly half the runtime from this bloated trilogy was insane. I really loved how well the "episodes" played out, especially the titles! "A Warm Welcome" worked on three different levels for that episode, it was really amazing. I loved how each episode was 1 hour but never felt cut-off too quickly.

The only things I had a question about (and maybe I just missed it) were the armies arriving at the end: how did the orcs know about the treasure; how did the humans and the elves know each other; how did the dwarves hear about the battle if Thorin&Co locked themselves away with no messengers?
If someone can answer these for me, I'll amend my review to a 10 for Narrative.
Fantastic work!