It's a big year for Lord of the Rings fans. We are getting our first major LoTR adaptation in eight years. Whether that will be good is still up in the air, but we will get there when we get there.
Until then, I want to talk about a slightly contentious subject and review the Hobbit trilogy. I am not ashamed to admit that I liked the Hobbit movies (except the third one) when I first saw them. I am aware that I am in somewhat of the minority.
I wondered if my opinion has changed since I haven't seen them since they were in theaters, which I established was eight years ago. However, I want to do something a bit different. Instead of rewatching all three films, I will watch a fan edit that attempts to take all three films and turn them into one film. There are a number of well regarded fan edits of this trilogy, so I thought I give one of them a watch. After researching a few of them, I figured the one that was right for me was the Maple Edit by Dustin Lee, so that is what I will be watching. I know this is technically not within the spirit of this series since I am not rewatching the official cut, but I figured this will be more fun. And hey, this will give me some perspective on why some people hate these films since the point to most of these fan edits is to fix issues fans had with this trilogy, but I digress.
An Unexpected Journey
The first hour and forty minutes of this four hour and twenty minute cut is the first movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Already, we see the edit work its magic as it manage to cut an hour from the original theatrical cut. I also can barely tell what has been cut from the film which doesn't reflect well on the original. Yeah, I don't miss the boobery and bloated side plot stuff that was cut in the fan edit. That stuff didn't bother me initially until we get to Battle of Five Armies of course. Unfortunately though, it's clear that age has made me less tolerate of that stuff now.
As for the fan edit itself, this section is alright. I feel what I like about the Hobbit trilogy happens less in Unexpected Journey, but this part of the film was still enjoyable. It's got a comfortable pace to it which is probably owed to the structure of the original children's novel. Heck, it is the appeal of the entire Tolkien universe. The idea of being whisked away and bumping into cool creatures along the way. It feels like an adventure.
Desolation of Smaug
The peak of the trilogy is only about an hour and ten minutes in the Maple cut. It was here that I started to become fully impressed with the edit. Despite this movie being written and directed to be three standalone movies, The Maple cut feels like one cohesive experience.
Desolation of Smaug had the potential to become among my favorites even among the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. But like Unexpected Journey, the random detours and additions like the Legolas love triangle and Necromancer side plot hampered the enjoyment. This edit shows that reality if it came to fruition, and I can say that Maple's version of Desolation of Smaug is one of my favorite Middle Earth movies.
This better than any of the Hobbit movies really has a journey like feel. The stops along the way are really satisfying and fun. The barrel scene may be a turn off for some people, but I really like it.
One unforeseen benefit from the cut content is that it allows to focus in on more important characters. I didn't care about Thorin during my first viewing. But upon this rewatch, I really appreciate his character. You understand his perspective and how that will play into the later part of the film.
The Maple edit also improves the pacing into how Smaug gets introduced. There is a real sense of build up where Smaug is treated almost like a myth. It reminds me of Kill Bill, where you know that the film is inevitably going to reach him, and they continually tease you making the reveal all the more satisfying.
Smaug himself is just superlatives all around. The best Benedict Cumberbatch performance, one of the best villains, one of the best fantasy set pieces, it is one for the modern age of cinema. It's partly why I see this film so highly.
Battle of the Five Armies
"I guess movie poster quality reflects inversely on the quality of the whole movie." Part of why I was so excited to see any proper fan edit of the Hobbit was to see their take of the final film in the trilogy. Because to put it simply, that movie is awful. This is the point in the trilogy where my sentiments matches the average Tolkien fan. I could always look past the flaws in favor of the good stuff in both Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug but not with this film. This is the point where the bloated additions, cartoony action, and unnecessary reworks came to a head.
It turns out even a fan edit couldn't fix this film. It saddens me to realize that this film is bad on a fundamental level.
The final part feels so rushed. First, Smaug gets anticlimactically killed off in favor of this political intrigue that sets off the war. Now in fairness, this would be fine, and the Maple edit attempts to better build up to this point. However, it doesn't feel enough. This applies to Thorin's dragon sickness he gets. Somewhat set up properly earlier in the film but still feels drastically truncated when it pays off in the third act.
It also has the same problem that I have with Return of the King but on a much larger scale. The action isn't great. It's shallow. It feels like the epitome of CGI characters fighting each other, and it is bloody long.
Despite this film having major plot importance, this film feels like on giant deleted scene. It's bloated, disjointed, and unnecessary all at the same time.
Conclusion
Do these films click? I say they do but not under their original state. Like how some shows need an episode guide to skip the filler content, these movies need a fan edit to get through their frustrations. These fan edits makes these films more watchable. Dare I say, there are times when the trilogy rivals its predecessor.
Suffice to say, The Hobbit has that magic where you want to melt into the world forever. It says a lot that since viewing the movie, I started reading Tolkien. To say anything inspires the act of reading is a miracle work in my eyes.
So tune in next time when the Amazon show comes out and causes Tolkien fans to riot.
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