The Hobbit: Book Edit (2021)

https://m4studios.github.io/hobbit-book-edit/

I’ve never watched the much-loved lord of the rings films, but for a variety of reasons, non of which were personal preference, i watched all three of the hobbit films as they were released in the cinema. And i, just like many other people, thought that they were quite long.

I am also one of those few who feels that the hobbit is a better book than the lord of the rings; its narrative is tighter and its length much more manageable. So when i discovered that someone on the internet had gone to the effort of reworking these three long films into a single short film of only four hours, i was naturally intrigued.

Working with existing material with its own choices is always going to present a bit of a challenge as many decisions have already been made and cannot be altered. But i think that this edit did a good job of avoiding too many confusing cuts and keeping the action flowing throughout. There was drama, and there wasn’t too much in the way of unrelated side plot.

That said, four hours is still a very long film. Fortunately, there was an intermission in the middle, although i wasn’t sure how long it would be, so i paused it, intermissioned, and skipped past it when i was ready to continue. In fact i watched the film on two separate days, not realising it would have this intermission, so some of the benefit was lost on me.

Without all the padding, i found myself able to really appreciate some good casting choices. I think Martin Freeman can play a single role, but unlike some other actors in that category, he does a good job of playing that role in such a variety of environments (victorian london, early 2000s corporate, medieval fantasy countryside) that it still feels kind of fresh each time.

I’m not sure i’d watch this again, because i’m not so obsessed with the world of middle earth that i feel the need. But if i was going to, i’d definitely watch this version over the ten hours of the originals.