To be fair, the transition sounded better than most edits I’ve glanced at. I just don’t feel like a real movie would’ve been like that, but I’m a stickler.

Maple Films retains the elves shooting at them and an ambush by orcs, but it’s cut down heavily. Azog later references Bolg failing to stop them, and it feels like a real movie, although you do still have to put up with Azog and Bolg being in that much of the movie.

If I had the time, I’d like to do a scene by scene comparison between the Maple Films version and the 2-hour Hobbit cut and marry the two. Start from the Maple Films edit, and cut away at it further by considering anything for removal not contained in the 2-Hour cut until arriving at approximately the length of the theatrical ROTK.