And I don’t like the chasing.
The whole trilogy is so full of hunts, but this one is really so unnecessary.
Don’t think of it as a sudden jump into Beorn’s house, think of it as an intermission.
In Lord of the Rings there are these “jump intermissions” too, but strangely no one minded!
I don’t understand.
Well sure, you’re totally allowed to like whatever you like. I cut it my own way because of what I think works best for the story/technical flow and for my own personal enjoyment (with regards to my editing goals). I like the Carrock scene, the forest scene introducing Beorn, and the scene right when they enter Beorn’s house (as opposed to narration). I think they are all interesting, which unfortunately have to go if you do a direct cut to Beorn’s house.
There’s also far less tension when you immediately jump into his house, as compared to showing that the Orcs are catching up and that the company has to make a tough decision. Otherwise, why not just skip Beorn’s house if he’s such a huge threat, we just escaped the Orcs right? That’s why the filmmakers have the chase and show the Orcs catching up, it serves a purpose in terms of building more tension and drama. Lucky for you, knowing that you dislike a lot of chases, if you watched my edit you’ll at least see I already removed 3, Radagast/Wargs after Trolls, Orcs chasing in river scene, and Smaug-Dwarf chase.
Anyways, can’t seem to remember any jumps in LOTR that seemed as large as the one in question, I just think the one thing it’s missing is a way of showing them get off the Eagles, which is of course impossible with the footage we have. So ignoring that, I still think the Ironfoot transition leaves a lot to be desired in terms of audio and color, it goes from a blue night to a greenish tinted night, and the epic Eagle music continues playing when we’re essentially looking at b-roll of Beorn as Gandalf describes him, which feels out of place.