IMO adding the White Council was a great choice for the movies. The problem was that they added dragged-out unnecessary action scenes all over the story. The long escape from Goblin Town, turning the barrel escape into an action scene, the ridiculous (and awful CGI) molten gold thing in Erebor itself.
A good cut should concentrate on bringing that stuff down. Not removing the White Council’s concomitant exploration of Dol Guldur and expulsion of Sauron.
I think it depends on what the intent is for the cut. In this case, it was to provide a version that is as close to the book as possible. I agree that what you describe could be a good cut too, but the goal isn’t the same.
Doesn’t that cut all of White Council stuff?
IMO adding the White Council was a great choice for the movies. The problem was that they added dragged-out unnecessary action scenes all over the story. The long escape from Goblin Town, turning the barrel escape into an action scene, the ridiculous (and awful CGI) molten gold thing in Erebor itself.
A good cut should concentrate on bringing that stuff down. Not removing the White Council’s concomitant exploration of Dol Guldur and expulsion of Sauron.
Molten gold does not look like that!
Molten gold looks like this: Basically, it looks just like any other molten metal – brightly glowing yellow/red.
If they had just made it look like actual melted metal, that would cure ~80% of the hatred I have for that scene.
I think it depends on what the intent is for the cut. In this case, it was to provide a version that is as close to the book as possible. I agree that what you describe could be a good cut too, but the goal isn’t the same.