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Why This Movie is So Underrated


... by both critics and IMDB voters.

One of the most basic psychological traits by which you can divide movie viewers is how early they decide whether a movie is good or not. There are many viewers who make up their mind within the first 10 or 15 minutes ... and then, if they've been underwhelmed at all, they see the rest of the movie through the expectation that it's not good. (What's called "confirmation bias.")

This happened massively to the first Hobbit movie: virtually every single reviewer who disliked it complained that it took forever to get going -- and if you were not a fan of the book, that is absolutely true. I would go so far as to say that the single decision to include the comic song ("That's what Bilbo Baggins hates") in the theatrical cut, rather than save it for the extended edition, cost each movie of the franchise 15 or 20 Rotten Tomatoes points. Seriously.

This is one of those rare movies whose essential point doesn't get communicated until the last ten minutes! I spent the whole time reserving judgment, thinking, this is decently entertaining, totally watchable, I'm just not sure if it has a point. At the moment where Melody appears to fall through the door, the movie just lifts itself up a level or two : everything has been a setup for that moment, which pulls it all together.

I gave it a 7 initially for the simple reason that it wasn't tremendously engaging for most of its duration. But the more I think about what it did, the more impressed I am, the more I like it, and the more I think it might deserve an 8 (in my book, 7 = glad I didn't miss it, or definitely recommended, 8 = must-see, or highly recommended).


Prepare your minds for a new scale of physical, scientific values, gentlemen.

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