14 So-Called ‘Must-See’ Films In 2014 (That Might Actually Be Worth Watching)
14. The Hobbit: There And Back Again
Release Date: 17th December (US), 19th December (UK) Why Its A Must See: Its Peter Jacksons last foray into Middle Earth (for now). Well, we didnt expect that. The Desolation Of Smaug, a film that didnt exist eighteen months ago and was forged entirely in the edit, was a romping ride. Not quite up there with The Lord Of The Rings, but it was still a move in the right direction and has us excited for There And Back Again, the final part of the trilogy. And the spectacle will certainly be there. Picking up after Desolations Sopranos-esque ending, well get to witness Smaugs attack on Lake Town (complete with Bards black barb), a culmination of the dwarf-elf conflict that underpinned the first two films and the Battle of the Five Armies, an epic skirmish below Erebor that promises to make Pelennor Fields look like the Shire. That's a lot of Tolkien-inspired action. Why You Should Be Worried: Few of the major complaints will have been fixed. The CGI still looks questionable and 48fps has yet to show itself as anything other than a gimmick, but the real issue is the narrative. Action is only half the film and although there are a lot of set pieces to showcase, there's little in the way of plot to string the events summarised above together. So while we're not looking at An Unexpected Journey's snail pace, The Hobbit still seems to be mired by being a small children's book stretched to a trilogy of epic, three hour films. Bottom Line: I do believe the best is ahead of us.
