An Unexpected Journey Pt. 2

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Moving onto Part 2 of Bilbo's "Unexpected Journey", please bear in mind that potential (and probable) spoilers lie ahead, as each "Part" picks up where the last one left off, and it's really just one, long story. Having said that, let's get right into it. As you may remember, the core story of Part 1 introduced us to a Hobbit named Bilbo (Martin Freeman), who the Grey Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a company of thirteen dwarves need to an adventure.

These dwarves were driven out of their mountain home of Erebor by a dragon named Smaug, who then claimed the kingdom's piles of gold and treasure for his own. What I failed to mention earlier, however, is that part of this treasure includes a precious gem called the "Arkenstone"; the Heart of the Mountain that the dwarf King Thror (Jeffrey Thomas) used to display his power. Heading the party of thirteen dwarves is Thorin (Richard Armitage); Thror's grandson, and rightful heir to the throne. If he can reclaim the Arkenstone, he can reclaim Erebor.

The party seeks out Bilbo, as they need a burglar for their mission, and Hobbits are quiet, quick, and light on their feet. They soon head off to the Lonely Mountain (formerly Erebor) to reclaim it with the help of Bilbo and Gandalf. Along the way, they have several dangerous encounters, but manage to pick up a few odds and ends - namely, three elven blades; Orcrist (Goblin Cleaver) going to Thorin, Glamdring (Foe-Hammer) going to Gandalf, and my personal favourite, Sting going to Bilbo. I've always liked the design of it, and the idea that it glows blue when goblins are around.

In the meantime, the Brown wizard, Radagast (Sylvester McCoy) has a rough time at his forest home, and soon recounts an encounter with a dark entity known as the Necromancer to Gandalf upon running into the party in the forest. With other things seeming strange, such as trolls being strangely far from their regular homes, Gandalf brings the Dwarves to the beautiful elvish realm of Rivendell (one of my top fictional vacation destinations!). This is much to Thorin's dismay, as he has his reasons to be bitter towards the elves. There, the dwarves rest, and Gandalf seeks answers, and it all points to the eventual return of Sauron.

The meeting is pretty cool, fan service-wise, as it involves returning characters Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Saruman the White (Christopher Lee). During the meeting, however, the dwarves (along with Bilbo) leave Rivendell to continue their quest, knowing they'll meet up with Gandalf later. It's my personal opinion that this is where the movie really gets fun! On the dwarves' journey, they find themselves in the midst of cool things like a rock giant fight, and a whole underground kingdom of goblins. And while the singing of the Great Goblin (Barry Humphries) is a bit cheesy, it's still a part of the film I appreciate, much like the dwarf singing in part 1 - it was in the book, and it helps set the right mood.

However, the goblins are nothing here compared to the big comeback of Gollum (Andy Serkis). Upon entering the goblin kingdom, Bilbo gets in a bit of a scuffle with one, and falls into the deepest, darkest depths of the cave. There, he meets Gollum, and the famous "Riddles in the Dark" scene plays out almost perfectly from the book. They knew this was a good fan service moment, and part of the book as opposed to some other characters we remember here. And of course, once again, Serkis plays things perfectly - he is the golden standard for the Gollum character as much as Hugh Jackman is the golden standard for the Wolverine character.

Now, in the background of everything, there's a bunch of darkness brewing with a orc party, lead by another non-book character named Azog (Manu Bennett), who once killed Thorin's father, Thrain. Basically developed to be a proper villain for the film, his lore is all turned around here as opposed to the book. It's not something that bugs me, as I actually kind of dig the character - but it might be one of the many things about this film that purists would protest about. In fact, there's a lot here that purists would probably protest. But in my mind, there's a cinematic world and a written world. The movie adaptation tells the story more or less properly, but does take liberties in order to make things work for the screen.

One thing I might point out is the "big reveal" at the end of this film. As mentioned previously, of course, here we wander into (sort of) spoiler territory, but if you know anything about 'The Hobbit', you know the character exists - Smaug (the only real spoiler is that he's nearly revealed... we get an eye. For yours truly, being so very into dragons (enough that I have a somewhat clichéd tattoo of one), Smaug was the big deal of this series, and it seemed obvious that Part 2 would end up being my favourite of the three. Dividing points between films weren't obvious to me at the time, but upon re-reading it after this first film, I could see where things could be split, but wondered what they'd go to for the much-needed filler.

I love 'The Hobbit' book, but I don't entirely fancy myself a "purist" when it comes down to my criticisms of these films. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes things kinda sorta need to be done and/or tweaked to make things work for the big screen - especially when you're dividing a book like 'The Hobbit', which is an average of about 300 pages long, depending on which version you're reading, into three. 'Lord of the Rings' was made to be split into three movies, not just with the already-set titles, but in being well over 1000 pages long. Taking that into account, Jackson ended up adding a whole bunch of interesting, albeit probably altogether unnecessary stuff in order to stretch out a new trilogy, as opposed to the originally planned two-parter. Even a two-parter seemed like a stretch for some.

Anyway, I think at this point, I'm beating a dead horse and need to get back to the film, and my overall opinion on it as a whole. With 'Unexpected Journey', the adventure is just getting started, and there's still a pretty long way to go. Once again, I have to give a huge kudos to Serkis for his performance here, and huge kudos to Jackson for his direction of the "Riddles in the Dark" scene. I could almost read along with it. Between that, and a nice tease for Smaug coming up in the next film, it's relatively clear that I prefer Part 2 over Part 1. However, the movie as a whole is very solid, in my opinion. Here, I don't even mind all of the extras, as it all seems to somewhat fit... but the question is, would this likability on a personal level continue?

4/5

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