The latter’s love affair with hot Dwarf Kili seems like a last minute addition to the canon, and one not built on anything beyond the cinematic rule that two sexually compatible attractive people should probably have something brewing alongside all the action.īut the most egregious of crimes committed by Desolation is, unquestionably, the shafting of Bilbo Baggins to secondary status.
Although we’re happy to welcome the Elf race back into our Middle-earth adventures, it’s easy to imagine a version of this story that didn’t involve side characters like Legolas and Kate… I mean, Tauriel… and still felt whole (perhaps even more cohesive). While Gandalf’s mission to meet the Necromancer serves to connect the Hobbit trilogy to the Lord of the Rings movies, the occasional cuts over to the wizard’s pursuits are primarily distracting and just a bit dull. Every step the Dwarves take is one that beckons us closer to the central, increasingly engaging story.ĭesolation is not entirely without its curiosities. And while Unexpected Journey‘s goblin caverns might have been cool to look at, none of the quests in Desolation feel nearly as close to a tangential detour. The Dwarves voyage through a trippy woodland that’ll conjur fond memories of The Legend of Zelda‘s unnavigable forest levels and inside the borders of Lake-town, a man-occupied working class monarchy that is more vivid and living than any place we have seen yet in the series. Thankfully, we’re not shafted with too much “Thorin’s destiny” backstory, instead focusing on the trek forward, through far more interesting terrain than we got last time around. If there is one primary misstep of An Unexpected Journey‘s terrifically improved sequel, The Desolation of Smaug, it is the spiritual absence of Bilbo Baggins.įreeman’s good-natured but disgruntled Hobbit takes a backseat to the Dwarf team in this chapter of Peter Jackon’s three-part saga, distributing the heavy lifting among the front lines of the bearded mooks. The best parts of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - an admittedly mishandled movie in large - involved his subdued grimaces, his Chaplinian waddling, and the way he carried himself with equal parts neurosis and snark in every scene. Give Martin Freeman an empty room and he’ll give you comedy.
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