Saturday 28 November 2015

Film Review: An Unexpected Journey, Part 4

We're past the halfway mark of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey now. :-)


Last week Radagast caught up with the gang and Gandalf bullied them into heading for Rivendell. Today the Dwarves find out why you shouldn't head into the mountains without a wizard.

123. Yay! Galadriel. I'm so glad she gets to be in these films.

124. In my own personal headcanon, Galadriel and Gandalf had a bit of a fling when she was just a young rebellious Elf.


125. Ah, Saruman. I'm so glad he was able to reconcile with Peter Jackson and be in these films. I'm not sure how they would've done it without him. And they were able to go to London to film him since he was too old to travel. It ties everything together so well. Since you can see how Saruman lays the seeds for what he will become.

126. Hehe, Saruman doesn't like Radagast because he's a bit of a stoner. Then he just keeps on ranting while Gandalf and Galadriel carry on having their own private mind conversation.

127. I like to think that leaving the blade there at Rivendell allows Elrond to research it and so perfect the cure that helps to save Frodo's life after he is stabbed.

128. Gandalf's face there is like 'you caught me'.

129. Galadriel, your visions of the future would be a lot more helpful if they weren't so vague.

130. Gandalf basically picked Bilbo because he's scared and feels less scared when he thinks about Bilbo. Bilbo is Gandalf's comfort blanket.

131. Magical disappearing Galadriel!

132. This is the equivalent of that moment in The Fellowship of the Ring 'The Ring Goes South' with the shot of the Fellowship walking after they left Rivendell. I wonder if you played the two films together how well they would both line up.

133. I was really curious about how they were going to handle the stone giants bit and would have been perfectly happy if they'd Tom Bombadilled them. It's not really too bad though. I just tend to think of this bit as one of Bilbo's embellishments in his story.

134. There's not a whole lot to say about this. It's basically two mountains having a boxing match.


135. That must be like the moon runes and the stone giants only do their thing every hundred years or so, otherwise everyone would know about them.

136. I like how the next hour changes Thorin's mind about Bilbo (until the last film at least).

137. Bofur doesn't look too happy about having to be on the first watch.

138. Poor Bofur when Bilbo says they don't belong anywhere. Completely wrong thing to say there, Bilbo.

139. Looks like you're not going anywhere, mate.

140. It's fascinating how they filmed this bit. It was quite dangerous apparently, making the stunt guys drop through an opening floor. It's been a while since I watched the special features and this viewing is making me realise I need to go back and see them again!

141. Bilbo just looks utterly terrified fighting the goblin. It's so perfectly Bilbo. This trilogy does a great job of showing how he grows as a character.

142. Mr Click loves this song. We have been known to spontaneously break out into it when we've been getting the dog off the furniture and have had to say 'down, down, down' to her.

143. I love the goblin band. Not a place I'd like to visit personally though.

144. Also like the goblin hitting the camera. Neat.

145. "You're going to have to speak up. Your boys flattened my trumpet." Hehe.


146. Thorin's not like Aragorn really. Aragorn would've been at the front from the start. Thorin lets everyone else stand in front of him and then comes forward then the threats start. He's not the greatest of leaders really.

147. Yay! Gollum!

148. I was so worried about this bit. It's my favourite chapter of the book and I couldn't help but think it wasn't going to be the way I pictured it in my head. If anything it's better.

149. I've never really thought about just how many songs there are in this film until this moment. Now Gollum's at it.

150. I like how Sting sort of flickers and then goes out. It's like the goblin tries to hang on for a moment and then dies.


151. He's behind you!

152. Bilbo really doesn't have a clue what he's doing with that sword.

153. "Shut up!" "I didn't say anything." "Wasn't talking to you." Hehe.

154. This riddle game could have been awful but they do it so well. It's almost like a stage performance.

155. It's also funny how Smeagol talks to Gollum and Bilbo, sometimes mixing up which one he's supposed to talk to. I love the way he switches, it's like the scenes in Two Towers and Return of the King but you actually see it happening.

156. Gollum also looks more real than he did in the earlier films. And I thought he looked pretty real the first time I saw him all those years ago. He seems so much more detailed and solid in his environment. Amazing how the technology has improved.

157. The echoing Gollum voice around the cave is really creepy.

158. I do enjoy a good Gollum temper tantrum.

159. Having said that, I feel a little bad for him when he starts crying.

160. When I lose stuff I get a bit like Gollum. I couldn't find something in my bag the other day and I sort of had a Gollum moment, just with less water splashing.

161. Run, Bilbo! Run!


And we'll just leave him running this week. Next week we'll see the final showdown.

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