In the book, Bilbo does not consider leaving the company, either before or after the adventures around and in the Misty Mountains. He often wishes he was back in Rivendell or Bag End. He never actually considers making his way back alone.
However, in a trilogy, each movie needs its own character arc. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn actively lets Frodo go at the end of the first movie, indicating the end of an internal battle that in the book, he underwent years earlier. But the moment of choice in the film works since it pays off all the characters, including Boromir.
Bilbo's internal arc for the first Hobbit movie is resolved when he joins the dwarfs on the other side of the Misty Mountains, promising to help them retake their home--one of my favorite scenes. Bilbo's commitment to the company is solidified.
After all, Smaug obviously isn't paid off or the Necromancer or Azog. And the ring won't be paid off until the next series!
First, however, "under" the mountain.
The chase scene and the Great Goblin's death is one of those action-film sequences that must be popular since they are so common, but I find a trifle dull. However, I give this sequence a higher rating than the Moria chase scene (after the battle in the Chamber of Records) in Fellowship, which I consider to be one of the most pointless chase scenes in the entire franchise. Five minutes that could easily have been spent on more time in Lothlorian! On and on and on...
I go along with Literature Devil here--action sequences like this need some kind of change to give them decent pacing. The river chase scene in the next Hobbit movie is far better simply because there is a change in emotion: Kili is hurt and Legolas is conflicted about retrieving his enemies in the face of greater enemies.
(Granted, the Great Goblin is amusing.)
Notes on Bilbo and Gollum will follow...
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