The Hunt for Gollum

[Hookbill the Goomba]

There are films that stay with you for the rest of your life. They inspire us to ask deep and probing questions. However, the only question The Hunt For Gollum raised for me was 'Why?'

Now, it was well presented. The CGI was better than could be expected for a low to no budget film. The acting was pretty good and the Howard Shore music rip-offs were neat. But I think the plot was far too thin for a really good film. As has been said, there are too many shots of Aragorn bending down and looking at foot prints. And Gandalf didn't have his hat, which was an eternal disappointment.

I'd also like to know why Aragorn whispered everything he said. All the time. I mean, there's being secretive, then there's taking it too far.

Overall, though, I am impressed with what they archived. I just think that the script could have been better, the story stronger and the music more original. Much as I love Howard Shore's score, this rehash of it wasn't up to scratch. Perhaps if they'd got a nice score and a stronger plot, it would have been a much more enjoyable film.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy watching it. It just baffled me. When there are so many unfilled stories from Tolkien that this team could probably have done and done well. I would dearly have loved to see Farmer Giles of Ham.

Incidentally, I'm still waiting for that CGI animation version Roverandom that someone should have been made by now.

But, yes, I'm hoping Born of Hope has more to say. Even though the Trailer tells us nothing.

[Beregond]

Well, I did like the film, and as most people agree, it was well done given a limited budget.

However, there were some things I found surprisingly disappointing. It did not bother me that they followed PJ's style, but rather that they almost replicated his scenes. Too often the dialogue and plot tread so closely to its big brother as to induce cringing. I had hoped for something more original, frankly. And while a movie of events only hinted at by Tolkien could hardly be wholly faithful to the books, I found it unnecessary for any of the made-up dialogue to be at odds with what Tolkien wrote. At the same time, I was disappointed in the lack of "bookish" details to satisfy our hunger for such things in a post-PJ world. All in all, I felt the makers of this movie fell into the same trap as PJ did - making things happen because they look good on film whether or not they make any sense (the Nazgul, the strike-first-ask-questions-later attack of the Random Ranger).

From a cinematic point of view, I thought the more obvious computer generated effects weren't the best - and of course they weren't! They didn't have the budget. But I thought the more obvious CGI weren't necessary (the Ring, and Gollum face). It was distracting because it looked so out of place compared to the beautiful photography of the rest of the film. Someone worked very hard for the CGI, but from an outside perspective I wished they had left it out altogether (except for the long shots of Gollum which were well done).

The music was good...but...way too close to Howard Shore's score. I spent the first two minutes trying to figure out if it actually WAS the LotR score or not, and the next five wondering if you're allowed to borrow musical themes like that.

*spoilers*
As for the plot, I felt Gollum's capture was too easy. It fact, the "Hunt" was up before the halfway mark. The climax didn't involve Gollum at all, and Aragorn actually lost his charge.

I didn't mean to be harsh, but my criticism stems from the expectations I had for a non-commercial fan movie. There were many positives and I enjoyed it overall. I liked the Orcs. They had less prosthetics on than did PJ's, and were the more realistic and scary for it. Also, I'm a sucker for Orc dialogue. The fight scene was pretty good (I like swordfights).

As I said, the scenery was amazing. This is where the movie shined. Where was it shot? It seemed to include many locations in NZ, from LotR.

The acting was pretty good, and by the end of the movie I had accepted Adrian Webster as Aragorn. Gandalf was convincing as well, as was Arwen. Too bad we didn't see more of the elves! Gollum-in-a-bag was ingenious and more or less necessary.

And, frankly, I wish the movie was longer but I guess that's a result of budget too. All in all a good effort and an enjoyable 40 minutes. I just expected more "for the fans, by the fans".

[Elmo]

It was shot in Snowdonia, North Wales for the mountains and the Forest of Dean England for the errr forest.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Beregond

As for the plot, I felt Gollum's capture was too easy. It fact, the "Hunt" was up before the halfway mark. The climax didn't involve Gollum at all, and Aragorn actually lost his charge.

I agree. The capture of Gollum should have been the climax of the film, in my opinion. More should have been made of the difficulty of actually capturing him.

Too bad we didn't see more of the elves!

Too bad we didn't see more dwarves, you mean.

Building off Bethberry's idea, why just limit ourselves to the intro? Why don't we Downers just rewrite the whole thing?

[Boo Radley]

Finally, I can post again!!!

OK, now that I've got that out of my system, here's my take on the movie.

First of all, I have to disassociate myself from the desire to compare it to any kind of big budget film with a cadre of professional writers etc, and judge it by what it is. A fan made film.
I give it two hearty thumbs up.

I think it was a brilliant effort and refuse to nit-pick any part of it.
Could it have been better? Sure. What in this benighted world can't be better than it is?
But this ws done out of love and not out of profit and so I stand and applaud it.

[narfforc]

I enjoyed watching this short film. I see it as just another interpretation of Tolkiens works. I have read the books, heard the radio play, seen the films and watched the stage play. Adding to my overall experience of the visualisation of Middle-earth have been artists like Nasmith, Lee, Howe and Lacon amongst others, they are all different. I do not see Viggo as Aragorn (he does a good job of it though), I see an image that differs from others, none are wrong, but are any right, only Tolkien can say. So the more the merrier, give us more.

[Rumil]

Evening all,

remember the whole Middle Earth fan-fic-film-fest-fing?

Next up is 'Born of Hope', an online fan-film looking like a biopic of young Aragorn (or perhaps I should say the story of Arathorn and Gilraen).

Mentioned this last time, but there's a fuller trailer available now

here-
Born of Hope Trailer

Apparently release expected Autumn 09,

Cheers,

R