Movie Characters Revisited: Gollum/Smeagol

[alatar]

Gollum was well-done. Using mo-cap was the best of both worlds - having Serkis ground the character so that we get its expressions/actions correct, and using CG to make Gollum look like I'd imagined. There was even the whole tado after FotR where (methinks) PJ got more pixels, and the details of the character's visage got that much better.

"The scene" was just brilliant, and remember my illiterate sister thinking for a moment that there were two Gollums/Smeagols. Andy Serkis' voice also fit well with the character.

That said, one never gets the impression that Gollum is truly a vile creature. In the Books there are hints that he may have stolen babes for food, but in the Movies he appears to have done murder but once, and that on his birthday. Also it's Faramir that turns him, not his own screwed up noodle. And sadly, Gollum gets his gotcha scene where he goes over a cliff in RotK (hmm, where did I see that before?).

In summary, I think that Gollum was one of the better character portrayals, loin cloth and all.

[Feanor_genious]

Gollum/Smeagol, is the best character of all the characters in middle earth second to perhaps Fingolfin or Feanor, but thats another story. The split personality of Gollum/Smeagol is essential a mirror of what could happen to Frodo if the ring was to consume him. True, I believe that it was almost an incentive for Frodo to destroy the ring, though Gollum plays a critical role in all the plot line to the destruction of the ring. Putting into perspective the finding and destruction of the ring is approx a paragraph in the Silmarillion. Though all things lead to another, if bilbo had killed Gollum like he intended to apart from the pity in his heart a out killing the wretched creature, there could have been a strong possibility that Sauron could have destroyed middle-earth and retaken the Ring, though we must take into account how the ring abandoned Gollum, perhaps this could have happened to Bilbo, therefore it could have eventually found its way into the hands of one of the Men or Arnor, and possibly the hands of Aragorn future king of Gondor. In the film Galadriel says something along the lines of the smallest of us will sway the balance of the future, or whatever, most people believe this was Frodo and Sam taking the ring to Mordor, but Gollum was a essentially a Hobbit, Bilbo was a hobbit, Frodo and Sam, lo' and behold, Hobbits as well.


Anyway back to Andy Serkis, he is my favourite actor alongside Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart.

Andy Serkis, committed like no other to make his character equal to that amazing character from the Novel. Dont believe me? Just watch the extended edition appendices from two towers, in fact watch all of the extended editions for all the films, will give you a greater understanding of the shear epic scope of the making of these three extra-ordinary trilogy.

Cannot wait for THE HOBBIT to come out bring me the summer.