[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".