Born of hope

[Thinlómien]

I'm impressed. That was not bad at all, by far better than the Hunt for Gollum. There's of course stuff to nit-pick on, but mostly it was really impressive. I was especially impressed with the acting: it was only a few moments when I was thinking "embarassing" or "fake" when looking at the movie, and I often think that once or twice during professional movies too. So huge kudos to the actors.

I was afraid the made-up characters would be silly, but no. I liked the character of Elgarain, she was really cool (and I seldom like female heroes in this kind of movies, so even more kudos to the team and the actress - who also directed and produced the stuff, it seems) and the others were good too (even the slightly slimy/aggressive guy who had a thing for her, he was funny ). I was also amused by teenage Halbarad and the slightly punk old Arador.

Anyway, as again with the Hunt for Gollum, I think the weakest point of the film was the plot. It sometimes felt there was no coherence or no story and some of the scenes and lines were plain silly or cheesy. Also, the narrator was unnecessary and her lines were just awful.

All in all, I liked the movie and I'd watch it again. I also recommend it to other 'downers.

ps.

Originally Posted by Mugwump

But seriously, when I heard Arathorn say about Gilraen "she is not yet of age" I nearly snorted up my breakfast cereal. Did the Dúnedain consider "of age" to be 33, like the Hobbits? Looking on the Internet I see that the actress, Beth Aynsley, was born in 1981, which would make her 28. She looks at least 35. And being about 20 pounds heavier than I would expect for this role doesn't make her look any younger. But according to Appendix B of LOTR Gilraen was only about 22 when she married Arathorn. Unfortunate casting, IMO.

I disagree. While I don't exactly imagine Gilraen to look the way the actress did (I imagine her as tall, dark and sort of bony), I have absolutely nothing against the actress in this movie. I think she looked her age and it was wonderful how they made her look younger in the beginning and older in the end. Also, I personally found the actress pretty and disagree with your implication of her being fat - I must say I definitely liked her far more than if she had been portrayed by some Hollywod-style model babe. (And as for the Dúnedain coming of age, I got the impression they were considered mature maybe around thirty, give or take a few years. That would make sense, given their long life span.)