The Hunt for Gollum

[Macalaure]

First of all I reckon it's a magnificent achievement to put a film like this together on a budget of tuppence-hapenny and have it look so good. The crew and cast should be heartily congratulated for their hard work.

I can only second that.

It looked a bit like a copy pf PJ's Middle-earth, but that's not bad at all - the visuals were great in his trilogy.

If only they hadn't also copied PJ's script-writing. Some lines didn't sound Tolkien-like, but Jackson-like, which I found to be a little out of place. I felt like there were several occasions where, with only a little more care or subtlety, this film could have been much, much better. From the top of my hat, I remember Gandalf failing to explain that Gollum knows where Bilbo came from, but not where that land lay. The encounter with the first two Orcs was great, but that mass-Orc-fighting scene later made absolutely no sense. The appearance of the Ringwraith could have been much better, too, if there had been any significance to it. (Were we even told that they were searching for the Ring, too, and were following Gollum therefore?) I might be mixing up the timeline now, but why not let the other ranger tell Aragorn that Osgiliath had been raided and that ominous riders in black had passed the bridge (and then let Aragorn count one and nine together for the viewers)? Also, Aragorn could have been a bit more afraid during the encounter - they are terrible, after all.

I would have liked to see more of Gandalf's interrogation of Gollum. Considering the darkness in that room, it wouldn't have been too hard on the CGI-ers, I think. It was great to hear about the ghost that drinks blood, but I missed Gollum telling us about his new very strong friends, and Gandalf putting the fear of fire into him.

Nevertheless it was very nice to watch it, especially considering that, after all, it was free.