Have You Watch Hunt For Gollum Shocking Facts The Story

Copyright (c) 2010 Michael Jozwiak

The Hunt for Gollum is an independently financed film produced and directed by Chris Bouchard. This film marks another milestone in the increasingly popular trend of high production value fan films now swarming the internet.

Before I start on the actors, I should explain a little about the direction. The movie begins with an exposition monologue from a disembodied voice and a montage of landscape to set the scene. While standard for fantasy epics and quite pretty, the set up is just this side of tedious. Valuable time was devoured while explaining storyline that is very likely already known by the audience since this is a fan film. I had to stop myself twice from skipping ahead, trying to get to the actual beginning of the story. While this was frustrating, I admired Mr. Bouchard's attention to detail.

Adrian Webster, was the lucky actor chosen to shoulder the role of Aragorn. It is quite obvious he was chosen for his uncanny likeness to a young and waif-thin Viggo Mortensen. On the official website of the Independent Online Cinema Co: http://www.thehuntforgollum.com/updates.htm there are handy biographies of each actor. His reads: "As a strong actor with a thoughtful gaze, he brings [a] very solid performance and stage combat skills to his role in The Hunt For Gollum..." I will agree that his gaze was thoughtful. Unfortunately, the entire film, his gaze was so giving, it was high on catatonic. I think his best acting choice was his heavy breathing, when it was the correct time to be out of breath. His dialog was monotone and bereft of passion, and there was no emotional investment through out the film, though the stakes were quite obviously high. I think my favorite part was watching him deal with "Gollum." The wildly flailing animal was in a bag and though obviously he should weigh at least 50lbs, was slung over Webster's shoulder with totaly ease. He even hefted him with one hand at arms length, seemingly because absence of care and emotion imbues one with super strength.

I was not entirely unimpressed with the acting in this case, however. Patrick O'Connor's Gandalf was wise and quietly grave, while Rita Ramnani's Arwen was charming, however brief. Gareth Brough contributed a decent performance as Gollum's voice. Brough's Gollum was nicely reminiscent of the original trilogy's playfully psychotic and childish demeanor, while he at the same time brought his own flavor to the role.

Since this was a fan film, there is always a certain allowance made for quality. However, I was rather impressed with the craftsmanship of this movie. The locations were excellently chosen and seemed to go on forever. All though the blue screen was good, perhaps maybe a step above a student movie. The special effect makeup was inspired, turning the stunt performers into hideously convincing orcs. Costume design was well conceived, the only issue being the quality of materials supplied to the creators. I was constantly distracted by the rangers' ridiculous wigs, and the insubstantial prop luggage. To make up for that though, was the beautiful animation of Gollum. His appearance and fluidity of motion was above and beyond what I'd expected from a fan film, which sort of encompasses the theme of the overall cinematography.

The Hunt for Gollum is an interesting edition to the films based on a Tolken Universe. It is a side of the story that is worthy of being told, and those who decided to do so executed the telling with great respect to those who came before. If one grasps the fact that it was a small budget tackling a large endeavor it's easy to appreciate and share in the excitement and love the film makers obviously have for their craft. The Hunt for Gollum is worth watching, if only to remember that movies are not only meant for profit, but to celebrate the human imagination and tell a story.

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