The Hunt for Gollum

Well, a few days ago Geno found out about this LOTR fan film called The Hunt for Gollum. I viewed the trailers, and though "Hey, this looks like it might be cool!" The very next day I went to the site again, and realized "It comes out today! In HD! For FREE! Cool..."

So, we hooked up Geno's MacBook Pro to our TV and sat back to watch it.

It wasn't the greatest film of all time. The story was a little weak, and it dragged at times, but for a fan film I thought it was awesome. It was like the LOTR fan film I always wanted to make. The acting was good, the landscape visual effects were good (the close-ups weren't bad, but they weren't great), the orcs' prosthetics were decent, and it was a cool filler for the LOTR story.

The battles were actually quite a bit bloodier than in the real films...at least from the orc side (no good guys get hurt, just the bad guys). I don't think it was necessary, and it actually took away from the LOTR feel because of that. Some of the shots were just plain nasty, honestly. And the orcs were a bit creepier than in the real films...

Now, little disclaimer here, I won't recommend or discourage this film. I know that no matter what I think, someone will always disagree in some way; so I don't really recommend or discourage most of the films that I watch.

All in all, I think The Hunt for Gollum is a worthy fan film with some awesome visual effects (and some just okay ones), that most LOTR fans will enjoy!

-Dominic