MovieChat Forums > The Hunt for Gollum (2009) Discussion > Fantastic production, mediocre story

Fantastic production, mediocre story

posted 15 years ago by oyrp70-1
1 reply | jump to latest

This was clearly an act of love, and meticulous care was taken in location selection, costume, and visual effects. Minute-for-minute it cost 0.025% as much as The Lord of the Rings, but looks good enough for the big screen.

The acting and pacing were more than sufficient, with a strong lead.

However, the choice of story leads immediately to a big problem. As told in the book, there's really no conflict in the hunt for Gollum. This film's creators had to invent conflict via orcs and a Nazgul, which felt as forced as it was.

Also, there are multiple shots and lines which are lifted precisely from the LotR movies. They are effective for the same reasons they were in those movies, but it brought me out of the story. This isn't to say that everything was just copied, most of Aragorn's dialogue and mannerisms were original and interesting, particularly when he discovers the other ranger.

The point I'm left with is that these filmmaker's talents would have been far better spent on a better story. Something farther from the movies would have lent itself to more creativity in dialogue. There are unflimed stories better suited to a short subject in Tolkien's universe, such as the story of Turin, the kinslaying in Valinor, the forging of the rings, the disaster of the gladden fields, etc.

I hope the crew turns to a better story (Tolkien or otherwise) once they have a well-earned rest.

[–] fiwen1 15 years ago

I agree, I thought this was fantastically filmed and well produced, but the story was a bit of a let down. Although Gandalf hints that Aragorn had experienced severe trials to find Gollum, this isn't really what I had in mind. (I did always figure he met up with some Nazgul, to spark his later comment at the Prancing Pony, but in a more deadly and terrifying encounter.)

Being set at the same time as LR, it is made very easy to make comparisons with those films. While most of the time I was impressed with how well they replicated that material (and you have to remember that some of the dialogue was lifted straight out of the book and hence couldn't really be changed), in some ways I wish they had chosen a different Tolkien story to develop, and could be more original, as they were in the other excellent fan film (which some of the same people were involved in) Born of Hope, which I feel is better than this film precisely for that reason (It tells the story of Arathorn and Gilraen).

Despite this I still feel that for the budget it had, this film is amazing and deserves to be shown on a big screen. It is much better than some of the drivel in cinemas today, and worthy of recognition.