Hunt For Gollum: The Lord of The Rings fan film that is causing a stir
Today sees the release of The Hunt For Gollum, a 40-minute fan movie based on The Lord of The Rings. The trailers have been doing the rounds online for a while now, and have had Lord of the Rings fans debating the project in depth. While many fan films aren’t worth the bandwidth they are streamed on, this one does actually look rather good. While it is far from official, the project is tolerated by New Line (as many fan films are) as long as it doesn’t make any money.
This is cool, as the film has been made by fans, for fans of the Lord of the Rings movies and the legendary books, for the simple reason that they wanted to show their appreciation in a very unique way.
So how does it look? While it is clearly made on a shoestring budget, you have to be impressed by the spine of the people responsible for it. The action sequences look well choreographed, the CG looks good considering the budget, and the editing is almost professional in its skill. While it will be odd for fans to see their favourite characters played by unknown actors, there is much to enjoy here.
The filmmakers have gone out of their way to recreate the film of peter Jackson’s epic adaptations, and have achieved a great deal with the look and the visual nods to those three monumental films. If nothing else, it should help pass the time a little until Guilermo Del Toro brings us the first of the two Hobbit films. The film is based on the Appendices to The Lord of The Rings, and thus it is clear to see that these fans mean business, as they have done their utmost to be as close to the source material as possible.
Fan films are a great part of geek culture that have been around for a very long time. Yes, some are terrible, but others can be a breeding ground for new talent to emerge in the acting, filmmaking and special effects fields.
Check out the trailer:
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