"If you can't find him ... no one can."
Hello everyone!
And not just any movie, but a fan-made movie to boot, because of course the fans would have gone ahead and done something big studios would only just recently figure out could be done.
Listen, no shade on anyone but, sometimes the fans do things first.
Better, might I add, than the big wigs!
But seeing as there's now been an official announcement that says this will clearly be a full-length feature film, I went back to watch this after not having seen it in literal years.
And I have to say it still holds up really well!
So buckle up and get out your pipes: we're headed back into Middle-Earth with The Hunt for Gollum.
I do have other Tolkien-related posts on this blog, so I'll be linking several down below that I feel make sense to be linked.
Otherwise, let's hop right in!
The Hunt for Gollum is a fan-made movie that released back in 2009 by The Independent Online Cinema, and it covers a bit of LOTR lore that's only really covered in the books during the Council of Elrond when Gandalf is explaining things to everyone.
Namely, though, what it's about is what the title says: it's Aragorn (Adrian Webster) traipsing around Middle-Earth to find Gollum, after Gandalf worries that he can't be left to wander on his own.
Especially since there's still so many unknown variables at the time!
Therefore, our fan-made movie begins with just this: ole Greybeard and Aragorn meeting up (at the Prancing Pony), discussing the problem, and our Ranger volunteering to go ahead and track this weasely creature down for his bestie.
This then begins the series of shots of him walking about, stooping, crouching, hunting, you name it, you probably get it.
Eventually (after we see a scene or two of Gollum actually sneaking around and stealing food), Aragorn tracks his prey down, lures him in with fish, and nabs him in a sack.
Then it's back to the north with the two of them, and there's some of the funniest scenes of this entire sequence with sack-a-Gollum:
1) Gollum throwing a full-on tantrum that he's been caught and is now in a cloth sack, which considering the racket he makes in The Two Towers after being caught and tied up actually makes a lot of sense
2) Gollum singing to himself and sulkily demanding 'What' when Aragorn interrupts him by tugging on the sack to shut him up
3) Sack-a-Gollum trying his hardest to crawl away while still IN the sack, with Aragorn preparing for the night right beside him rolling his eyes in amusement.
I couldn't make this stuff up if I TRIED lol, it's hilarious!
Of course it wouldn't be easy, this is Middle-Earth, so naturally they run into some orcs (Aragorn pulls a full-on Assassin's Creed hero on two of them), our Ranger gets himself poisoned so that we get some nifty dream sequences of him with his lady-love, Arwen, and then to top it off a Black Rider pops up for a duel in the night!
Thankfully they're already on the outskirts of Mirkwood at the time, so the Elves living there come to the rescue and take them both to the palace, where Gandalf can have his long, exhausting hours with Gollum in the cell learning all there is about where the creature's been and what Sauron might be up to.
For the uninitiated: Gollum got caught in Mordor and was tortured to reveal what he knew, so now Sauron knows about the Ring, the Shire, and has sent his Nine Riders out to get his Precious back.
Alarmed, Gandalf now knows the Ring needs to hightail it outta there, so Aragorn advises him to send the Hobbits to Bree where he can look out for them.
At which point, we all know what happens - as in, Gandalf doesn't arrive on time, the Hobbits DO leave the Shire and land at Bree, and Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) drags the sorry lot to Rivendell.
But that's a story for another day!
For right now, it's enough to say that this low-budget film got pretty much everything right and has very few flaws, holding up really well even years past its release date. It's about 40 minutes long, and honestly?
I'm not sure how a full-length feature will cover this without it getting boring. It's a whole lot of Aragorn going up and down the wild hunting down a very sneaky little thing, and while the shots of the Three Hunters from Towers are great and all, they're not an hour long. I'm not sure, but hey, I want to be surprised. Maybe they'll add in more adventures on the way!
However you look at it though, it's undeniable that this HAS already been done before, and well.
I now need to go back to Born of Hope too, but that's for another day. For now, this is what I have for you, and I hope the rest of your week goes well! Check back here when I eventually review the official movie too, once it releases.
xx
*images and video not mine
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