The Hunt for Gollum

This movie was made for $3,000 and is being offered for FREE! around the internet. Simply it has unbelievable production values for a budget of only three grand.

It tells the brief story of Strider as he treks across Middle Earth to find Gollum and unveil the mysteries behind the ring of power.

Story aside the movie was very professional, cinematography, fight choreography, editing, sound, and the acting all have giant check marks by their side. The whole movie I was thinking, "no way this was made for $3,000, no way." The volunteers who worked on this movie must have worked very hard to get the finished product as polished as it is.

Many technical elements of the film are borrowed from other films (mostly Lord of the Rings but there was also some music borrowed from Clint Mansell's Requiem for a Dream score,) but don't let that turn you away, after all it's for fans, by fans.

An absolute must see for anyone who wants to be entertained, 40 minutes and it's free. Watch the first few minutes or the trailer and you'll be hooked.

Kudos to these guys, lots and lots of kudos. I hope we see more films produced like this.

I was truly surprised and very happy to realise that this film was actually very good!

Expecting a well meaning but very flawed fan piece, I have to say my presumptions proved to be nonsense. The hunt for Gollum is a masterpiece in what can be done with talent and determination, regardless of money. It looks good, sounds good, is well written and even has a great fight scene with an Ork war-band.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TEAM BEHIND THIS! Excellent job, thanks a lot for all your hard work!

BTW. for anyone who doesn't know, you can watch it on the official website in HD for free: http://thehuntforgollum.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html

I have watched the LOTR films, and read The Hobbit. I have not even read the LOTR books, although I do have them in a pile of waiting to be read books...I read quite a bit, but...eh to be honest I never got into LOTR. I'm sorry. I like the fantasy genre, I like the story, I've read so many series within this type of genre. But I've just never gotten deep into LOTR. I will say I did enjoy the movie series and the original book that started it all.

Why do I say this? Because I want people to know I'm not just some die-hard fan of the genre period. I don't really follow it except as a media thing.

My point? This short movie was damned impressive. I hear it was done on a shoe-string budget by honest fans of the film, and damn it...this thing looks legit. This is seriously talent being played out here. I enjoyed the camera work, I enjoyed the acting, I enjoyed the scenery, the story, the casting...well I couldn't find something wrong with it.

Look at my past reviews and comments on movies. I am not an avid reviewer or commenter on this genre...and lets be honest, a lot of my reviews plain out suck. But I caught this short, and I was impressed. I honestly would not mind seeing fans like this be allowed to write and direct an entire shot-by-shot series, or movie franchise. They just flat out did it well.

I give this two-thumbs up, if you are a fan of LOTR, then this is a must see. If you're like me, just a casual fan...this is still a super fun thing to watch.

Like I've said...I'm impressed. I've seen so many indie films that have been such garbage, with much larger budgets than this. This is just properly done.

Nuff sed.

This is a wonderful fan-made film that really surprised me. A friend recommended me to view this one - glad I did.

Well acted, beautiful costumes and set designs, good directing and the CGI Gollum was impressive. The script is a little bland, needs a little bit more spice, but the action makes up for it. Overall it's worth watching if you enjoy Tolkien and fan inspired film-works.

8/10

For a fan film, this was amazing. Best home brewed cinema I've seen in a good long while. Hell for most of the movies I've seen lately this was great. The actor portraying Aragorn did a smashing job. He carried the forty minute mini-epic.

The locations were astounding and often times I wondered if they'd filmed at the same locations as Peter Jackson's films. Gollum's voice was perfect and what CGI I saw was implemented usefully and without excess.

A good look into an unexplored part of the Middle Earth mithos. It gave them some room to work with their own originality. Not of the scope of LotR of course but still, very good, worth the admission price of nothing and I will be watching it again, likely very soon. If you liked the Lord of the Rings films, or better yet, read the novels, give this a go. You won't be disappointed.