tooltoter I was skeptical of this film at first, fearing that a LOTR wannabe had gotten hold of a camera and had put together a less-than-stellar movie with a title that would rope in many fans of the classic trilogy. Upon reading a few reviews that lauded the film, despite its meager budget, I decided to watch it. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was very impressed. I thought the story was well-written (duh, it was written by J.R.R. Tolkien), the cinematography was excellent, the make-up authentic, and the acting very plausible. The film was worth every minute of my time. The special effects crew did an outstanding job. And the score was something that would have made Howard Shore proud. Hats off to the entire cast and crew.

Ann Yard "The Hunt For Gollum" (THFG) is an extraordinary, spectacular fan film. Without a doubt, THFG is one of the top 10 fan films (through the end of 2009). Perhaps if I had paid $10 at a theater to watch this, and knew it cost $40,000,000 to create, I would be less impressed. But I still would have enjoyed watching it, and still would have considered it professional quality cinema... albeit rather short. It certainly leaves us wanting more, that's for sure.I am not a big fan of the "Lord Of The Rings" books or movies, though I did go watch the movies at the theater and enjoyed them. Truth be told, I'm not a fan of the "fantasy" genre - I'm primarily a fan of "realistic sci-fi", followed by "sci-fi", followed by "anything that unexpectedly knocks my socks off".This fan film "vaporized my socks", so I'm a fan of THFG on that score.Oh, and I must admit that I am also a fan of extraordinary fan films, and anything that is extraordinary. I suspect the reason I so appreciate extraordinary fan films is... their creation is almost like "sci-fi becomes real" --- almost like "seeing the impossible happen".To make this flick for $4000 USD is amazing. Frankly, I suspect few pros could make a movie like this for $4,000,000 --- 1000 times more.The casting and acting was excellent, the cinematography was excellent, the story was well conceived and extraordinarily well matched to available assets. For example, we see Gollum 3 times during the film created with very difficult, very time-consuming CGI (computer graphics). Between those 3 views, Gollum is very convincingly carried in a very convincing sack - which any rational human would do in those circumstances. This allows them to interact verbally, and Gollum struggles mightily and craftily to escape the sack by any means he can imagine.I'm fairly sure this fan film is in the top 5 of all fan films through 2009, though one or two other great ones might have escaped my view. Perhaps the best are:#1: Star Trek - "World Enough and Time" by www.StarTrekPhase2.com #2: Star Wars - "Revelations" #3: Lord of the Rings - "The Hunt For Gollum" #4: Star Wars - "Reign of the Fallen" #5: hmmmmmmmm - too many vying for fifth place to decide.Watch www.thehuntforgollum.com and enjoy. Especially if you've ever tried to create even 1 minute of professional cinema, you'll socks will be blown off by what these talented and dedicated artists created for a a mind-boggling, amazingly frugal $4000.

Skippster This movie must be recommended to every Tolkien fan out there. But even people who don't consider themselves to be fans can be entertained for 40 minutes by this movie. Although it is said that the budget amounts to 3.000 pounds this film does not actually look like a low-budget flick. The work and preparation behind this movie (a "behind the scenes" is available somewhere) look almost professional. The dedication of the team absolutely outweighs a big budget. Some shots of the landscape are quite amazing because they seem like original film locations (yet, I think they're not, of course). The CGI looks quite good, too. All in all this little fan made piece of Tolkien's world impressed me deeply. These guys should really think about producing something from the Silmarillion. ;)

santelmo2000s This Aragorn looks more Celtic than the original. Less 'dirty' and less 'savage'. But he shows great acting skills. The female also looks very convincing. And lovely. What a great starting point for their future acting careers!This story could be included as the original first part of the known trilogy pretty well... It matches with most of the visual and historical parts of the three movies.In what money and pros respects, I guess that this shows that fans have always played an important part of these LOTR films.Congratulations! You've made it! Good for all of us!