The long-awaited fan movie The Hunt for Gollum is now online. Many fans were concerned that DailyMotion.com, which is hosting the film, would not have enough bandwidth for the demand, but as of 2:00 pm EDT, things are going swimmingly with apparently no problems. (I was, however, having trouble accessing the main site, TheHuntforGollum.com.) The movie was scheduled to go online at 12:00 pm EDT, and after ten minutes, when I got online to see it, the number of views had already surpassed 7,500. After two hours, the views had passed the 20,000 mark.

The BBC online article about the movie, published Thursday, was right to point out that the film followed closely Peter Jackson's style and vision. Those who are fans of Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy should enjoy this tremendously. Even the music, though all original to avoid copyright pitfalls, is reminiscent of Howard Shore's score.

The question is, Did the movie depict the spirit of JRR Tolkien as well? Some of this may depend upon your view of the treatment of prisoners and war in general. How would Tolkien have handled the actual capture of Gollum and Aragorn's discovery of orcs on the loose? Some may grimace at how this is handled.

Gollum himself is presented as a CG character when he is briefly seen. How they are able to "show" him without actually showing him I will leave to the movie to reveal. It was rather innovative how they were able to portray him for a good part of the movie without actually showing him—but you will have to watch it to find out.

The overall quality of the sound and cinematography is excellent, while the story seems to me a bit thin. If I were a film teacher (God help the industry if that ever happens), I would give the movie an A- for technical merit, and a B- for the story.

If I am correct that the film is anywhere near that good, it is well worth 40 minutes of your time if you are a fan of Tolkien and/or Jackson's trilogy. (The movie lasts about 34 minutes—38 minutes with the credits.) And you can't beat the price to find out.

The Hunt for Gollum is available free online at the following sites:

• TheHuntforGollum.com
• DailyMotion.com

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