Watched the first 22 minutes of it last night.
Definitely weaker than The Hunt for Gollum – there’s more characters and threads of plot running around, and the acting is weaker. It’s still well done. But it certainly makes one appreciate the movies more. The movie actors didn’t merely sell their roles with clever dialogue and wonderful emoting, they also did it with body language. When Viggo Mortensen or Sean Bean lift a sword, they do it with the casual manner of one long used to carrying such a thing – and with a craftsman’s awareness of his tool. When Aragorn crouches down to find something on the trail, he does so with an economy of movement that suggests that he is well used to doing so.
The actors here fail to do these sort of things, probably without noticing that they were failing. Thing should have been workshopped a lot more.
The other issue is the writing. There is a narrator, and there is dialogue. Oddly, despite what the critics say, Tolkien never really over-wrote. He’d never use 10 words when 8 would do. (He wasn’t Hemmingway, but who is?). Some of the narration and dialogue is just too wordy.
Still, it looks great. And they made a no-budget movie look a million dollars. Jackson should hire these people.
Gavin
