It's a pity they borrowed so much from Peter Jackson's "look and feel", (f'rinstance the cuts back and forth just before the orc attack being very similar to the Uruk Hai attack at Parth Galen in
The Fellowship, Gollum's voice and appearance), instead of doing something more original, but, hey, it was a
really good pastiche.
I did like the wispy black smoke effect they used to represent what I took to be multiple Nazgul passing by.
nitpicks:
- That
potato sack trap is totally implausible. I'm pretty sure it only works in cartoons. I guess it was a convenient way to avoid having to render Gollum into most of the live action scenes.
- How could the Nazgul not have heard Gollum as he went by?
- The fight choreography was also implausible. That bit with Aragorn just blocking the Orc boss's weapon with his sword for, like, forever - just wouldn't happen. One or the other should have disengaged (or whipped out a dagger, or kneed the other guy) after one second.
- Long before that though, one of the orcs should have grabbed the unattended Gollum while the rest surrounded and dispatched Aragorn. I guess they were using Kung Fu movie choreography. Henchmen first, one by one, then the showdown with The Boss.
- If there is a metal-on-metal "schwing" sound when you draw your weapon, then the scabbard is very poorly designed. Hard on the blade, and not very stealthy. Then again, all Foley artists make them that way, so, whatever.
