Gollum/Smeagol played by Andy Serkis/Weta SFX (Lord Of The Rings Trilogy)

“We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!”

Never before has a computer generated character come across the screen as so three dimensional.  There is never a moment where you ask yourself if Gollum is CGI because he is so realistic.  Played by Andy Serkis, this interpretation of a character that is so twisted and demented would be difficult to pull off by your most talented actor, and yet combined with technology and the amazing voice over and physicality of Andy Serkis; Gollum becomes one of the greatest good/evil character’s of all time.  Split personalities seem to be a running an intriguing concept, but doesn’t everyone have a light and dark side?  It just becomes that much more entertaining when people (or creatures) entertain those dark urges.  Gollum has the combination of being a brutal murderous creature, but also being the unfortunate victim of evil.  After years of isolation and personal loathing, only one thing belongs to both Gollum and Smeagal: The Precious.  Gollum’s death at the beginning of the many endings of Return Of The Ring is powerful because it represents an end to thousands of years of evil oppressiveness, and about ten hours of movie watching.  The ultimate evil “Ring” has finally been destroyed, along with the one who so desperately spent his life trying to get it, even though it killed him in more ways than one.  The shot of him falling to the molten lava of Mount Doom with his bright enormous eyes gleaming with joy is resounding.  When his hand still holding his “precious” after the rest of him is gone, Gollum has finally met his end, along with the thing that enabled his long and tortured life.

Gollum might be a movie monster, but his existence was pure tragedy.

“They cursed us.  Murderer they called us.  They cursed us and drove us away…..and we wept, Precious,, didn’t we?  We wept to be so alone.  And we only lust to catch fish so juicy and sweet.  And we forgot the taste of bread, the sound of trees, the softness of the wind.  We even forgot our own name.”

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