The Balrog (Fellowship of the Ring)
“The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly onto the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm. From out of the shadow a red sword leaped flaming.”
The mastery of Weta Workshop throughout the production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is to be credited for bringing the massive scale and absolute darkness of Tolkien’s worldbuilding to life on film, and the entirely computer-generated beast of shadow that faces off against Gandalf the Grey still holds up in one of the most iconic moments in film of the last two decades. – Evan Griffin
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