National Review's Rod Dreher Reports on The Two Towers

National Review Online ^ | Dec. 4, 2002 | Rod Dreher

[The Iguana]

Rod Dreher (always a favorite around here) slips in a bit over at "The Corner about his junket to see The Two Towers - lucky dog:

"THE TWO TOWERS" [Rod Dreher]

Saw it tonight. I give it a B, but if I hadn't read the book first, I'd probably give it a strong A. It's three hours long, but that time flies by. The film barely stops, which you can understand inasmuch as they've got a hell of a lot of plot to get through. "The Two Towers" was my favorite of the trilogy, in part because I absolutely loved the Ents, and their world. There are Ents here, of course, but they get very short shrift. I realized while watching the movie that my favorite parts of the book were the poetic moments, when I was able to relax and take in the wondrously imaginative world Tolkien had created. In the film, it's all go, go, go -- which still makes for a pretty impressive film, but I could have used less action and more thought. If it sounds like I'm having trouble criticizing the movie, well, I am; I'm knocked flat by the fact that a movie version of "The Two Towers" that looks as good as this one got made. I think it only disappoints when compared to the book, a comparison as unfair as it is inevitable. Posted at 02:32 AM

P.S. TTT [Rod Dreher]

The fate of Saruman is far too hastily executed, if you ask me. But Gollum is pretty great. He looks like Steve Buscemi crossed with an elderly komodo dragon. Posted at 02:37 AM

MORE TWO TOWERS [Rod Dreher]

I've been at the junket this morning, and am pleased to report that the abbreviated treatment of Saruman's fate at movie's end was not the final word on the wicked wizard. Peter Jackson, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy director, made it clear that they jumbled a few events around from the book for the sake of film storytelling. Though he was dealt with for good in the second book of the trilogy, we almost certainly will see more of Saruman in the third movie. Same with Shelob, whose appearance concludes Book Two, but who doesn't appear in Film Two (which makes narrative sense, actually -- her debut at the end of Book Two was a publisher's addition). Also, Jackson said a number of the slow but satisfying scenes he cut to keep the narrative running at a breakneck pace (which mars the movie, I think) will be present on the DVD director's cut. So Ent fans like me will see more of our arboreal heroes then.
Posted at 02:42 PM

[The Iguana]

Ring Ping!

[The Iguana]

P.S. I had not realized (this surprises me) that the Shelob chapter was tacked on to TTT by the publishers, not Tolkien.

[HairOfTheDog]

Dude.... you pinged yourself in that Ring ping!

Heh....

[HairOfTheDog]

The whole idea of breaking the story into 3 parts irked Tolkien... he was against it. He thought it should be published as one novel, and the publishers sortof forced the split.

The three titles were also the invention of the publisher. He didn't like the names of each book... especially The Two Towers. He thought (correctly) that people would be confused about what towers were being referred to, due to the numerous towers in the story. He was right. The film called out the Two Towers to be Orthanc (Saruman) and Barad-dur (Sauron). The title actually refers to Orthanc and Cirith Ungel, the watchtower where Frodo and Sam end up at the end of TTT.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Though he was dealt with for good in the second book of the trilogy, we almost certainly will see more of Saruman in the third movie.

What?!?

[HairOfTheDog]

And for what it is worth, I am glad Shelob was put off till RoTK... I could not have beared a whole year of Frodo thought to be dead and/or, found not to be dead, but captured. I hurry through Choice of Master Samwise... What a cliffhanger that would have been! It would break my heart to be left there for a year!

[HairOfTheDog]

He was confused....

[ecurbh]

Ring Ping!!

[paul544]

Don't mean to get on my soapbox here, but just so you folks know, theonering.net, which WAS a great place to go for updates, has shamelessly let their anti-american, leftist, agenda show. They called Vigo Mortensen's anti-american tirade on Charlie Rose, "bold" and "brave". And then they deleted a thread I started on the board, bringing this to their attention. Do as you will, but allow me to recommend not visiting there.

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh.... I will let them do what they do best: Report Lord of the Rings news. I am not going to boycott them any more than I would boycott the film because of Viggo. I love the film too much to miss it. Not for them, for me!

[Skywalk]

What did Viggo say and to what did it pertain(meaning was it general, specific, a "tirade" or gentle criticism, as even we are wont to do?)

[HairOfTheDog]

There was a thread: (more than one thread actually) An Insult to Both Tolkien and America

[Skywalk]

ugh...so disappointing.

[HairOfTheDog]

Mildly disappointing for me... I posted what I really think about it on that thread...

[xsmommy]

i can't wait to see this. i bought the dvd of LOTR last weekend and the kids and i watched it in preparation for seeing the next one.

[austinTparty]

Two weeks on the button and counting...

[paul544]

He wore a shirt that said in big bold letters "No Blood for Oil". Then he went on to say how America should not have attacked Afgahnistan. Typical liberal BS.

[The Iguana]

"Brave." Yes, brave new territory he has charted there. Unprecedented for an actor to give voice to political opinions, let alone left wing ones.

I don't care if he's a Heston clone. It's not appropriate in that setting.

Not that it will keep me from seeing the movie. If I let politics determine my moviegoing habits I would not see much at all.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

The whole idea of breaking the story into 3 parts irked Tolkien... he was against it.

I'm sure you know this, H of the D, but as long as I went thru the hassle of looking it up last night I may as well post it now. Tolkien, like you said, did want LOTR to run as a single novel. This novel would be broken into six books, entitled as follows:
I - "The First Journey"
II - "The Journey of the Nine Companions"
III - "The Treason of Isengard"
IV - "The Journey of the Ringbearers"
V - "The War of the Ring" and
VI - "The End of the Third Age"

Why such a brilliant writer couldn't come up with a synonym for "journey" I'll never know, but I guess it doesn't matter since these titles don't really exist much outside his manuscripts at the Marquette University collection.

Incidentally, I read that when the trilogy idea was forced upon him, he was against calling the third part "The Return of the King," feeling that it gave away too much. Instead he would have used "The War of the Ring."