Posted on 12/05/2002 11:03:56 AM PST by sourcery
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
Cast (Major Roles Only)
Elijah Wood .... Frodo Baggins
Ian McKellen .... Gandalf the White
Viggo Mortensen .... Aragorn
Sean Astin .... Samwise 'Sam' Gamgee
Billy Boyd .... Peregrin 'Pippin' Took
Liv Tyler .... Arwen Undómiel
John Rhys-Davies .... Gimli, son of Glóin/Treebeard (voice)
Dominic Monaghan .... Meriadoc 'Merry' Brandybuck
Christopher Lee .... Saruman the White
Miranda Otto .... Éowyn
Brad Dourif .... Gríma Wormtongue
Orlando Bloom .... Legolas Greenleaf
Cate Blanchett .... Galadriel
Karl Urban .... Éomer
Bernard Hill .... Théoden, King of Rohan
Director:
Peter Jackson
A review by Ronald Epstein
One ring to rule them all,
One ring to find them,
one ring to bring them all and in
the darkness bind them.
I have just returned from a major city private studio screening of the most antipated film of this year. I'll cut to the chase and tell all of you up front that The Two Towers is indeed as sensational as some of the earliest reviews have indicated. Whether it's better than the first film is debatable -- but it certainly is just as good.
In what had to be the riskiest endeavor in the history of motion pictures, New Line Cinema took the gamble of a lifetime by greenlighting Peter Jackson's $310 million Lord Of The Rings epic. It would take a 15-month shoot for the director to lense the three films that make up J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical LOTR trilogy. Last year's first installment, Fellowship Of The Ring, became the second highest grossing film of 2001, grossing $860 million worldwide and garnering 13 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Certainly not a bad payoff for a longshot.
The Two Towers picks up exactly where Fellowhip Of The Ring left off. Sadly, there is no opening narration by Cate Blanchett, but according to a recent interview, this is exactly the way Peter Jackson wanted the film to begin. Without giving away too much of the plot, I'll talk a little about the beginning of the film. Starting high above Middle Earth, the camera moves backwards against its snowy peaks. There's a flashback of Gandalf fighting the Balrog, but this time we find out what happens as they fall into the fiery depths. Suddenly, Frodo awakens as if it were all a dream. He is with Samwise Gamgee, almost exactly where we left them, but this time they are not alone. Gollum has found them, and its not long before the slithering creature pounces upon them, trying to steal his "precious" ring. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli set out in pursuit of the Orcs who have captured Merry and Pippin. Merry and Pippin narrowly escape the clutches of the Orcs only to find themselves in the thickened woods. So begins this nearly 3-hour adventure that is far more darker than the original film. Gone is the green Shire with all its charm. In fact, there is nothing charming about this film. It's so dark and brutal that viewers are literally brought to the edge of their seats with the film's high-tech battles that will have their jaws dropping to the floor.
So what impressed me most about this film? The fact that Peter Jackson has once again created a believable Middle Earth that seems to sprout from our most inner imaginations. My favorite scene in the entire film is one where Gollum leads Frodo and Samwise through a dangerous marsh with flaming fire and thick fog. The waters that surround it reveal the faces of the dead. Suddenly, overhead, a Ringwrathe appears riding a winged creature. As our heroes hide in the marshes, you can feel the chills running up your spine as the swooping sounds of the bird's large swing span seem to pan across the theater. Of course, nothing can come close to the film's climatic Battle for Helms Deep. You can feel the intensity building as you hear a thunderous roar while watching an endless black sea of an approaching Orc army, stomping their weapons across the ground. The battle itself is perhaps one of the grandest of its kind ever seen with its onslaught of slinging arrows and ladders of Orcs that catapult themselves up the fortress walls.
The CGI is every bit as impressive as I had expected it to be, most notably, the creature Gollum, who is perhaps the most amazing CGI character ever brought to the screen. Sometimes hideous, other times lovable, this creature proves that CGI cannot only be tastefully done, but such a character can dominate a film and actually be liked -- unlike that other CGI character we all hated from Star Wars: Episode I. The battle scenes with its thousands of CGI added armies looks quite believable here. The only problem I had was with the Treebeard, one of the Ents who are considered the shepherds of the forest. Though the walking and talking tree effects themselves were often quite good, these weren't my favorite scenes in the movie. They often felt out of place. The effect scenes involving Pip and Merry being held within its branches often look as if it was being done in front of blue screen.
Another problem with The Two Towers is that it tends to drag in many areas. Though Fellowhip of the Ring took its time telling a story, this film gives us epic battle scenes sandwiched between scenes of weighted dialogue that just seem to go on forever. There's some really great side stories involving Grima Wormtongue, the King's advisor, but some of it seems to go on much longer than it should. I can imagine how hard it must be to properly pace a film that has such an immense story to tell.
As expected, Howard Shore's score so beautifully compliments this film. The musical theme doesn't seem to be much different here than The Fellowhip of the Ring, but I was sort of taken back by a beautiful song that appears on the film's soundtrack, called Gollum's Song. Those of you that have heard it know how haunting its words are, and I was sort of hoping that the song could be used somewhere in the context of the film. Unfortunately, you'll only hear it if you sit through the film's ending credits.
Once again the camera twists and turns from different angles giving us those really cool rush-in closeups. It's not done as impressively as the first film, and there's less of that kind of camera work here. I think Jackson was smart to keep that kind of camera work low-key as too much of it gets to be tiresome. Frodo never puts the ring on his finger, so we don't see any of the chilling images that were so memorable in the first film. I think most of the "wow" factor here comes from the battle for Helms Deep. It's a long, breathtaking battle that will be talked about for a long time.
Audience reaction? The audience was mostly quiet throughout. There were many chuckles that came from watching Gimli make a pig out of himself with food or not being able to stand high enough to see an approaching army. Many of the gasps I heard from the crowd came when Legolas mounted his horse. It's a feat that must be seen to believed! I also heard many of the women doing a lot of "oohs" and "awwws" during the scenes with Gollum. The creature can really be cute at times. As the credits rolled, the audience clapped loudly. The exit chatter I heard was very positive.
Despite these very few nitpicky complaints, I managed to find The Two Towers to be a grand epic, wide in scope, and intimately poetic.
On a scale of 1-5, I give this film a 5.
Opens December 18th, 2002
 Ring Ping!! |
I'm so excited!
I dont get this. I have read the books up until the storming of Isengard, but this makes no sense. Can someone explain this to me.(Dont worry about spoliers for me).
TTT Video Clips Galore
Arathorn @ 11:38 am EST
Ringer Spy Peter has done a great job of digitising a clip of PJ's appearance on the Today programme - as well as three clips of interest from the WB's "Return To Middle Earth".
PJ's Appearance on Today (4 minutes, 6.4Mb Quicktime) [More]
Beginning of the Warg Attack (2:29 minutes, 7.8Mb Quicktime) [More]
Approach to Edoras (58 seconds, 1.9Mb Quicktime) [More]
Fangorn (1:15 minutes, 2.9Mb Quicktime) [More]
Great program!!!
They also showed a clip of an unconscious Aragorn being swept down rapids. Apparently during the filming, he almost drowned, and hearing Viggo Mortenson recount the incident was really interesting.
In one part of the film Gollum catches a fish. They showed how the actor who does Gollum for the CGI Gollum had to do four takes in a stream which they had set up big fans, and doused with fire hoses to melt the snow which covered the stream. He said it was so cold, he felt as if he had been hit in the chest.
I'm not sure if it will re-air, but it was interesting. Orlando Bloom who plays Legolos did his own stunts, and has become an accomplished rider, amazing in that he showed the scar where he had surgery when he broke his back just over a year before the beginning of the filming of Fellowship of the Rings.
They showed this clip in the WB special last night (check your local listings!). And, yes, it is difficult to describe. Orlando Bloom underwent back surgery only one year prior to the filming of LOTR (he showed off his scar). The doctor's told him he would never walk again.
In this particular scene, he mounts the horse, while running in the opposite direction and swings himself around 180 degrees in mid air. Quite impressive!
OOps, You type faster than I do..It was a great show, and I wish it would air again.
I just started the video game last night. I'm more into rpgs than fighting games but so far so good.
Do you recall them mentioning that they recently reassembled the cast to do some additional film footage? Did they say why?
I already anticipate that once the third and final installment is released, many of us will go into LOTR withdrawal. That happened to me years ago, when I finished reading the trilogy.
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