He reminds me of James Carville. Separated at birth...
Posted on 12/18/2002 8:15:42 AM PST by egarvue
Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a midnight showing of The Two Towers. What follows is my attempt at a spoiler-free review.
Of three books of the trilogy, "The Two Towers" was always my favorite - I looked forward to the movie in fevered anticipation. I decided to throw caution to the wind and go to the midnight showing; I knew I would be hurting at work today (quick nurse, my caffine IV is low!) I was very surprised to get to the theater in our small city and find it utterly packed, my friend and I were lucky to get a seat! After a few forgettable previews, the lights dimmed and it started and all chatter stopped dead. It was the best audience to watch it with - who else but fans would pack a theatre at 12:01 AM?
The film opens with a bang, and my oh my, what a bang it was! Events moved swiftly from there. We are soon then reunited with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, trying to rescue Merry and Pippin from the orcs. Once again, Viggo Mortensen completely embodies the character of Aragorn. Throughout the first film, he was somewhat of a cipher, the mystery man. In this film, he is The Man - you see the king growing in him as he now leads not a band of rag-tag adventurers on a desperate quest; he is leading men to war in defense of the kingdom of Rohan against the forces of the evil wizard Saruman.
And oh, what a war. This is by far much, much more action packed than the first one. From small skirmishes to the huge battle of Helm's Deep, you can feel the adrenaline just rushing through you. No other film could ever hope to top it, except maybe next year's "Return of the King."
But it is in the story of Frodo and Gollum that the real emotional heart of the film rests. The first time I saw Gollum, I noted that "hey, that's pretty good CGI." About two minutes later, I never thought of Gollum as anything other than a real, living being. Put aside all other comparisons to other CGI characters like what you'd find in the recent Star Wars or Harry Potter flicks. Gollum is not a throwaway character to showcase the latest computer technology; the technology is merely a mask that the actor Andy Serkis wears to portray Gollum. Gollum is so well written, so well acted that the technical achievement takes a distant back seat to the conflicted, evil, sad, and pitiable character.
There is so much action, so much detail to cover, that it would be easy for the film to lose its heart, and turn into just another fantasy action flick. Just when you think that the action is overwhelming, the film reminds you that the battle against evil is also a battle against temptation and despair. Good will triumph, but only if those fighting for it keep fighting no matter the odds, even if it is certain death. We are shown how the frightened men and boys stand and fight and die at Helm's Deep to protect the women and children; we are shown the frightened faces of the women and children as they know the cost their husbands, sons and brothers are paying. Time and again, the evil ring tempts Frodo toward despair, only to have him pull back from the brink. Even stalwart Legolas almost gives in to despair. Yet courage, valor, and sacrifice (as embodied in the characters of Aragorn and Sam) defeat temptation and despair. Even though the cost is great, the battle against evil can be won. It is this aspect of the film that most affected me, and sets the film apart as truly epic classic.
I am not a Tolkien purist; I realize that due to the medium of film, changes need to be made. The three-part storyline that occurs in The Two Towers guarantees that some portion of the story will get shorted - there is simply not enough time to cover it all. The storyline of Merry, Pippin and the Ents suffer the most compression, disappointing, but totally and understandably necessary. Other changes to the story were small enough that I found them insignificant. I'm sure that like the first film, some Tolkien fans will find something to gripe about. Ignore them - like the first film, The Two Towers captures the essence and soul of Tolkien.
The music score was very good, more of a continuation of the first film's score than something completely new. The film's technical achievements cannot be overstated. In my mind, I knew they made extensive use of computer generated imagery. But to my eyes, it was flawless. My brain knew that the enormous battle of Helm's Deep was created on a computer. My eyes told me that that was a lie - they'd gone out and found about 10,000 orcs and used them as extras. Once again, the second installment of Lord of the Rings should sweep every technical Oscar.
I don't however, think the film will win Best Picture. Why not? The story's not finished - for that, we'll have to wait until next December's "Return of the King." This was the middle episode, it leaves you aching for more. As Gandalf said "The battle for Helm's Deep is over. The battle for Middle Earth has just begun." If The Two Towers could pack so much war, darkness, love, valor and courage into one film, I shudder in anticipation as to what the final film will bring.
Unlike other "special editions" in which the disc might contain separate tracks for deleted scenes, this is another complete version of the film. All cut scenes are integrated back into the feature.
In my opinion, this is a better version than the original release.
He reminds me of James Carville. Separated at birth...
I did enjoy the review.
I've always thought the resemblance between Gollum and Carville was more striking.
Ain't that the truth!
Not yet ready to say this movie was the most brilliant ever. I still have a few little problems with the first film. But by no means am I a purist. I thought most of the changes were perfectly within reason. MOST.
The only problem was that some FReeper posted a comment that Elijah Wood as Frodo bothered him because he "always looks like he took a dump in his pants and is afraid that somebody is going to find out."
That was a little distracting because it's absolutely true! LOL.
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