The Two Towers; One Freepers Review

How does one begin to discuss a film that is at it's essence not a film in the way most people understand. There can be no mistaking, those who do not have an understanding of who these characters are, either from viewing the first movie or by reading the books, cannot begin to catch up with this movie. In that understanding, this movie cannot and does not stand on it's own. Unlike other "middle installments" (The Empire Strikes Back, The Temple of Doom, The Godfather Part II) this film is not a complete story, and for some non-book fans that will be a serious problem.

The second problem with the film is the unrelenting pace by which things happen. I say that it is a problem, but not in a bad way. It's like having a girlfriend or wife that is so attractive that other men are constantly staring. Or having your stock portfolio increase so much that the SEC investigates. You know, it's a problem, but not one you want to be rid of. The film is fast. Let me make that clear, it is F A S T.

Imagine the Die Hard movies all in 90 minutes. Bruce takes care of Alan Rickman and frees the skyscraper in 30 minutes before taking on rogue Special Forces at JFK and blowing up their plane at the 60 minute mark and then jumping in a cab with Sam Jackson to foil another group of terrorists in the city in another half hour. But don't cut any scenes.

The third problem, and again this is from someone who is very familiar with the books, is the uneveness of the story. This actually is a real problem, and why the film seems a bit choppy at time. Unfortunately, this is the good Professors doing and he left himself an out that Jackson couldn't take. The Frodo storyline is a much more contemplative storyline than the other two and feels much more mellow and sinister. Tolkien worked around this by keeping it seperate in his storytelling; Jackson had no such luxury. A fault with the film, but oddly enough the fault lies in not the director nor the material but rather in the medium itself.

Wow, sounds like I had a lot of problems with the film, doesn't it. Well, no. In fact quite the opposite. The problem with reviewing this film is there is such a cornucopia of real magnificant things that it is easier to recognize that which didn't work instead of that which did. Imagine talking about Ben-Hur without mentioning the chariot race. What a magnificant piece of film making! The Two Towers has so many "chariot race" type scenes that it would be impossible to describe them all and diminish them if you just took a sampling.

Absolutely the best film of the year, and that includes fan favorites such as Spiderman and critics favorites such as The Hours or Far From Heaven. Sadly, the problems with the film will stick out in the minds of many due to the consistantly excellent qualities that permeate this work of art. For that reason, I think that the academy might overlook many of the great accomplishments of this film. That is very dissapointing, because Andy Serkis, Howard Shore (whose score works much better in this film for me than in the first film), and especially Peter Jackson deserve to be holding little gold statues in March.

THE BAD:
There were so many problems, I'll try to be brief.
1. There were several lighting problems in the film that resulted in a 'washed out' scene. There are two reasons this occured - one, noone bothered to bring a light meter, or two, there was something in the background that the editor did not want you to see and could not remove the scene.

Didn't notice this. Well, except for one particular scene when Gandalf appears in Fangorn Forest.

2. The scenes with Arwen are 11 minutes and 20 seconds of wasted film. It adds nothing, means nothing, and made most people around me start looking at their watches, the ceiling, or go the bathroom.

Somewhat agree. The story seemed to move the slowest at these points.

3. Gimli was already absurd in his situation. He did not need to be made into a baffoon by bad one liners and prat falls as well.

I thought his comedy, was for the most part, quite natural. I doubt he spends much time riding horses or doing long distance cross-country racing, so he was way out of his element and relieved the burden somewhat with humor.

4. Since when are Elrond and Galadriel telepathic?

I guess they're not, but it was Galadriel who sent the elves to Helm's Deep, not Elrond, so that may not be what the scene was trying to portray.

5. The characters apparently forgot their personalities from the first movie - Sam was a jerk, Frodo was an arse, Merry and Pippin were totally inconsequential. Aragorn forgot he was supposed to be a leader and Gandalf was grinning all the time (was he high?).

Highly disagree. Character development on all sides. Frodo under the influence of the ring, Sam getting more brave while at the same time sensing that they will not survive this, Merry and Pippin actually became something of a hero for their trickery of the Ents, Aragorn became more like a king and less like a antisocial ranger, and Gandalf played perfectly like someone who had died, went to heaven, and came back with a renewed sense of purporse and more confidence in their abilities.

6. The orc army at Helms Deep arrived empty handed - but suddenly were able to produce massive (metal) seige ladders.

We weren't shown the whole entire army up close, not a problem here.

7. They blasted the outer walls - which crushed half the attackers - but the orcs numbers were replenished immediately - and the giant rubble was gone!

No, only a handfull of orcs were affected. The entire force was a good few hundred meters in length.

8. Legolas stair surfing??? Please......

This was cool.

9. I think the horses of Rohan must be made of very sharp materials - when the 6 riders rode out through the orcs - every orc that was even brushed lightly by a horse died.

This part of the movie needed expanding. More of the end of the battle needed to be on film. Like at least 10 minutes more.

10. Faromir...who would have thought that he could have been interpreted so badly on film?

Haven't read the book.

- I could go on like this for hours but instead i'll give equal time to the Good-
1. The first 10 minutes is incredible! The fight between Gandalf and the Balrog will be a classic forever.

Nice, but could've been better. How did they end up high on the mountain peaks after falling into the depths of that chasm for minutes?

3. Anthony Serkis' voice characterization of Gollum were perfection - match that with a very believeable CGI and you've got the best character in the entire film.

The one part where I thought for sure would suck. It rocked.

4. Eowyn was incredible as well. Her acting is unmatched in the film.

Didn't really do anything for me. More of this could've been cut to add a longer Isenguard sequence, or Shelob.

5. The ents and the attack on the Orthanc were likewise beyond expectations albeit the were very short scenes.

The high point of the movie for me.

7. Grima Wormtongue was everything you expected to hate - great acting.

Typical slimy villian. Should not have been let go, but that was in the book and would've been too much of a departure.

8. Beautiful scenery and flyovers.

Not as much as FOTR, but that movie had much more varied scenery to chew on.

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