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.

I saw "Two Towers" Sunday night, and I only now got time to post my review. In one word, "brilliant."

My biggest disappointment was that it ended. If the projectionist had yelled, "Hey, I've got "The Return of the King" here, who wants to see it?" I would've have stayed another three hours for that.

Merry Christmas, by the way!

Okay, there are a couple of flaws, but what movie is perfect? Take "The Godfather." Suddenly, with no warning, the Corleones are abruptly moving the clan to Nevada!

The batle of Helm's Deep was the highlight. Best battle scene EVER! Although, Akiro Kurosawa's climactic battle in "Ran" comes close. However, the excitment level for me, and I guess most everyone else here, was greater. Helm's Deep was Good vs. Evil. In "Ran," a family--and a nation--was destroying itself.

I didn't have a problem with the Aragorn dream scene, after all, much of it was taken from the appendix of book three. Frodo and Sam had no business in Minas Tiritn. A better and more chilling ending would've been seeing Frodo captured in Shelob's lair, and skipping the showdown with the "Witch King" Nazgul.

Gollum was brilliant. Andy Serkis, even if he appears voice only, deserves a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination.

But I guess I'm nitpicking. Brilliant. Fabulous. And my wife gave me the box set of "Fellowship" for my birthday last week.

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