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Sam and Friends BookI thought I'd finally leave my full thoughts on The Two Towers. I've seen the film three times now, so I think I'm qualified enough to give a fairly comprehensive critique. Did I love the film? Yes. Did I enjoy it more than my 'precious' The Fellowship of the Ring? Not quite.
The Two Towers is a remarkable achievement, and being an avid reader of the books I can fully understand how Peter Jackson has said TTT was the hardest to adapt. The cross cutting between plot strands was never going to be an easy task, but I think the filmmakers have pulled it off well.
It's funny that I enjoy FOTR more so than TTT, as I enjoyed The Two Towers book more than FOTR. I think FOTR was marvelously adapted though, condensing much of the slower sections of the book.
However, TTT has much more story to tell, so obviously, a fair chunk would need to be left out. I think the filmmakers did the best they possibly could with this film, but I do think that as a whole, Return of the King will blow the first two films away. My biggest concern about ROTK is that there may be too much story to tell. Although Jackson has said the film would be as long as it needs to be, which is reassuring. I thought TTT was two short.
A few highpoints from TTT:-
Gollum of course. Andy Serkis and the animation team did a marvelous job bringing one of my favourite characters in the story to life. He wasn't flawless, but he was the most impressive CG creation to date.
The new additions to the cast were again, perfect for their roles. Miranda Otto wonderfully captured the beauty and the courage of Eowyn, and I look forward to seeing her role expanded in ROTK. Brad Douriff was at his creepy best as Wormtongue and Bernard Hill was strong as Theoden. David Wenham and Karl Urban also fit their characters well.
Howard Shore's music was again wonderful, but I particularly enjoyed the new score for Rohan. It was different to anything we heard in FOTR, and suited the film well.
The development of Legolas and Gimli. Gimli is hilarious and Legolas is one cool cat. I really enjoyed their characters much more this time round.
I also really loved the Arwen/Elrond scenes. Really quite beautiful, and didn't hold the pace of the film up at all. Can't wait to see this story conclude in ROTK.
Some people have criticised the changes Jackson has made to the story. I didn't have a problem with any of them. I think they all serve the dramatics of the story. Aragorn falling off the cliff was fine, cause it allowed for a little more of the Arwen story, plus gave us a killer scene with Legolas when he returned to Helm's Deep. The changes to Helm's Deep such as the number of men and the arrival of the elves was cool as it really made the scene tense. And most debatable with fans was the changes in Faramir's character. I was okay with this also. People have been complaining that they've made Faramir just a clone of Boromir. I don't think so. Boromir would have taken the ring off Frodo. Faramir was never tempted in the slightest to take the ring. He left it with Frodo the whole time. He was merely taking the ring to his father to earn his love and for the goodwill of Gondor. I think fans will be happier with Faramir's changes when they see the direction he takes in ROTK.
My only minor quibbles with the film were that I wish it was longer. Some scenes felt a little rushed. I would have liked to have seen a few more scenes with Sam & Frodo before Gollum was introduced. I would have liked to have had Merry & Pippen meet up with Gandalf and co. again like the book, but I guess that will happen early in ROTK. I guess I also missed some of the lighter, happier moments of the first film even though I knew this journey would be much darker. I also would have liked the film to wrap up in Shelob's lair just before Shelob was introduced, but I thought the ending was clever all the same.
LOTR has really become the new Star Wars for me. If ROTK is as good as I expect it to be, it will really take over Star Wars as my favourite trilogy of all time (though Empire Strikes Back is hard film to topple).
In closing I loved The Two Towers, almost as much as I loved The Fellowship of the Ring. I can't wait for the extended edition of TTT as I'm sure it'll improve on the theatrical cut much the same way as the FOTR DVD did.
Craig
The Two Towers is a remarkable achievement, and being an avid reader of the books I can fully understand how Peter Jackson has said TTT was the hardest to adapt. The cross cutting between plot strands was never going to be an easy task, but I think the filmmakers have pulled it off well.
It's funny that I enjoy FOTR more so than TTT, as I enjoyed The Two Towers book more than FOTR. I think FOTR was marvelously adapted though, condensing much of the slower sections of the book.
However, TTT has much more story to tell, so obviously, a fair chunk would need to be left out. I think the filmmakers did the best they possibly could with this film, but I do think that as a whole, Return of the King will blow the first two films away. My biggest concern about ROTK is that there may be too much story to tell. Although Jackson has said the film would be as long as it needs to be, which is reassuring. I thought TTT was two short.
A few highpoints from TTT:-
Gollum of course. Andy Serkis and the animation team did a marvelous job bringing one of my favourite characters in the story to life. He wasn't flawless, but he was the most impressive CG creation to date.
The new additions to the cast were again, perfect for their roles. Miranda Otto wonderfully captured the beauty and the courage of Eowyn, and I look forward to seeing her role expanded in ROTK. Brad Douriff was at his creepy best as Wormtongue and Bernard Hill was strong as Theoden. David Wenham and Karl Urban also fit their characters well.
Howard Shore's music was again wonderful, but I particularly enjoyed the new score for Rohan. It was different to anything we heard in FOTR, and suited the film well.
The development of Legolas and Gimli. Gimli is hilarious and Legolas is one cool cat. I really enjoyed their characters much more this time round.
I also really loved the Arwen/Elrond scenes. Really quite beautiful, and didn't hold the pace of the film up at all. Can't wait to see this story conclude in ROTK.
Some people have criticised the changes Jackson has made to the story. I didn't have a problem with any of them. I think they all serve the dramatics of the story. Aragorn falling off the cliff was fine, cause it allowed for a little more of the Arwen story, plus gave us a killer scene with Legolas when he returned to Helm's Deep. The changes to Helm's Deep such as the number of men and the arrival of the elves was cool as it really made the scene tense. And most debatable with fans was the changes in Faramir's character. I was okay with this also. People have been complaining that they've made Faramir just a clone of Boromir. I don't think so. Boromir would have taken the ring off Frodo. Faramir was never tempted in the slightest to take the ring. He left it with Frodo the whole time. He was merely taking the ring to his father to earn his love and for the goodwill of Gondor. I think fans will be happier with Faramir's changes when they see the direction he takes in ROTK.
My only minor quibbles with the film were that I wish it was longer. Some scenes felt a little rushed. I would have liked to have seen a few more scenes with Sam & Frodo before Gollum was introduced. I would have liked to have had Merry & Pippen meet up with Gandalf and co. again like the book, but I guess that will happen early in ROTK. I guess I also missed some of the lighter, happier moments of the first film even though I knew this journey would be much darker. I also would have liked the film to wrap up in Shelob's lair just before Shelob was introduced, but I thought the ending was clever all the same.
LOTR has really become the new Star Wars for me. If ROTK is as good as I expect it to be, it will really take over Star Wars as my favourite trilogy of all time (though Empire Strikes Back is hard film to topple).
In closing I loved The Two Towers, almost as much as I loved The Fellowship of the Ring. I can't wait for the extended edition of TTT as I'm sure it'll improve on the theatrical cut much the same way as the FOTR DVD did.
Craig
That and one little editing problem during the final montage of all the various battle scenes that would probably be too difficult to describe here.