Lord of the Rings: Two Towers movie review

After seeing Two Towers in the theatre, at first I didn't know what to think of it. Since then, I've had a chance to see the theatrical DVD a dozen or so times and just bought the extended version. So I'm finally getting round to posting my review of The Two Towers (and just in the nick of time what with Return of the King around the corner).

It's the curse of a Tolkien nut to go into the Lord of the Rings movies with so much baggage, it's near impossible to just go with the flow and absorb the story as it comes. Upon first viewing, I found myself analysing and scrutinizing each scene ('hang on, Frodo never went to Osgiliath!') as well as second-guessing every moment ('okay, the next bit is the Ent-moot, wonder if we'll see Quickbeam'). As for actually looking for spoof ideas, I shove those right to the back of the brain. However, now I've seen it the DVD many times so here goes my completely un-objective review. To make things simple, I divide my review into 2 sections...

Good Bits

Balrog - Loved the beginning: Gandalf slugging it out with the Balrog. PJ is a master of filmic openings. The bit where he plucks his sword out of midair, a birds-eye view as they plunge down the chasm - incredible visuals. Wonder if ROTK's opening will top the first two.

Gollum - Gollum was the highlight for me. I thoroughly enjoyed every scene he was in. I'd have happily seen more of him (and I love freaking Gaby out with 'my preeeessshhhuuuusss!' - her response is usually 'no scary voice, daddy!'). The Gollum/Smeagol inner debate is my highlight of the series to date (way better than Green Goblin's similar scene in Spiderman). It's a testament to the animators and Andy Serkis that I actually cared about his character. When Frodo betrays him to Faramir and Gollum reverts to his old ways, I felt a tinge of regret for him. It takes a lot to move a jaded cinema goer such as myself. Come to think of it, I cared a lot more about Gollum than I did about any of the Star Wars prequel characters (and that's including the human actors).

Horse charge - There have been a few eyepopping scenes in the trilogy so far. My favourite 'epic' shot is the sweep across the cliff face in the Fellowship prologue. But close behind that is the wide shot of the horses charging down the hillside led by Gandalf (imagine Man from Snowy River multiplied by 2000).

Amplified themes - As a purist, one thing I liked about the change from book to film was how scenes or themes were amplified. I don't have too much problem with Arwen as it builds on the elvish theme - she's not just A-list eye candy. I like how the tension of the black gate scene was heightened. PJ is great at turning book moments into filmic moments.

Ent attack - Another fav moment, where the Ents take Isengard (although the hobbits throwing stones is a bit hokey). I was relieved to see that flaming Ent got doused at the end.

Fell Beast - The fell beast was suitable ghastly. I did take note of their long, very choppable necks - giving Eowyn plenty to swing at in ROTK.

Eowyn - Speaking of Eowyn, Miranda Otto seems to polarise people - a few friends of mine were completely unimpressed with her. Personally, I thought she was perfect. She revealed an aching vulnerability that quite drew me into her character. Aragorn finds himself having to choose between her and Liv Tyler - a nice problem to have. Her few moments in the ROTK trailer have me eagerly anticipating the Pelennor Fields.

Music - I've been listening a lot to the Two Towers soundtrack CD (as I did with Fellowship). I think Fellowship is a better work, at least on a pure listening level. I'm no music expert but the Towers tracks tend to blend into each other whereas Fellowship is divided into more distinctive themes (perhaps due to the journey aspect of Fellowship, moving from one unique place to another). There aren't any tracks in Towers quite as stirring as 'Journey in the Dark' or 'Breaking of the Fellowship' although 'White Rider' comes close. The celtic fiddle in the Rohan theme is nice and I like the atmosphere of the Ent theme.

Little touches - Like Fellowship, I love the little touches. Wormtongue's face when he sees Saruman's army. Theoden's face when the Deeping Wall blows up. Legolas jumping onto a galloping horse. Saruman's face when the Ents attack. PJ's cameo (not as a wildman as everyone first thought but a Rohan soldier). And I know it's primeval but I still get a kick out of whenever Legolas kills an orc by poking him through the eye with an arrow.

Bad Bits

Personally, I like Two Towers more than Fellowship. I think it aims higher and often succeeds but also fails at a few spots.

Faramir - I hate to say it. In fact, I'm hardly the first to say it. But Faramir left me cold. The book version of Faramir was always one of my sentimental favourites (but then, I use the Silmarillion as light bedside reading). I understand we can't spend 10 minutes listening to his soliloquoy about the history of Gondor (although I'm sure PJ could've made it pretty cool with a voice over and a few massive battle scenes). I also understand the need to add more conflict to his character. After all, a simple 'Oh, you've got the ring? Goodo! Here, have some food and on your way' does not good screen drama make. But surely they could've given his character more depth. He was Boromir revisited. The sudden change of heart seemed to come out of nowhere. The extended version dramatically improves his character - I think that Boromir Osgiliath scene really should've been in the theatrical version.

Side Door - When you have an impregnable fortress, you're hardly gonna put a little side door just to the side of the main gate. All it takes is one Orc to go 'hey, what's that over there?' and hello, breach!

Dud lines - There were a few dud lines. Theoden's 'to the gate... draw your swords!' has me scratching my head. I would think when approaching a gate breached by rampaging Uruks, drawing your sword is a bit of a no-brainer. And Theoden's 'so it begins' is just too cliche, it adds nothing (it was better when Kosh said it in Babylon 5).

Gimli comic relief - On the topic of on-the-nose dialogue, some parts of the movie are pure Tolkien but then other parts are pure Peter Jackson (eg - I don't recall Legolas 'shield-surfing' in the book). I don't mind it too much (I appreciate PJ's sensibilities) but Gimli's wise-cracking does tend to stick out like a sore thumb. They better not continue the dwarf-tossing runnign gag in ROTK.

PJ's kids - I liked PJ's kids' cameos in Fellowship. His daughter makes the cutest hobbit child. Although Gaby would've made a cuter one :-) Come to think of it, Gaby would make a great little orc, rampaging through Helm's Deep. But it got just a little gratuitious when PJ's kids made another cameo in the glittering caves. Still, guess I'm not one to talk.

First orc death - This is more weird than bad - I just find it weird how they accidentally shoot the first arrow that kills an orc. Everyone goes silent, the orcs all look shocked. I expected the head Uruk-Hai to snarl 'now it's personal!'

Blue screen - No, I'm not talking about a crashed computer (I hope Weta don't use windows). There were a few moments when the blue screening was obvious. Several warg scenes looked dodgy. And most obvious of all, Frodo and Sam in Faramir's cave - probably the worst effects shot in the movie. It's being picky but Weta have set a high standard for themselves.

Olympic torch runner - The orc carrying the torch that blew up the Deeping Wall was a bit on the nose. I can only assume Peter Jackson had recently done his running with the Olympic Torch and needed to get it out of his system.

Legolas - I'll probably invoke the wrath of the Orlando Bloom fans for this but I didn't care for Legolas. He was unlucky enough to get loaded with some of Tolkien's more unwieldy lines (they run as if their very master's whips are behind them) but I just didn't care for his delivery. Maybe I've just got a bad Legolas taste in my mouth after all the cartoon archive comments.

Ending - And the worst part of the movie? The ending. It came too quickly, before they reached Shelob! Fortunately, I was well warned, reading about it months before release. PJ and Philippa Boyens made sure they warned the fans well in advance to prevent purists destroying the cinema out of shock when the end credits rolled. But that's not all that's gone. The Palantir, Gandalf defeating Saruman, Aragorn confronting Sauron, the stairs of Cirith Ungol, all cut short. They certainly seem to be leaving a lot for Return of the King. They probably just want to make sure they get the Best Picture Oscar on their third try! :-)