LOTR - Two towers impressions

[Goc]

Well, the movie still hasn't opened here, so while I eagerly await, I'd like to hear you lucky bastards that have seen it already how did you like it... Is it better than part one and stuff like that... No spoilers, puhleeaseee!

[Jammrock]

Twist my nipple!

Ah...the sound of geekdom massed at a movie theater to watch a movie based off the near and dear books by J.R.R. Tolkien. After an hour of playing the Lord of the Nipples game - like the Star Pants game (where you stragtegically replace the word pants in Star Wars quotes) except you use LotR and the phrase 'twist my nipple' (or variation) - we were treated to the LotR: TTT (The Two Towers) trailers as the theater adjusted the sound. There was cheering.

20 minutes later the commercials started, and there was booing. Then trailers, and there was a mixed reaction, but no new Matrix trailer...damn it. Then the movie started, and there was much cheering.

It's hard to write a review when you watched the movie suffering from midnight-geek-movie syndrome, but I will attempt - without spoilers:

The movie starts with a treat, I say no more.

From there we pick up with where the last movie left off, Frodo and Samwise trying to get to Mordor. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are tracking the Uroki (sp?) who took Merry and Pippin.

Gollum is super cool and is almost exactly like I envisioned him from the book. He will creep out the squimish a lot. My preeeeeeeciouus...

There are a lot of parts that are a little slow as character and story are setup and driven. This one did a *MUCH* better job at developing new character and adding on to the development of existing characters. Kudos to Peter Jackson for that.

The ents are way cool, too. Not exactly what I envisioned, especially the attack on Isengard, but I like the way they did it. Treebeard and gang have the best battle sequence in the movie, imo. Even a tad better than Helm's Deep, just because...well...you have to see it.

Speaking of Helm's Deep, that is an awesome battle sequence. For pure midevil battle it rocks (though I still like the Ent battle just a tad more). The Gimli/Legolas game is kept in tact, the model of the keep is fabulous. The battle draws on near flawlessly. I do have one qualm with the battle, though I speak it not as it is a spoiler and deviates from the book battle.

Alas, it was not perfect. I have two - albeit very small - qualms with the movie.

1) Too much artistic liberty in the Aragorn/Arwen love story. It just seemed that PJ was trying to push too much love story into the movie. Parts of the love story/triangle were excellently done, others just made you sit there and think, "why?" They seemed...Pearl Harbor'esque, but not that bad.

2) There are a *LOT* of changes from the original story. More so than in Fellowship, as far as I can remember the book. Some are very good, some you can understand, some make you say, "why, god, why?!?!"

Ah righty, so what's my over all opinion of TTT? I loved it! Better than Fellowship, dispite the changes. Yeah it dragged on occasion, but not as bad as the first. It was all good for character and story development. Fantastic theatrical retelling that changes it just enough that it is fresh, yet true enough that you just feel nostalgic watching it.

4.5 of 5 stars

Jammrock

[ZokesPro]

How long is it?

[Jammrock]

Runtime is 177 minutes, or 2 hours and 57 minutes for those who don't like doing math. There will probably be an extended Edition at about 3 hours 30 minutes on DVD in Nov next year.

Jammrock

[ZokesPro]

Sweet! And when the final one comes out it'll make for one helluva LoTR marathon!

[Jammrock]

10 and a half hour if all the Extended Editions are 3.5 hours.

Not to mention that Peter Jackson wants to make The Hobbit, too.

Jammrock

[Byock]

It's to bad he could not make the hobbit first. Stupid copyrights.

[Ajax]

Maybe those who hold the copyright for the Hobbit will be impressed with these LOTR films, and turn the movie rights over to Peter Jackson.

[Byock]

I heard that they were. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I heard they may start filming before too long. Anyone else heard this?

[Ozbreeze]

this tells a bit about The Hobbit...
see if that gives ya any info on it.....

[Byock]

hmm, Lousy people. Keep selling it off, to make a quick buck.
But then, who's to say I wouldn't had I owned it?

[Goc]

Thanks Jammrock! After reading your opinions I can't wait to get into that theater and enjoy a great movie again!
And, yeah, I expect a lot from the Ents... Can't wait to see how PJ made that part of the movie...

[moreau]

Saw it here at 12:10pm EST.

I'll withhold final judgment until I've seen it again, but for my part, I liked it very much.

Yes, there are many many more changes from the book, when you compare it with FoTR.

So... if you are insisting for a strict and literal transfer of the novels to the screen, then you will be disappointed.

I am amazed that I'm not more upset at the changes. I'm fairly hardcore about the books...

But, the main story elements are all there, just reordered, some things made more literal, rather than implied, etc.

There is one huge departure during the helm's deep battle, which has received mixed reviews from the Tolkien Faithful. All in all, this is, like FoTR, and incredible film translation of the novels.

And, like FoTR, there are a couple of scences where the movie really captures the escence of Tolkien's work, in a way that is actually superior to the written word.

Enjoy it all, it is a thing of beauty!

Cheers,
Charles

[moreau]

BTW, for those of you who were afraid, as I was, of the Arwen/Eowyn/Aragorn love triangle, it really isn't that pronounced. Eowyn does have eyes for Aragorn, but it doesn't really come to a head, yet. Arwen really isn't in the movie, save for cut scenes, and it isn't clear what will become of her.

So... rest easy in that regard...

[GT98]

Hmm wonder if we'll see Gurm post here