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[spoiler]
Reviewed: December 1st, 2002 by Brian Balchack
" A true cinematic masterpiece! "
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
Friends, and fellow fans, I have seen The Two Towers.
What seemed like an eternity after Fellowship Of The Ring was released into theaters, The Two Towers, the second story/book in The Lord Of The Rings saga will be released onto the masses late this month. In an extraordinary turn of events I was able to experience The Two Towers in it's entirety at the very first Southern California screening today.
Let's dive right into the magic and lore that can only be The Lord Of The Rings...
With so much excitement filling my heart as I sat and watched the title screen take form on screen, I had to calm myself for the coming adrenaline rush. As the old broken logo "Lord Of The Rings" logo, as seen at the beginning of Fellowship, formed onto the screen and the music swelled, the audience clapped in admiration for what they were about to experience.
The mountains of Caradhras then appeared on screen. We heard remnants of when the fellowship was trapped along side of the mountainside as Saruman tried to bring the mountain down. Then, BAM! We were transported deep inside the mines of Moria where we see Gandalf The Grey (at a different perspective from that in Fellowship) defying the likes of the Balrog. Gandalf yells the famous words "You shall not pass", at that point the Balrog is then plunged into the black depths of the mines. Gandalf, is of course, pulled into the pit as well as the Balrog's whip latches onto Gandalf's leg.
From this point, we now follow Gandalf into a free falling scene, where Gandalf draws his sword, Glamdring, and plunges the blade deep into the Balrog as they fall. Then comes one of the coolest sequences of events in fantasy film history.
With a barrage of scenes hitting the screen, we are clued into how Gandalf The Grey becomes Gandalf The White...but first we are treated to a few battle scenes between Gandalf and the Balrog. The Balrog is defeated, but we don't actually see it onscreen until a storytelling sequence later in the movie when Gandalf returns to join Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in their quest. When the Balrog is defeated, one of the most goose bump inducing scenes ever seen unfolds onscreen as the Balrog's fire is put out and put to rest forever.
The first 30 minutes of the movie moved very quickly, in which a good third of the book, from which the movie was adapted, is ripped through, giving the basics of the plot, and the whereabouts of each character as we had left them at the end of The Fellowship Of The Ring.
The movie follows the fellowship by cutting between the 3 stories of the separated groups. It starts with Frodo & Sam as they journey to Mordor. We get a glimpse of the fires of Mordor from far away. Frodo, carrying the weight of the ring, and Sam commenting on how the only place in Middle-earth you don't want to go, is the only place they were trying to get into!
We then get a few sequences of Aragorn, Legolas, & Gimli tracking the group of Urk-hai that had taken Merry & Pippin. Many things straight out of the book ensue, and within a very short amount of time the two hobbits escape the clutches of the Uruk-hai...but we are led to believe that they didn't. A great cinematic tactic to keep fans of the movie guessing who have not read the book.
Nightfall comes to all parties, in which we turn back to Frodo & Sam who have Gollum to reckon with. Gollum, trying to steal The One Ring back, scuffles with the hobbits a bit and becomes tied and bound by Samwise Gamgee.
When Gollum appeared onscreen for the first time, the CGI blew me away. NOTHING that has ever been computer generated to act out scenes with human actors has ever looked this good. Gollum fit right into the background, the foreground, and everything in between when it came to key sequences that included his character. Even as Frodo & Sam both wrestled Gollum to the ground in his introductory sequence, in which both live action characters beat extremely hard on the CGI character, the CGI Gollum stood the ultimate test of blending in. Forget CGI Yoda, Jar-Jar Binks, and Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets' "Dobby", WETA Digital have outdone themselves with Gollum. Absolute beauty.
Right about here in the film, we are introduced to King Theoden, Eomer, Eowyn, and the vile Wormtongue. They all ensue in a power struggle which ends up leading to Eomer's banishment from Rohan. King Theoden seems to be under a spell, cast by the likes of Saruman The White. King Theoden makes no decisions of his own, and is puppeteered by Grima Wormtongue. This spell is lifted later in the film when Gandalf The White, and the others of the fellowship show up to Rohan.
Back with Aragorn, Legolas, & Gimli, the group are surrounded by The Riders Of Rohan, in which they reveal that the two Hobbits they seek were no where to be found in the dead pile of Uruk-hai that was killed the previous night by the Riders. Leaving the fellowship, the Riders move onward, and the fellowship starts to give up hope of finding their friends...that is until the skills of Aragorn, one of the greatest rangers of all time, come into play. Aragorn starts tracking the trail and the happenings of the previous nights' activities of the Hobbits. Flashback sequences are then revealed and the audience is enlightened as to how the Orcs & Uruk-hai argued about eating the fresh meat that was the Hobbits, and how Hobbits in turn escaped their grasp. From this flashback, we then follow the Hobbits into Fangorn Forrest, we meet the almighty Treebeard as he stomps out an Orc that was on their tail.
Now, of course my review can't go on forever like this as I will give away the entire movie, but I do want to mention some keys moments in the film that stood out from the events in the book, as well as things that were changed to enhance the overall viewing experience and story telling of The Lord Of The Rings in cinematic form.
The Many Faces Of Gollum
A key sequence which I thought was absolutely brilliant in the film is the spilt personality of Gollum. There is a sequence in the movie where Frodo, being the master of the ring, has gotten Gollum to obey his orders and lead them to the black gates of Mordor. Gollum, willingly obeys Frodo, but when the Hobbits sleep, Gollum struggles with a sort of split personality. That of "Gollum" and that of "Smeagol", which Frodo reminded him to who he was before he came into possession of the ring early on in the film. In the sequence, "Gollum", who acts as the mischievous devil, argues in a shot by shot conversation with "Smeagol", who wants to do good by the Hobbits.
I felt this was a great way to delve deeper into the psych of Gollum, and to deliver to the audience who he was before the ring rotted his mind for 500 years. From what I can tell, this sequence will hopefully lead very well into a scene I hope to see in Return Of The King or the extended edition of The Two Towers, that we've all seen pictures of with Smeagol & Deagol sitting in a boat long ago just before Smeagol got hold of the ring.
The Love Story
After seeing trailers and clips from The Two Towers. I like everyone else, was very skeptical about the love triangle between Aragorn, Arwen, and Eowyn. Though, after seeing the film, my qualms have been put to rest. The love story is shown through a sequence of flashbacks, flash forwards, and present events. Aragorn and Eowyn do take a liking to each other, but it never really reaches beyond the point of some low level courting. And even when the courting commences, Aragorn can do nothing but to think of Arwen, who in a flashback sequence, is shown supposedly leaving the shores into the undying realm after the fellowship left Rivendell. We also see moments of Elrond giving his daughter the advice to move on as she would only see her love in Aragorn die because of her immortality.
As Elrond spoke of his daughters troubles, a really interesting flash forward was brought into the story as Arwen saw herself at Aragorn's graveside. If anything, the love story served as a testament to the love that Aragorn and Arwen share for each other.
Treebeard & The Ents
Treebeard and the Ents of Fangorn are another example of the wizardry that special effects company, WETA Digital, possess. When you see Treebeard for the first time you will realize the brute strength and power of the oldest creature in Middle-earth. Being a huge talking tree with a beard, one would think that Treebeard might be a cheesy character onscreen. Quite the contrary. Treebeard, being from the dark greenish brown forest of Fangorn is somewhat shrouded in mystery. He blends so well with the forest that the only time we really get to see him in full action is he is moving, or we get a close up on his eyes and mouth.
One thing I found to be different pace wise was the placement of the Ent battle at Isengard. In the book, this event happens in the middle of the book and seems like ancient history once we get to Shelob, but in the movie we get the Ent battle dead last. This makes complete sense as the to final battles of the film seem to happen concurrently onscreen. This would also make sense for the chapters of the book that are supposed to coincide as well, but the nature of the way the stories are split in The Two Towers made this stand out in the movie as I watched.
Faramir Corrupted?
In the book I got the feeling that Faramir had more integrity then his brother Boromir, but in the movie the essence of Faramir comes in right where Boromir's left off, as a slightly weary soldier who believes the ring will help his people win the battle against Sauron and his forces. Faramir holds his stature until the very end, where in an extraordinary change in character, surrenders his life to release Frodo & Sam.
I felt that this change in character was very odd, considering that he was so unwilling to let Frodo & Sam go the entire time he held them captive, yet, at the slight comparison by Samwise to his corrupted brother, Faramir has a change of heart, puts his own life on the line, and lets them go. To me, the chnge seemed too drastic.
Ringwraiths
In the book, Tolkien describes a scene where the fellowship has to hide from the likes of what they suspect to be a Ringwraith, riding something big, black, winged, and flying throughout the night sky in search for The One Ring. The movie emphasizes their wrath, and brings their images to life.
The Ringwraiths ride what looks to be a giant dragon like figure, with a long neck, long tail, and massive wing span throughout the realm of Mordor. These creatures and the Ringwraiths that ride them are very menacing, and extend the fear that the Ringwraiths brought on horses in the first movie, into the second. I think fans of the movie and the book will both be very impressed as to how these mysterious beings are portrayed onscreen.
Aragorn Off A Cliff
Another key sequence in the movie that was apart from the story in the book was a scene in which the people of Rohan are making their way to the solitude of the Helm's Deep fortress, are attacked by Orcs riding nasty looking creatures called Wargs. During the battle, Aragorn knocks an Orc off his Warg and ends up riding the Warg to the end of a cliff where they both go over the edge! After a moment of grief, King Theoden, Legolas, and the others accept Aragorn's fate and press on to Helm's Deep.
Aragorn is later seen floating down a river face up, where he seems to be passed out. The memory or spirit of Arwen wakes him, and he travels back to the fortress of Helm's Deep.
This really seemed unnecessary, but now that I look back at that particular scene in the movie, I felt it did add some depth to the caring of one another in the fellowship, and how their friendship has grown since the first movie. Legolas, Gimli, Eowyn, and King Theoden were very distraught over the apparent loss, and very enthralled once Aragorn made his way back.
Gimli The Comic Relief
Where as Hobbits, Merry & Pippin, were used as the tension breakers in Fellowship of The Ring, The Two Towers used Gimli, the dwarf, throughout the film as comic relief. From the playful taunting with Legolas, to the remarks Gimli would make during his Uruk-hai slaying, Gimli's character was used to break a lot of the tension and lessen the seriousness of a situation.
Do we want to see Gimli, representing all dwarves of Middle-earth, as comic relief? does is degrade the society of dwarves? These are questions that kept coming up, but after some thought, I feel that it was alright for Gimli to be used as a tension breaker in this film since we spend the most time with him, Legolas, & Aragorn in the film. Hobbits, Merry & Pippin, took on a much more serious tone in this film which lended more creditability to their characters and character traits. I think as long as Return Of The King doesn't use Gimli TOO much as the "funny man", we'll be able to see Gimli from all angles, as we do now with Merry & Pippin.
The Middle Prologue
One of my absolute favorite parts of Fellowship Of The Ring is the prologue sequence. With The Two Towers we are treated to a sort of prologue which happens in the middle of the film. Just before things get rolling in Helm's Deep, a flashback happens where we get to see a conversation between elves Lady Galadriel and Elrond. During the scene Galadriel gives Elrond as well as the audience a rundown of where things stand at that point with Saruman, Sauron, the ring bearer, the fellowship, and Middle-earth.
Although this narration happens within the middle of the film, not a beat is missed. It's fits right into the story up to that point, and transitions beautifully into the next. Plus, for the people that aren't jaded by knowing everything from the book (like myself) it catches them up to speed with a lot of the meat of the plot that one wouldn't know if they didn't read the books.
This scene also serves for a greater purpose. By adding this conversation in between the head of Elves of different regions of Middle-earth, it makes more sense as to why Elves, led by Elf Haldir, come to assist the people of Rohan in the battle of Helm's Deep instead of rangers as it was portrayed in the book. Elrond made a decision, and that decision was to help.
The Battle Of Helm's Deep
As we've all seen from the trailers, the battle of Helm's Deep is absolutely massive. If someone never told you there was CGI in these sequences, you'd NEVER, EVER know it. It is absolutely seamless. Beautiful in every respect...even though it is the carnage of battle. The battle of Helm's Deep will amplify what you think you know about the struggle of the free peoples of Middle-earth and then some.
The End
Not having yet read Return Of The King, knowing the end of The Two Towers book, anticipating how the filmmakers were gonna end the movie, and seeing what actually happened was baffling, but made sense in the end. The ending of the film consisted of 3 parts, all of which concluded the stories of each member of the fellowship.
In the end, Frodo, Sam, & Gollum are taken to Gondor where Orcs are already attacking the city. In the aforementioned change of heart that Faramir has, he releases Frodo, Sam, & Gollum back into the wild to complete their mission. Before they leave, Frodo, being controlled by the ring, is summoned to the top of a structure in Gondor where a Ringwraith flying a winged creature tries to snatch the ring from Frodo's grasp. The Ringwraith is shot by arrows from the men of Gondor and Frodo is taken down the steps by Samwise.
Now, not knowing what happens in Return Of The King, this was a tad confusing to me as a book reader, but as a straight movie watcher ofThe Lord Of The Rings saga, I found no problems with it. I felt it was added as a climatic ending to the Frodo side of the story.
On the Merry & Pippin side of the story, the two Hobbits convince Treebeard to take them to the south end of Fangorn forest where Treebeard finds trees chopped downed to the stump. Angering Treebeard, he calls upon the Ents and wages war against Isengard, which is now empty expect for the likes of some Orcs and Saruman The White. The Ents bring forth a breaking of a damn and flood all of Isengard...this is the last we see...for now.
I felt this was a great way to show what ends up happening to Isengard, although some events are missing from the end of the film that were in the end of the book, for instance Gandalf banishment of Saruman from Isengard, these events HAVE TO make their way into Return Of The King.
Morning comes to Helm's Deep where the people of Rohan, the Elves, and the fellowship have been slaying Uruk-hai all night to keep them from breaching the inner wall, but to no avail, the Uruks enter. At the last moment of dawn, Gandalf The White shows up with the 2000 banished Rohan warriors and helps to destroy the rest of the Uruk-hai. We dissolve into afternoon and we see Aragorn & King Theoden talking about how the battle is over, but the war for Middle-earth has just begun.
The only part of this end scene I didn't like is that as soon as we saw Gandalf and the Riders Of Rohan go into battle with what still looked like an overwhelming amount of Uruk-hai, the end sequence where they talked of their victory from the battle was cut in. It seemed a little too easy for a task that seemed extremely daunting. I can see the approach being that they had shown so much battle earlier in the film that there was no reason to go into more, but it seemed just a little to fast of a transition to me.
The very last scene, which takes us into the credits on a very weary note, is a sequence with Frodo, Sam, & Gollum drudging towards Mordor once again. As they headed into the wild, Gollum went into his schizophrenic split personality mode once again. He argued with himself about killing the Hobbits and taking the ring. His Smeagol side was against it, while his Gollum side struggled for control. In the end, his Gollum side won, and convinced his Smeagol side to kill the Hobbits.
Ending the movie on a very unstable note was pure genius. Gollum hinted at leading them a certain as to not having to kill the Hobbits himself, but rather to let "her" do it. References to "her" pay a bit of homage to the book readers and give way for an outstanding intro sequence in the next film. Like I said, pure genius.
With all that said, the ending of The Two Towers ends the same way the Fellowship Of The Ring does. The fellowship is once again on an uneasy path. The ring bearer and his partner are alone to face the challenge of destroying the ring in Mordor. And the fate of Middle-earth is unknown.
This is exactly true to the book. But, the question is, does The Two Towers stand alone as an independent movie from the others? Does is bear it's own weight? Personally, I'd lean towards NO rather than YES. The fact that you are thrown into the middle of a story with a bunch of characters you don't know and aren't introduced to in the film might confuse someone who has never seen or heard of Lord Of The Rings before.
Final Thoughts
The Two Towers as a film was absolutely amazing. Any fan of the books as well of the first movie will be thoroughly engulfed by the story of The Two Towers. To compare this "middle movie" with that of another great in the world of trilogies, like The Empire Strikes Back is to say many wonderful things, as Empire is hailed by many to be the greatest in the Star Wars saga.
Like Empire, The Two Towers has no beginning and has no end, but does a greater service to the characters we have been cheering for since the first film. The Two Towers plays on a very darkened tone. A tone where there is not much hope and things seem to be teetering on the end edge of permanent despair. Even the imagery in the film is very dark and contrasted. Unlike the beautiful greens and blues of Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers draws from the many "dead" colors of the world, and throws our beloved characters into the mix.
The actors performance were truly brilliant. Not a flawed character in the bunch, and that includes all CGI characters such as Treebeard & Gollum. Never once did I think to myself..."that person doesn't fit the part".
An absolute masterpiece is at hand. With the second chapter under our wings, we shall soon have the one of the greatest stories ever to be told in the greatest cinematic form that we could have ever hoped for. This movie truly does justice to the books that inspired it[/spoiler]
Ich glaub ich muss da erst den Film abwarten um festzustellen inwiefern die Änderungen sinnvoll sind oder nicht, eigene Schlüsse die ich vom Review bisher ziehe machen mich alles andere als glücklich darüber
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