Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

A Movie Review

by Shad

The second part in the tale of the War of the Rings, in which Aragorn, Legolas and Ghimli search for their comrades Merry and Pippin in the land of Rohan, Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard in the forest of Fangorn, and Frodo and Sam make their way towards Mordor and are led by Gollum, slave to the corruption of the Ring.

When I watched LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, I decided to pick up the books and start reading them again. I had read The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring before, and only about half of The Two Towers and The Return of the King. So, I thought this was a good opportunity to read the rest of the story, but to start from the beginning of the trilogy and start with ‘Fellowship’. I read it after I saw the first movie, but I wanted to finish The Two Towers before the movie came out, so that I had had the chance to enjoy the book without referring to the movie in my mind. I found the first movie to be a lot like the book, removing only a few parts here and there that weren’t very important or necessary to explain events happening around the Ring. However, when I watched the second movie, and I realize that my perspective has changed since I read the book before watching the movie this time, I found that some of the changes made were less pleasing to me and The Two Towers didn’t have the exact same feeling of, as MattboySlim calls it, “watching the book” that the first movie did.

First Impression:

The first time I saw this in theaters was at King of Prussia mall, which is in Pennsylvania, and has a very nice stadium-style seating with a very large and clear screen, at the first showing on Tuesday at midnight. The chairs were very comfy, although there could have been a little more leg room, but overall the setup was almost perfect. I sat around for about an hour waiting for the movie to begin, but it was well worth the wait. From the moment the action started (about 1 ½ minutes into the movie, as there’s a nice landscape scene at the opening), my jaw was dropped, my eyes wide with amazement, and my tongue spoke the exact words that everyone in the theater must have been thinking: “OH SHIT!!!”.

The first scene showed what happened to Gandalf in the first movie and continues his battle with the Balrog of Morgoth, which is a very good scene as they are falling down, Gandalf grabs his sword out of mid-air…well I don’t want to give too much away, but if you’ve seen the movie you know what I’m talking about. That is my favorite scene right there…that, and the end of that battle that he describes later at the highest dungeon of Moria. So the special effects were amazing, and absolutely made me crap my pants.

Gollum was another part of the film that made a big impression on me. I was amazed at how clean and perfect he looked. Even the environment moved with him where he walked, fell, or jumped around. You really couldn’t tell; you knew that he was just CG, but it really doesn’t cross your mind because he’s so lifelike. The facial features were also very good, I might even say perfect, and at times where characters in the story either show disgust or pity for Gollum, the features and expressions actually make the viewer feel the same emotions, which I thought was done brilliantly.

Treebeard was an impressive character, and I kept waiting for him to say “Don’t be hasty, don’t be hasty!”, but it didn’t come until later and at the perfect moment. I thought he looked more like CG though, as if they had spent a lot of time on Gollum and less on Treebeard and the Ents. But the voice actor and his dialogue was perfect, and I was pleased with the performance, even if I didn’t get to see Quickbeam. I’m hoping for that one on the deleted scenes on the DVD. The destruction of Isengard has to be one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while.

There were two things that I didn’t quite enjoy: the long scenes with Arwen the elf, and the changes made to Faramir’s character. Again, having read the book first definitely made this impression a little more serious on me, because the changes were so dramatically different. I don’t remember anything about the elves at all being in TTT, but there they were, trying to explain what had happened between Aragorn and Arwen, and what was happening to the world of elves as the final war for Middle Earth was falling upon them. And I understand the need to explain things, especially with an American audience who otherwise would have asked, “Hey, what about the elf chick?! What happened??”. That’s fine, but those scenes were far too long for my taste, and took away time that could have been better spent on Merry and Pippin, or better yet Faramir.

Which brings me to Faramir… Alas, poor Faramir. I knew him, Frodo. Or at least I thought I knew him, but unfortunately they dissected the brave and noble character that I knew him to be. There were some lines that he said in the book that they repeat only half of in the movie, which goes something like this: “Now is the time for Faramir to show his quality”…”Even if the Ring laid upon the middle of the road, I would not take it”. Faramir knew that only Sauron could wield the Ring. They totally switched this to make him just another corruptible man, and he takes the Ring to Gondor to be used as a weapon. This pissed me the hell off. Faramir was such a great example of what men hoped to be, so noble and full of honor, or maybe what they might have been long before the Ring had been created. At any rate, they did a 180 on him, and I didn’t like it. No sir, not one bit.

To end this first impression on a positive note, the battle at Helm’s Deep couldn’t have been done any better. And the addition of the elves into the fray made it even more amazing to watch, in my own opinion, as they were not mentioned in the book. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t see any wild men in the battle, but since we had seen them running down upon Rohan, I suppose that was enough. Another favorite part of mine was the scene near the end of the battle, where Gandalf rides down with the Riders of Rohan upon the orc army, and you see a bright light from the sunrise (or something) as they crash through the front lines. I absolutely loved it. The book describes a bright light coming from Gandalf the White, and I was really hoping to see some of the orcs fleeing in sheer terror of the light as the book described, but we were able to see how they were blinded and couldn’t blockade the front lines properly, etc., so that was good enough for me. I remember being in the theater shouting “Yeah! YEAH!!!” when I saw that. It was exciting.

Second Impression:

I saw this at Regal Cinemas in Wilmington the second time I watched it. I noticed more details this time, some minor things going on in the forest of Fangorn, some background action in the battle at Helm’s Deep, and a new appreciation for the scenes with the elves.

I didn’t mind the scenes with Arwen as much. I could have done without the lovey-dovey scene with Aragon laying on the loveseat (or whatever) and just settled for the explanation from Elron as to why he thought Arwen should forget about Aragorn. The scene with the elves all leaving Rivendell was even sadder this time, and I might have had to choke back a tear or two, were it not for the fact I had gone to get snacks while Aragorn was sucking up Arwen’s tonsils and was now shoveling popcorn past my own.

The changes with Faramir, however, kept me a little pissy about his character. Although I have to admit that I noticed more that they tried to redeem him afterwards, when he realizes what Frodo is doing and why, and even risks losing his own life in order to release Frodo to continue his journey. But it was a sidetrack scenario that wasn’t necessary in my opinion, and the time could have been better spent in scenes between Frodo and Faramir talking about the Ring, or about Boromir. Or better yet, Schelob’s Lair.

I felt even more strongly about the omission of the last three chapters of the book in order to place them in the next movie, a setup declared by Smeagol himself: “Perhaps she could do it!”…“Yes, precious, she could!”. I felt that there were some parts where time was wasted on some other minor things that weren’t necessary and could have been spent building up to a better ending of the film. In the first movie, Jackson was careful to remove anything that was not pertinent to the Ring or the Fellowship, and to include the basic plot of the book in its entirety. I didn’t feel that The Two Towers  did the same thing, which is why it doesn’t have the ‘watching the book’ kind of feel that the first movie did.. The book ended pretty well, but I think that leaving Frodo and Sam in the dark tunnels of Schelob’s Lair, just before they discover that they aren’t alone (or as they start to find out) , would have been more suspenseful and a better ending to such an action-packed movie.

I was able to confirm what I thought I saw during the scene between Grima Wormtongue and Saruman as they discuss the plans of Rohan and how to attack them. As they move towards the balcony, Wormtongue says something about needing a large army to defeat the Rohan, and as they move onto the balcony we see the hordes of orcs already armed and prepared to march. We get close-ups on Sauron and Wormtongue: Saruman looking pleased at his army, and Wormtongue staring wide-eyed in amazement, and shedding a single tear, perhaps because he had just realized he had just screwed over all of mankind.

I started to like the short scenes with Treebeard. I thought about it for a minute and decided that I liked seeing the action in the movie, and that longer scenes with the Ents, while they would have been interesting and I’m hoping to see deleted scenes of them on the DVD, would have been boring and kind of a buzzkill right after so much bloodshed and fighting in Rohan and Helm’s Deep.

I paid close attention to the part with the southern wicked men and the Oliphaunts. I wanted to see the ninja-like warriors more clearly this time, and so I did. I remember when I saw them during the first showing I shouted “The Foot Clan!!” and people around me laughed, but I was serious. They totally look like ninjas, and I was excited that my dream had come true; that LOTR finally has ninjas. Amazing.

I was feeling even more appreciation for the depth that was put into Gollum. It was well deserved, and the delivery was excellent. I really enjoyed the split personalities between Gollum and Smeagol, and the way that Gollum tries to protect Smeagol near the end of the film, and eventually leads him back towards his treacherous ways. It kind of made me think that perhaps, over the course of 500 years of torment by the Ring, Smeagol had created Gollum in his mind in order to protect himself. And by the end of the film, the line of separation between the two is starting to fade a little as Gollum is able to get through to Smeagol that he has no other choice than to try to take the ‘precious’ by force.

My second impression of Gandalf is that he kicks much butt, and I want to be him for Halloween or something. I might try to draw this image I had in my head, as MattboySlim and I went out for booz one night and were listening to TTT soundtrack. I imagined him in the driver’s seat of his car and being dressed as Frodo with his mouth wide as if screaming, and myself in the passenger seat dressed as Gandalf, leaning forward to make up forced perspective and the staff sitting on the side near the door, with this fake white beard hanging a couple of inches below my chin and gritting my teeth and having one of my eyes almost shut, but leering out towards the road. It was at this point that I realized that I was obsessed with The Two Towers, and that I like it even better than Fellowship.

Third Impression:

Third time’s a charm, they say. Well, they were right. This movie gets better every time I see it. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s just that I already know it kicks ass, and I was expecting it to kick ass, and so it kicked ass. It really was that good. I saw this the third time by myself, using the free pass that Cinemark gave me when the Harry Potter film broke twice on opening weekend. This left me enough money for soda and a box of Crunch, because I was very poor this week and had to steal money from my change jar. Anywho….

Gollum still amazes me. I totally cannot tell the difference between him and any other character on the screen, being that he’s CG and all. I find that amazing. There are a few scenes where he doesn’t look quite as good as he does earlier in the movie, but for the most part he’s consistent, which is what matters. The impression that there are two totally separate entities within Gollum/Smeagol was much more evident to me this time around. I got to thinking about that, it’s like there’s Gollum, who was twisted into a murderous wretch by the Ring, and then Smeagol, who retains all the qualities of the creature he once was. But, Gollum has a lot of influence over Smeagol, which makes him dangerous. I say, let the ninjas have him.

Which brings me to the ninjas, which weren’t as impressive this time around with the oliphaunts, but I saw a lot more in the scene at the black gates. There’s this pseudo Middle Eastern/Asian sort of Mortal Kombat thing going on with their armor there, which is kinda cool, but why they’re equipped with halberds instead of serrated swords and spears is beyond me. Doesn’t seem to make much sense to me, although I should point out that the halberds are somewhat serrated in shape at the top, which was neat. It would suck to fight one of those guys, because if you even grabbed one of them, the spikes on their armor shred rip your hand to hamburger. Sweet.

I found myself ignoring the scenes with Arwen as sentimental nonsense this time around. It seemed unnecessary to me, but I tolerated it as one would tolerate Jim Carrey squeezing his butt cheeks in order to make them “talk”. I also noticed a lot more that there’s kind of a “Let’s have a flashback montage!” thing going around those scenes, which probably could have been done better, considering that it really wasn’t even in the book. The elves were still cool though, and I sat there in anticipation of the end of that weepy scene to see them all leaving Rivendell, which is still one of my favorite scenes in the movie.

Helm’s Deep…what can I say. It’s still an amazing extended battle, and the attack on Osgiliath was also a welcomed addition. I’m hoping that there’s some deleted Helm’s Deep scenes on the DVD now, especially the part in the book where Aragorn gets up on the wall and yells at the army of orcs and wild men something like “You have no chance against our stronghold” and they’re like “Shut up! We’re the fighting Uruk-Hai! Come down here where we can kill you!” and Aragorn is like “…You’re all bitches”. That was cool. My favorite elf used to be Arwen, until she was overused, so now it’s – no, not Legolas, you screaming “bishie” fans – it’s the guy who leads the elves into Helm’s Deep. I need to find out what his name is, because even though he’s kind of pompous, he’s very cool in this movie, and kicks much butt. The scene where he gets cut down the back…I said before that I wish there had been some men in with the elves among the dead that he sees as he’s falling to the ground. Well, I looked for it this time, and I saw two men among them, so hurray.

I think I saw Quickbeam. The march of the Ents upon Isengard is a very good scene. Pay attention to the part where all the Ents are coming out of the forest at Treebeard’s call, and they begin what he calls “The last march of the Ents”. There’s a small, thin young Ent behind Treebeard who looks exactly as I have imagined Quickbeam, and walks with a similar stride as described in the book. I swear, it’s got to be him!

I was more impressed with the part at Helm’s Deep where Theoden and Aragorn and the posse ride out of the Hornburg on their horses. I didn’t like it at first, because I didn’t think there were enough horsemen in that scene to give that part enough credit. But watching it this time, I noticed that they probably trampled about 700 orcs on the way down, and that made me feel a lot better. Theoden is also very impressive, and give off this very commanding, proud radiance when he’s standing at the wall before the battle, and riding out shouting “Forth Eorlingas” (this time was the first time I didn’t think of Air Lingus when I heard or read that phrase). I love Theoden with all my heart, and would serve in his army, were I not living in a total fantasy world which caters to my every delusional whim.

Finally, bringing this third part of my review to a close, I come to my favorite person. Some characters give off a certain presence onscreen, and some of them just flat out kick so much butt, that you feel it not only on your tukus, but in your soul as well. For some, Frodo or Sam may be the character they love the most, for their courage and might as they trudge through the borders of Mordor. Some may like Aragorn or Legolas, forest-folk who hunt and fight with honor. Some even love Ghimli or Theoden the most, proud characters who love their people and everything that they believe in. Myself, my very favorite and most excellent character that I love so much and constantly sit on the edge of my seat waiting to see what he’ll do next – no, it’s not the ninjas! – is Gandalf. He has got to be, hands down, the greatest character that Ian McKellan has every played, ever. I love this guy, and I want to be just like him, except for the old part. I could go on and on describing every cool scene that he’s in, but that would consist of his entire screen time in the movie, and I just don’t have the time or patience for that. Gandalf is the best, and I wish I was him.

Impressions Of:

Here’s where I’m going to break down each character for you and tell you what I think of them and maybe some favorite scenes or attributes about them.

Frodo – Frodo is still the strong-willed character that he was in the first movie, but he’s getting weaker under the power of the Ring. I liked the way he snapped at Sam a few times, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens to him in The Return of the King.

Sam – Sam is like a puppy, and to many small-minded viewers they might see his and Frodo’s relationship as something more than just friends. But in actuality it’s a loyalty that we never see in real life or even in movies anymore. Sam is a character that will literally follow Frodo into the depths of hell. He’s great.

Merry – Merry seems to be getting a little more serious, now that he realizes that if the realms of men are screwed, then the Shire is screwed as well. His determination was impressive and I thought he came across very well at the meeting of Ents.

Pippin – Pippin is less of a dumbass than he was before, but he’s still not the brightest apple in the bunch. But just as Galandria said, he would find his courage, and he did when he had Treebeard go towards Isengard. When the got there, everyone’s reaction was perfect, especially Pippin who was pleased with himself about the change of events that he had caused.

Ghimli – Ghimli is more of a humorous character in TTT, which I thought was a little overdone. But they kept the contest at Helm’s Deep between him and Legloas, counting how many kills they could get, which I loved. He’s still pretty charismatic.

Legolas – Everyone just kicks more ass in this film, but none more than Legolas. Who else could flip upside down onto a horse like that? WTF?! Also, I have to agree with Mighty Doom, the scene where he slides down the stairs at Helm’s Deep on a shield wouldn’t have been nearly as cool had he not killed an orc with it at the bottom.

Aragorn – For some reason, without actually saying anything, Aragorn seems kinda whiney to me. I mean, he seemed a lot more excited in the book about saving Rohan and how the armies of orcs and wild men would cringe in fear at the sight of their symbol, the White Rider. But none of that was present in the movie, which was a disappointment.

Gandalf – I’ve said a lot about Gandalf already. He kicks much butt, and I thought that Ian McKellan’s performance of the new persona of Gandalf the White was brilliant. Good stuff.

Eowyn – What is with this girl’s eyes? She looks like Marty Feldman in a dress, and her character is in the movie too much, playing up to what is to happen in the third movie. Unnecessary plot setup.

Theoden – This guy was great. MattboySlim thought that when we first see him all old and decrepit, he looks like a muppet or something from the Jim Henson’s creature shop. Anyway he was cool as hell, and I found myself shouting “Forth Eorlingas!” when he rode out of Helm’s Deep.

Treebeard – What a great character! I love Ents!! Treebeard was awesome, and whoever did his voice was really good. The melodic kind of sound they added on the back of his voice was really perfect. I like it.

Arwen – For a character not mentioned in the book, she’s in the movie a whole helluva lot. But for purposes of explanation, I guess it can’t be help. She’s a hot elf anyway.

Elron – I was going to make a joke about Dianetics by Elron Hubbard, but I just can’t do it. The high elf of Rivendell is back, and his brow couldn’t have looked any better. He’s minor in this film, but the performance is good.

The Uruk-Hai – Badass orcs. I would have liked to see a nod to some of the other tribes that joined their march across Rohan, but oh well. They were cool, and creepy, and ugly. Exactly as they needed to be.

Grima Wormtongue – This guy was great. He was even better than the book describes him; more foul looking and sneaky and he just looks like a slimy snake. Again, the single tear…awesome.

Tossed Salad! I'm in some shit now!!!

Saruman – I was really disappointed that we didn’t get to see Gandalf yelling at Saruman at Orthanc. I was so ready for that, but it didn’t happen, and I was sad. I hope it’s in the third movie, because I can’t wait to see Christopher Lee pull it off. I’m a big fan.

Gollum – Smeagol’s the cute one. The guy who did his voice and movements must have really been good, because I didn’t make a distinction between other characters being real and Gollum being CG. He just belongs there, and blends right in. The voice and dialect was very well done, and I’ve already talked about the features and expressions. Sweet.

The Race of Elves – Elves were badass in this movie, mostly because they knew their time was over. They were going to turn tail and all of them escape to the island to the south (or wherever), but then we see Elron and Galadria planning to help the Rohan to crush the orc army from Isengard. That was probably the coolest army scene, watching the elves march into Helm’s Deep. There was a scene where the captain (can’t remember his name, sorry) gets cut up by some orcs and is falling and looks at all these elves lying dead on the ground. Myself, I would have put the dead elves and men together in that scene. I think it would have been appropriate and cool.

The Race of Dwarves – Not present in this movie, except for Ghimli, who refers to them and their culture many times throughout the film. And I enjoyed the little nods to the Dwarf customs and craft.

The Race of Hobbits – What have we learned? If the other realms are screwed, then the Shire is screwed as well. Wait, if the elves are leaving Rivendell, then where’s Bilbo?!

The Race of Men – Does every human have to be a corruptible jackass that can’t help but lunge for the Ring?! I mean, really. Just when the story is supposed to lead you to believe that there is still hope in men, we hardly see any of it in the movie except for the battle at Helm’s Deep. C’mon now… where’s the honor and chivalry? Not in Faramir or Aragorn, that’s for sure. It seems like they turned Faramir into a reflection of Boromir rather than his own individual self, and Aragorn is now some kind of mercenary. It’s going to take a lot of work to make me believe he could be kingly.

The Wild Men – Adequate, but why do they look like Scotsmen?

The Wicked Men of the South – They’re ninjas and they have Oliphaunts. ‘Nuff said.

The Ents – Coolest and oldest beings in Middle Earth. I love them, and I wish there was more time spent on them, even if it had bored everyone to death. I can’t say anything that would do these creatures justice, they’re just too cool.

The Orcs – I wish we could explore the more tribal things written about the orcs in the books. Unfortunately, a movie doesn’t really leave time for little details like that, but even a visual distinction would have been nice. Otherwise, the orcs are perfect, and extremely strong and cunning, as we see in Helm’s Deep.

And that's it. I have to say that while Fellowship was more like the book, The Two Towers was more entertaining, not just because there was a lot more action, but the different types of interesting characters that were introduced into the segment. I will be updating this review again after I go to see this for the third time, so check back!

-Shad