Middle Earth Movie Reviews, Part Two!
Dec. 18th, 2003 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaosvizierYes, I'm back to continue my jabbering on the wonders of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. I know you've been expecting this next installment- yes, none other than a review of the extended edition of The Two Towers. So here it is.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
The middle movie in a trilogy is always the toughest sell. It frequently does not stand alone, requiring that you warm up to it with the prequel, and also does not always end with complete resolution, leaving the viewer wanting more. They are transitional films, coming after the introduction in the first movie, whose primary purpose is to move everyone into position for the grand finale. As a result, these "middle movies" are usually (but not always) the least popular films in trilogies.
That being said, I originally felt that The Two Towers was one of those movies. It certainly was one of those books- two hundred pages of walking through a forest. Yuck. But I'm not here for literary critique. The point was, the movie was good, but I liked The Fellowship Of The Ring better. The extended edition changed all that.
The plot: Ring still bad. Hobbits still good. Lots of asses get whupped.
The pros: Scenery and quality special effects are two of the things that make this series stand heads and shoulders above most other fantasy films. New Zealand's damn pretty. I need to go visit there. They should set up vacation packages- "Hike Your Way Through Middle Earth". People would pay a bundle... but I digress again. Saruman is a far more active menace here- in the extended version, we see him order the river dammed and the trees of Fangorn uprooted for fuel. This makes Treebeard's anger later on more understandable. The biggest improvement, I felt, was the addition to Faramir's character. Before, he was a lameass tool. Here, we see his background, through a nice flashback with Boromir and Denethor, that explains why Faramir does what he does.
The cons: Purists will of course argue that a lot of things happen in the movie that never happened in the book, most notably the whole Faramir-Osgiliath sequence and the elves joining at Helms Deep. Minor details, really, that do not detract from the overall quality of the movie. Gimli's frequent use as comic relief is somewhat unnecessary, although I think it was scaled down with this version. In any event, although a bit of comedy is always valuable, having a veteran dwarf warrior be a perpetual laughingstock is a bit much. They would never have laughed at Lo Pan like that.
The verdict: With the extended bits, this movie improves dramatically. I might even have liked it more than Return Of The King... but I'll have to watch that a few more times to judge.
Disclaimer: I think wargs are cute. I want one.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
The middle movie in a trilogy is always the toughest sell. It frequently does not stand alone, requiring that you warm up to it with the prequel, and also does not always end with complete resolution, leaving the viewer wanting more. They are transitional films, coming after the introduction in the first movie, whose primary purpose is to move everyone into position for the grand finale. As a result, these "middle movies" are usually (but not always) the least popular films in trilogies.
That being said, I originally felt that The Two Towers was one of those movies. It certainly was one of those books- two hundred pages of walking through a forest. Yuck. But I'm not here for literary critique. The point was, the movie was good, but I liked The Fellowship Of The Ring better. The extended edition changed all that.
The plot: Ring still bad. Hobbits still good. Lots of asses get whupped.
The pros: Scenery and quality special effects are two of the things that make this series stand heads and shoulders above most other fantasy films. New Zealand's damn pretty. I need to go visit there. They should set up vacation packages- "Hike Your Way Through Middle Earth". People would pay a bundle... but I digress again. Saruman is a far more active menace here- in the extended version, we see him order the river dammed and the trees of Fangorn uprooted for fuel. This makes Treebeard's anger later on more understandable. The biggest improvement, I felt, was the addition to Faramir's character. Before, he was a lameass tool. Here, we see his background, through a nice flashback with Boromir and Denethor, that explains why Faramir does what he does.
The cons: Purists will of course argue that a lot of things happen in the movie that never happened in the book, most notably the whole Faramir-Osgiliath sequence and the elves joining at Helms Deep. Minor details, really, that do not detract from the overall quality of the movie. Gimli's frequent use as comic relief is somewhat unnecessary, although I think it was scaled down with this version. In any event, although a bit of comedy is always valuable, having a veteran dwarf warrior be a perpetual laughingstock is a bit much. They would never have laughed at Lo Pan like that.
The verdict: With the extended bits, this movie improves dramatically. I might even have liked it more than Return Of The King... but I'll have to watch that a few more times to judge.
Disclaimer: I think wargs are cute. I want one.
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no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 08:31 am (UTC)They totally should have left the scenes with Faramir and Denethor in. That totally changed the tone of Faramir's character.
So many people I did not like redeemed themselves in RotK.
Sigh.
I'm almost ready to go see it again.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 08:56 am (UTC)The other part that was great was when the ents closed off the orc retreat from Helms Deep. Don't mess with nature; those trees are badass.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-18 11:58 am (UTC)And the ents...yeah, don't be fuckin' with mom nature...she'll open a can on your ass.
no subject
Date: 2003-12-19 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-12-19 09:03 am (UTC)But yes...mucho style points for that particular death scene.