The Two Towers review (31-12-2002)
Jan. 7th, 2003 03:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hmpfYesterday I went to see the movie for the second time. I went with my mother who, BTW, enjoyed it even more than the first one, something I’ve heard from several people who aren’t as into the books as I am. Even a friend of mine who didn’t like the first movie loved this one. I may have enjoyed it more than the first one, too, at least more than the cinematic version of it (the extended version is a whole other story), but the reasons lie not so much in the movie as in the fact that I was more prepared for this one than for the first.
So, details. What did and what didn’t I like, and why?
Some nitpicks first (bigger issues later):
The whole warg-rider scene, and especially Aragorn’s falling off that cliff, was very unnecessary and partly bordering on cheesy. What’s it with PJ and fake deaths, anyway? It’s almost as bad as on Farscape! (People always die and come back on FS... well, not always, but remarkably often.)
Theoden’s exorcism. All I can say to that is Arrrgh. So cheap. Just as embarrassing as the wizards’ duel in the first part. Although Gandalf’s throwing off his cloak was pretty cool.
Frodo. More on that later. (This is a bigger issue.)
Faramir. I understand the need to show the influence of the ring, so I can accept Faramir getting tempted and temporarily claiming the ring for Gondor, but they could and should have shown a little bit more of Faramir’s thoughtful, philosophical nature, IMO. It would have made a nice contrast to his brother. BTW, I don’t have a problem with Faramir’s looks. He’s not *my * Faramir, but then, Viggo Mortensen bears little resemblance with my Aragorn, and Elijah Wood is not my Frodo. I can accept deviations from my visual image of the characters as long as I can live with the way they are portrayed.
Gollum’s probably a bit too cute, ‘cause my mom loved him. She went ‘ooh, he’s so cuuuute!’ every time she saw him!
Treebeard’s and Merry and Pippin’s story is reduced a bit too much
Sauron’s presence is eclipsed somewhat by the emphasis on Saruman. (The Darth Vader syndrome.)
Why does Arwen appear to renounce her decision to stay with Aragorn here?
Helm Hammerhand with a hammer in his hand. Argh.
Did I hear wrong, or is Hama’s son called Haleth? Umm... I haven’t read the Silmarillion recently, but I seem to remember that as a female name?
Merry and Pippin being carried by Treebeard through Fangorn Forest looked *very* blue screen at times
Too many great lines of dialogue missing (e.g. Aragorn’s speech to Eomer – ‘I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and I am called Elessar, the elfstone, and Dunadan, Isildur’s heir, Elendil’s son of Gondor...’ etc.)
The ringwraiths aren’t as intimidating as they should be, and have a distinct feel of cg about them.
Strange:
Grima reciting Aragorn’s description of Eowyn. Somehow, it worked, but it nevertheless felt like a desecration to have these words uttered by Wormtongue!
Sam saying ‘we shouldn’t be here’ in Osgiliath. I keep wanting to reply: ‘Indeed. You should be in Minas Morgul or Cirith Ungol!’
I don’t think it’s physically possible for horses to go down *that* steep a slope.
How did the horses of Theoden, Aragorn and co. get into the big hall??
What was that light that shone into the hall from the doors while Theoden was being dressed for battle? (Spotlights in Middle-earth? ;-))
Wasn’t there an image of Arwen getting Anduril in the trailers? So what’s happened to that?
What I liked:
Basically, almost everything, except for the above. ;-) More precisely:
Spot-on casting and acting of the following: Eomer, Eowyn, Theoden, Grima. Still love all the members of the Fellowship, too, to slightly varying degrees.
Once again, the chance of seeing Alan Lee’s paintings come to life. For that reason, I could even forgive PJ for taking Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath. I’ve always wanted to see Osgiliath.
The battle of Helm’s Deep. Although I’ve learned to like the battles in the book, they have always been my least favourite parts of the book. They have a certain pompous grandeur, but they’re sort of not taking place quite in the ‘real world’. Tolkien waxes a bit too biblical in the descriptions. It moves me, but in a way that does not have much to do with the characters anymore. (I don’t know how to describe that.) The movie has made the battle real for me, I could connect with the characters during the battle sequences really well.
The visualisation of Arwen’s future (Aragorn’s death – taking place in another Alan Lee painting come to life!)
And, talking of paintings, the very Ted Nasmith-like view of Mordor at the end of the film
Lots of Elvish dialogue! Yay! I could just melt whenever someone speaks Elvish in the movie...
Theodred’s death; Theoden mourning for his son with Gandalf standing respectfully in the background, and Gandalf speaking the words of farewell for him that are spoken for Theoden in the book. *Very* nice scene. Especially because it brings to life something that is only mentioned in the book.
Gollum – apart from the ‘too cute’ issue. There should be an oscar both for Andy Serkis and the team that created Gollum.
Grima crying a tear when he sees Saruman’s army.
The look of the Morannon, and seeing those orcs leaning on their spears, talking to each other, atop it. Gave it a ‘they’re just doing their jobs’ feel.
The look on Pippin’s face when the truth of Merry’s prediction that soon, there will not be a Shire anymore, sinks in. You can see him growing up in that moment.
Edoras. ‘Nuff said.
Gandalf’s death and resurrection. Very well done, not too obvious, not too Christ-like. Nice.
Gandalf’s fight with the Balrog, and especially their falling through that huge cave. Impressive.
Theoden and Aragorn. Theoden’s pride, Aragorn’s silence to his accusations of Gondor.
Frodo’s reaction to Gollum’s saving him from drowning in the Dead Marshes
The ‘great stories’ conversation between Frodo and Sam
So, details. What did and what didn’t I like, and why?
Some nitpicks first (bigger issues later):
The whole warg-rider scene, and especially Aragorn’s falling off that cliff, was very unnecessary and partly bordering on cheesy. What’s it with PJ and fake deaths, anyway? It’s almost as bad as on Farscape! (People always die and come back on FS... well, not always, but remarkably often.)
Theoden’s exorcism. All I can say to that is Arrrgh. So cheap. Just as embarrassing as the wizards’ duel in the first part. Although Gandalf’s throwing off his cloak was pretty cool.
Frodo. More on that later. (This is a bigger issue.)
Faramir. I understand the need to show the influence of the ring, so I can accept Faramir getting tempted and temporarily claiming the ring for Gondor, but they could and should have shown a little bit more of Faramir’s thoughtful, philosophical nature, IMO. It would have made a nice contrast to his brother. BTW, I don’t have a problem with Faramir’s looks. He’s not *my * Faramir, but then, Viggo Mortensen bears little resemblance with my Aragorn, and Elijah Wood is not my Frodo. I can accept deviations from my visual image of the characters as long as I can live with the way they are portrayed.
Gollum’s probably a bit too cute, ‘cause my mom loved him. She went ‘ooh, he’s so cuuuute!’ every time she saw him!
Treebeard’s and Merry and Pippin’s story is reduced a bit too much
Sauron’s presence is eclipsed somewhat by the emphasis on Saruman. (The Darth Vader syndrome.)
Why does Arwen appear to renounce her decision to stay with Aragorn here?
Helm Hammerhand with a hammer in his hand. Argh.
Did I hear wrong, or is Hama’s son called Haleth? Umm... I haven’t read the Silmarillion recently, but I seem to remember that as a female name?
Merry and Pippin being carried by Treebeard through Fangorn Forest looked *very* blue screen at times
Too many great lines of dialogue missing (e.g. Aragorn’s speech to Eomer – ‘I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and I am called Elessar, the elfstone, and Dunadan, Isildur’s heir, Elendil’s son of Gondor...’ etc.)
The ringwraiths aren’t as intimidating as they should be, and have a distinct feel of cg about them.
Strange:
Grima reciting Aragorn’s description of Eowyn. Somehow, it worked, but it nevertheless felt like a desecration to have these words uttered by Wormtongue!
Sam saying ‘we shouldn’t be here’ in Osgiliath. I keep wanting to reply: ‘Indeed. You should be in Minas Morgul or Cirith Ungol!’
I don’t think it’s physically possible for horses to go down *that* steep a slope.
How did the horses of Theoden, Aragorn and co. get into the big hall??
What was that light that shone into the hall from the doors while Theoden was being dressed for battle? (Spotlights in Middle-earth? ;-))
Wasn’t there an image of Arwen getting Anduril in the trailers? So what’s happened to that?
What I liked:
Basically, almost everything, except for the above. ;-) More precisely:
Spot-on casting and acting of the following: Eomer, Eowyn, Theoden, Grima. Still love all the members of the Fellowship, too, to slightly varying degrees.
Once again, the chance of seeing Alan Lee’s paintings come to life. For that reason, I could even forgive PJ for taking Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath. I’ve always wanted to see Osgiliath.
The battle of Helm’s Deep. Although I’ve learned to like the battles in the book, they have always been my least favourite parts of the book. They have a certain pompous grandeur, but they’re sort of not taking place quite in the ‘real world’. Tolkien waxes a bit too biblical in the descriptions. It moves me, but in a way that does not have much to do with the characters anymore. (I don’t know how to describe that.) The movie has made the battle real for me, I could connect with the characters during the battle sequences really well.
The visualisation of Arwen’s future (Aragorn’s death – taking place in another Alan Lee painting come to life!)
And, talking of paintings, the very Ted Nasmith-like view of Mordor at the end of the film
Lots of Elvish dialogue! Yay! I could just melt whenever someone speaks Elvish in the movie...
Theodred’s death; Theoden mourning for his son with Gandalf standing respectfully in the background, and Gandalf speaking the words of farewell for him that are spoken for Theoden in the book. *Very* nice scene. Especially because it brings to life something that is only mentioned in the book.
Gollum – apart from the ‘too cute’ issue. There should be an oscar both for Andy Serkis and the team that created Gollum.
Grima crying a tear when he sees Saruman’s army.
The look of the Morannon, and seeing those orcs leaning on their spears, talking to each other, atop it. Gave it a ‘they’re just doing their jobs’ feel.
The look on Pippin’s face when the truth of Merry’s prediction that soon, there will not be a Shire anymore, sinks in. You can see him growing up in that moment.
Edoras. ‘Nuff said.
Gandalf’s death and resurrection. Very well done, not too obvious, not too Christ-like. Nice.
Gandalf’s fight with the Balrog, and especially their falling through that huge cave. Impressive.
Theoden and Aragorn. Theoden’s pride, Aragorn’s silence to his accusations of Gondor.
Frodo’s reaction to Gollum’s saving him from drowning in the Dead Marshes
The ‘great stories’ conversation between Frodo and Sam
my review
Date: 2003-01-10 12:14 pm (UTC)I liked your review very much. Often I just read your reviews but yesterday I have been thinking about it very much and decided to answer and write my own review although it was very late and I had to get up early the next morning. But when I finally finished at 3 a. m. (knowing that I had to get up again 4 hours later) I could not post it because of some problems on livejournal.com. I was very angry about this!!
But it seems to be fine again. So, here comes what I wrote yesterdays:
(Have to devide it in several parts)
my review goes on
Date: 2003-01-10 12:16 pm (UTC)you’re back again. :) …and catching up with more than I can answer. (But I didn’t read what you wrote about the Borribles. You know my fear of spoilers.)
Today I'm in the mood to discuss about TT (...and again to find a reason to stop reading ohhh "Zwangsvollstreckungsrecht"). So, here it is:
my Two Towers review
I’ve seen Two Towers once some weeks ago and this is my first impression: I like it very much.
But concerning on the details there is something that I like more and something that I like less.
Just like you did it, I beginn with the details I do not like:
- Gandalf's fight against the ballrog was made well but not believeable. It was a bit ridiculous that he could fight against the ballrog while falling down the abyss.
- Gimli’s character wasn’t developed any more. He had some good lines but he should have been taken more seriously. The worst scene with him was at the attack of the warg riders.
- The battle of Helm’s Deep ended too fast. It seemed as if Gandalf was waiting until the sun rose. I know that I’m exagerating but it was very, very strange. And there is something else that I didn’t like about this scene: At first Aragorn and co. tried to get into the keeps, reached it alive and then rode out of it again….and surivided the attacks of the horde. They were surounded by enemies but not even their horses were wounded.
- I missed Gandalf’s wisdom as a friend. I don’t know how to express this. I liked the scenes between Gandalf and Frodo in LotR. Gandalf was closly and more humane in Part 1.
- Shadowfax is too white and pure. ;)
What do I like?
- I like Eomer. I liked it especially when he said “We left noone alive. I’m sorry!”. The glance in his eyes and the change in his voice was incredible.
- Gandalf’s return in Fangorn Forest was great. I’m sure that it was Christopher Lee talking first not Ian McKellan. That was a brilliant idea.
- The discussion between Elrond and Arwen was very good. I liked the elvish. And it was a bit relaxing. The topic was very serious but the elvish was beautiful. And I liked to see something beautiful for a short time.
And I liked to see Elrond fighting for his daughter. Elrond became more human to me. He is very wise but his wisdom doesn’t help him to “save” Arwen. And he knows it. And by the look of Arwen’s eyes when she left Rivendell you could see that she is leaving him.
- The tension between Aragorn, Eowyn and Arwen was exciting. Usually love stories don’t touch me very much. But I like this one. It deepened their characters. Aragorn’s feelings are believeable. He loves Arwen but does not want her to take the consequences for being with him. Eowyn is the one who fits to him. She is beautiful, strong, intelligent, has feelings for Aragorn and their marriage were political reasonably . She would be the one he should be with. What I really like in this love story is that all three of them are represented in a way that you can feel with them. And Arwen is not nicer than Eowyn or other way around.
Besides this I liked the discussion between Aragorn and Elrond. Aragorn is very reasonable but when Elrond tells him to forget Arwen he does not agree with him although he himself thinks that it was reasonable to leave Arwen.
Aragorn saying “It was a dream, Arwen, nothing more.” and Arwen saying “It was a gift. Keep it.” touched me.
and on
Date: 2003-01-10 12:17 pm (UTC)And it is very sad to see how many elves died. They could have lived forever.
- OMG It’s late! Shorter sentences!
- Aragorn hugging Haldir was a very nice scene.
- Frodo following Golllum’s advice not Sam’s.
- Frodo threatening Sam.
- Faramir telling Frodo about Boromir’s death and Frodo’s reaction.
- Merry saying “There won’t be a shire.” and Pippin’s reaction.
- Legolas losing his hope of victory.
- Treebeard and the other ents deciding that the hobbits are no orcs.
- Relationship between Frodo and Gollum.
- The loyality of the Uruk’hai. Somehow honorable.
- The fact that Helm’s Deep was entered very, very fast.
- Theoden mourning for his dead son and the fact that he didn’t realize Theodred’s death at first.
- I was surprised that I like the ents because I didn’t like them before.
- Frodo eating lembas …again!!
- Sam explaining the world.
- Merry saying “I think we might have made a mistake leaving the shire, Pippin.”
- The fear of the people from Edoras as the warg riders attackted.
- The music theme of rohan!!
ankae