Good but Lacking

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2002)

The Two Towers has many elements I think are superbly done, but fails in many places. SPOILERS BELOW.
First the good... The movie starts off fantastic. The balrog scene was exciting to watch. Gollum is amazingly realistic and very well played. The ents are wonderful. PJ continues to make use of the dwarf for comic relief to good effect, which I'm ok with. Many variations from the book fit nicely.
The second movie cannot compare in grandeur to the first... The first movie included many fabulous and amazing sets... The shire, rivendel, moria, lothlorien... The second focuses mainly on Rohan (barren grasslands), Fangorn (just a forest, though done to nice effect), and the badlands around Morder. You do get to see a bit more of Barad-Dur which was nice.
After half the movie however, things started to go astray. Many additional scenes are added that do not appear in the book, and in my opinion, do not progress the story either. The most notable of which is the warg attack on the kings company and the loss of Aragorn over the cliff. So much time was taken for these scenes and it does nothing whatsoever for the plot... We had to see everyones reaction to the news of Aragorns loss, and then had to see everyones reaction to the news of his return! The Arwen scenes were way overdone, and could be (and should be) ommited entirely! Taking the hobbits to Osgiliath was silly as well.
Rather than this additional hour of content that was not in the book and does not progress the story, I would rather see an hour of content that was in the book and that was ommited from the movie! How about treebeards home and the hobbits drinking the entdraught from the huge bowls? Where were the Huorns? The whole key to Sarumans loss at helms deep was the attack of the ents, and this isn't portrayed at all.
On this note, the movie ends way too early! Too much has been left for the final movie. The encounter with Shelob and Sams realization that Frodo is still alive! What better cliffhanger? Gandalf's confrontation with Saruman after the battle. A very key scene, and a fine way to end a battle... Now we have to wait for the next movie for that?
Plot changes bothered me a lot... Especially around Theoden and Faramir. After releasing Theoden from Sarumans bind, he remains nearly as craven as he was under Sarumans control! He is portrayed as being cowardly by "retreating" to helms deep. That isn't at all what Tolkien had in mind! And the elves sending additional troops! What a waste of elves, and a waste of our time. Faramir completely lost his nobility... The ents result at entmoot too... Why shouldn't the ents decide to attack Saruman? I was so looking forward to the ents starting their march. At one point I felt PJ was so far off the mark with this movie, as the battle at helms deep appeared to be a masacre, the ents refused to attack Saruman, and Faramir ordered Frodo taken to Minas Tirith. I almost felt sick.
In summary, too much additional content, too many plot changes, ending the movie way too early, significantly less grandeur than the first... All contributed to my dissapointment in this film. I am sure to buy the extended edition dvd anyway, but I don't think I'll yearn to watch this one nearly as much as the way I yearn for FOTR.