Vastly Entertaining yet mildly worrying

Rating: Null/10 (2 January 2003)

Well, it's not perfect, but it is a hell of a lot of movie. You can argue whether or not the changes are good or bad, add anything or detract. The stilted script isn't too much of an issue; this isn't a soap opera, after all. It isn't the effect on THIS film that counts. It's just that Jackson's approach to the Two Towers is making me a little anxious about his future handling of ROTK. For Jackson has created Middle-Earth for us, so forcefully and beautifully, that we can actually start wondering what would make ROTK the show-stopper. He has the chance to make the third film one of the most beautifully balanced, moving, poignant yet uplifting ever run through a projector. So can he pull it back to capture the poetry (not literal!) of the last book, or will he succumb to the temptation to make the battles bigger and bigger? For the pay-off, ROTK has to display a subtlety not always evident in TTT.
so what will make the difference between another brilliant Epic and the one we really all want? It isn't a question about slavish adherence to the book, but the way it hangs together is nonetheless the key.
Frodo has already flashed his ring at a Nazgul, but, once Minas Tirith has held, the entire purpose of Aragorn, his fellow generals and the army is to stop Sauron noticing that his ring is on its way to Mount Doom. Faramir saw him do it! How to re-forge the integrity of the plot?
The battle before the Black Gate isn't a battle. It isn't a desperate play for survival, like Helm's Deep. It is a sacrifice. The last army (no elves, now, we hope - they are a spent force) don't even know if the ring is still abroad, but they know this is the only gamble left. Will Jackson get it?
The lord of the Nazgul is going to ride up to the gates of Gondor. Gandalf will block him. This Nazgul needs to inspire dread and loathing. In comparison, the Balrog, your average Alien and Dracula must feel like Noddy's tea-time companions. Will he go for it?
It is one of the ironies of the story that, as Frodo succumbs finally and completely to the ring, and Gollum bites his finger off in yet another replay of Sauron's downfall in the Prologue, the destiny of Middle-Earth is actually decided by luck / fate / Wyrd as Gollum stumbles. Despite all the valiant efforts of Men to distract, Frodo and Sam to reach the Mountain and even Gollum to intervene, the ring is finally destroyed by chance. If you can capture that, Mr. Jackson, then you can take your seat next to Kurosawa and Coppola.
The last stroke of the war ought to fall on Frod's doorstep - a wonderful symmetry, and some trouble in the Shire will incidentally also allow Rose Cotton to deliver potentially one of the greatest one liners in cinema history (if you've read the book you'll know...)
Sam must be utterly floored when he sees Elrond and Galadriel in that line-up on the way to the Havens. This is one of the emotional climaxes of the film. And Gandalf ought to be held back to the Havens. It would be a diminishment if he wasn't.
All I'm saying is: ROTK depends on a lot more than CGI, sweepy camera syndrome and big battles, however brilliantly they have been executed (and they were!!) We know PJ can do that stuff, but he has to be brave to make his real mark. It is cinematically possible, and he hasn't really done anything to the plot to stop him. I am just hoping I can enjoy the Two Towers as a deliberate, superbly crafted, titanic action curtain-raiser to a very different kind of climax.
Over to you, Peter Jackson. Drop me a line if you want!