WOW

Rating: Null/10 (18 December 2002)

There I was sitting on third row, 0:30 in the morning (or night) ready for the second installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (that can hardly be considered a trilogy), 'The Two Towers'. Like last year's premiere this was one that made excitement and amazement win from exhaustion. This one is even one minute longer than 'The Fellowship of the Ring', and for you people out there who wonder if it leaves you waiting in anticipation for part three, 'The Return of the King' like last year's movie did: yes.. even more. Now I want to see how it ends.
One difference for me personally was the fact I started reading the novel in the meantime. And that made me realize there were quite some differences, both improvements as well as some quite disappoinments. Maybe the word 'disappointment' is not chosen properly since this is and always will be an adaptation for the big screen and a movie requires other things than a book does... Problem with having read 'The Two Towers' just before the movie is released is that you start to recognize things immediately. People who have read it several times will probably go through the same thing. But this wasn't of a disturbing kind.
Director Peter Jackson did not follow Tolkien blindly. He took some artistic freedoms, including a bunch of extra scenes, and he twisted around the chapters quite a bit. And that automatically provides the best improvement on the novel. My problems while reading 'The Two Towers' is that its first half (the 3rd book of the series) completely focuses on Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli and the second half (the 4th book) only on Sam, Frodo and Gollum. While reading the one half you wonder how the other characters are doing. Jackson suitably switches between these 3 seperate storylines which makes the movie much more enjoyable. Some scenechanges were a bit too swift but Jackon does a good job trying to keep the viewer's interest. Added to this are several other character/scene-changes, like the ones showing Saruman, King Théoden and his daughter Eowyn and the Elves Elrond and Arwen.
Now there's an example of elements Jackson added to the story that aren't in the original: the Elves. To my opinion it was a bit unnescessary but not bugging. And the proclaimed lovestory was there but not dominating, just like it wasn't in 'The Fellowship'.
Gollum is amazing, exceeding the CGI-characters you've seen in other movies (like Yoda in 'Attack of the Clones' and Dobby in 'The Chamber of Secrets') in personality and looks. Sometimes his movements are a bit harsh and too much PC, but this actually is a character with personality where a lot of his CGI-counterparts completely lack such a thing. His internal battle is very well being presented, showing he actually has two sides, Gollum and Sméagol, something Tolkien very well depicted already. This shows Peter Jackson actually admires the author and wants to keep his intentions stored.
Treebeard is a bit disappointing in a way that he's less interesting compared to Gollum. and you very well see the fact Jackson used both CGI animation as well as lifesize dummies. Maybe the Ents are the reason why a lot of people proclaimed 'The Lord of the Rings' was unfilmable. Maybe their concept doesn't allow any cinematographical treatment. Still the scene in which they literally wash Saruman's ears is still rather amazing.
And Helm's Deep isn't? Yes, Helm's Deep certainly is. If you keep in mind that most sets were real-life and it took 3 months of nightly filming in the rain this definately is one of the most smashing scenes in movie-history. The giant armies of Saruman's Uruk-Hai's almost faint you. A few minutes before that you see them leave Isengard and I couldn't help making comparison with Hitler's stadium army gatherings in the late 1930's. Helm's Deep marks the fact that most action is put in the last quarter of the movie. The only complaint about the Helm's Deep sequences is the fact it sometimes is abruptly disturbed by the other storylines. Maybe I was expecting half an hour of pure fighting and battling but Jackson switches to other character's and their battles in the meantime (like the Ents attack on Isengard and Frodo and Sam's capture and battle in Osgiliath (also not a novel element with an amazing 'new' scene with the flying Nazgûl).
All in all: even better than 'The Fellowship', very well character development, a lot of action but exchanged with a lot of story and... why do years take 365 days?