Needless ommissions and inclusions spoil an otherwise highly entertaining film (contains spoilers)

Rating: 1/10 (22 December 2002)

Two Towers would have been a very good picture, if not a great one, if not for a few needless ommissions and intrusions.
The Arwen sequence was included for no other reason than to give the highly overrated Liv Tyler screen time. There just doesn't seem to be enough of a reason to beef up her role. Yeah, sure, the reason commonly given is that it's supposed to give the female viewers something to watch, but it's not like the gals are bored with everything else that's going on. I'm not saying the romantic angle should go unplayed, just that it should be lavished with such loving detail.
Aragorn's fake death was played for dramatic purposes, as if there wasn't enough drama in the story to go around and if there hasn't been enough fake deaths in the first film.
Both of these sequences/occurrences squandered screen time that could have been used to include the Huorns (basically the reason the Ents were called Treeherders) and Shelob, the giant spider. The Huorns are instrumental in routing the Orcs at Helm's Deep; they are an important element in the story. In the film, the defeat of the Orcs wasn't terribly convincing since there were still hordes of them. There didn't seem enough of a reason for them to just turn and flee. A burst of sunlight wouldn't seem to be enough, especially since these Orcs were the Uruk-hai, specially bred to move about in sunlight. In the book, the Orcs were crushed between Gandalf's contigent and the Huorns, which make a lot more sense and would have made a much better movie. There was plenty of time to establish the Huorns if not for unnecessary dream sequences.
Shelob, the spider, was also ommitted for no clearly good reason. Presumably, Shelob will be featured in the the third movie (won't there be enough to take care of in the third movie?). In the book, Frodo seems to be mortally wounded by her and goes into a sort of coma, yet one more time the fake character death card will have to be played (making Aragorn's fake death seem all the more excessive) but at least with Shelob and Frodo, it's warranted and would have made an astounding finish to the film, as it did the second book of Lord of the Rings. (It probably inspired the less-than-happy ending in The Empire Strikes Back and look how good a film that was). It also would have given Samwise (and thus, the Hobbits, who have thus far been little other than "the little people) his moment to shine, as he takes on and defeats Shelob. I disagree there wasn't enough time. For one, as I said before, I don't think the time was spent wisely in telling the story; for another, an extra half an hour to 45 minutes would have been sufficient. Judging from audience reaction to the film, very few would have minded an extended film. Oh well, it will have to wait till the third film. But imagine the anticipation for Return of the King that would have been created if Shelob was included in Towers. Instead, it will just be something that happens in the third film that's quickly resolved (it will have to, I imagine, if the rest of the story is to be told with any sort of efficiency).
Also, the whole Faramir plot was a total, total, hack job that I don't even have the heart to comment on right now. Overall, a severe disappointment. The major bright spot was the performance of Andy Serkis/Gollum, truly an astonishing development in the world of CGI; he makes the severe disappointments of this film almost bearable.