Overall, the hell of a movie

Rating: 10/10 (27 December 2002)

I think the first thing that must be said is that The Two Towers is a better movie than The Fellowship of The Ring. Which I think is the hell of a compliment, because i loved The Fellowship and watched it seven times so far. But it is a worse adaptation of Tolkien´s work, I think, and although some adaptations are understandable, others I think are totally unnecessary, like Aragorn´s near death and Faramir taking Sam and Frodo to Osgliath. I´m not familiar with the maps to know if that even works geographically. I think the time spent in these scenes could be better used for showing Pippin and Merry´s relationship with the Ents, at least have them drinking the water that would make them grow bigger than any other hobbit. Other thing that could have spent more time in screen was the destruction of Isengard by the ents, which plays a fundamental role but is only used as background scene for a Sam´s speech.
But what I can say is that after having seen TTT only one time, I can´t make my mind whether I prefer this movie or the first, because TTT is a fantastic movie, with fantastic action scenes, a good dosis of tension and of humor. I can say that I am thoroughly satisfied, although we Tolkien-fans always hope for the most faithful adpatation possible. There was a time in the movie when Arwen and Elrond and Galadriel show up that you just think, was it written in their contracts that everybody had to appear in all the movies?
I expect to see TTT yet another many times, but we must difer, one thing is the book, and another one is the movie...I think that Peter Jackson is doing a great job after all. And I can hardly wait for The Return of the King!