Convincing?

Rating: Null/10 (10 October 2003)

There seems to be a lot of convincing going on in The Two Towers...
Master Samwise convincing Faramir to let him & Frodo go... Merry & Pippin convincing Treebeard to attack Isengard... The "angel" music convincing the audience to FEEL SAD NOW... The "theme" music convincing the audience to FEEL VICTORIOUS NOW... Peter Jackson convincing everyone how true he has remained to the spirit of the books...
From all that I have read, 98% of viewers adore TTT... and sadly I have ended up in the 2% that did not
I loved FOTR, but where that film simply veered off the road of the text, TTT plummets off the side of the road, down a ravine, takes some untraveled dirt back roads before taking some contrived short cut back to the original text in the film's forced last 1/2 hour
Though I know adjustments are always made in adaptations, this latest installment has lost the magic & sheer wonder of FOTR... None of the storytelling elements that made the first film so special are used in TTT... Sources of my frustration: * Choppy editing * Lack of fluidity * Is this movie a CGI showcase to sell new programs to perspective movie makers? * Axing central book events in favor of unecessary sub-plots * Lack of geographical reference (anyone who's read the books knows about the maps -- but what about those who have not read them??) * Uneven pacing * Forced emotional manipulation (instead of the authentic emotions that FOTR produced) * Sacrificing the thematic nuances of Tolkien's writing in favor of cinematic cliches to please a modern audience
I make no claims to being a "purist" or expert... like I said changes in adaptations are necessary, but man, I half expected stormtroopers to be riding on the wolves of Isengard
Can anyone understand what Treebeard is saying?
What's with these sudden cockney accents from the orcs - Oi's a-gonna ate yo (Meestah Scroooge/Fawvah Krees-mas --oops wrong movie)
Ok - enough, it's done, I said it, it's out in the cosmos
I'm praying for ROTK
For the other 98% of you -- please disregard this, you've already been convinced.