Speechless!!

Rating: Null/10 (18 December 2002)

Watched the second installment of the LoTR trilogy last nite. Having read the tome about 5 times over the past 5 years, I had come out of the first movie with mixed sentiments. I thought the movie was visually exquisite but had I not been such a big fan of the book, I'd have prolly found the movie confusing in parts and slightly boring in others.
The second movie however is a truly magnificent cinematic experience imo and not just for fans of tolkein. The movie had me (and almost everyone else in the movie hall) on the edge of their seats thro'out the 3 hours.. I did check my watch once or twice but only because I was so afraid that the movie might end I'd have to go back to the real world once again! In this episode, the director seems to have focussed (and rightly so) on the storytelling and this does not mean that anything has been taken away from the technical brilliance of the first film.
This time around the story cuts between the 3 stories of the separated groups. I wont say much more for fear of spoiling the movie for those who havent watched it yet but the climax of the movie which is the battle at helms deep had me holding my breath for a whole 20 minutes! I am mostly unmoved by cgi sequences in movies (am one of those who cribs about how stories have been replaced by fx in movies) but in this case the fx seamlessly blended into the film, to the extent that one of the central characters in the film, gollum, is a complete cgi character whom i almost felt like giving an acting award to :O.
Unlike jar jar binks, gollum is not merely meantr to add visual appeal or comic relief to the film but is a full character in his own right and has been treated as such by the moviemaker.
Is the movie completely true to the book? Indeed, no. And yet, the director seems to have taken all the right liberties. Any distortions only seem to have added to the dramatic content of the story thereby making it a more interesting movie to watch! The basic conflict that the book deals with is clarified in the two towers and this has made the third part a lot more tantalising to the ppl who havent read the books. All the new characters are brilliantly executed (including the new, more scary ringwraiths) as are the ents!!
Phew, Never have I gushed about a movie this much!! Hope you all enjoy it too.

w@w