fly, you fools! fly to the theater, that is

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2002)

I saw this film a day ago, and I am still sorting out my feelings for it. Whew! With a year to build up anticipation and expectation, it had a lot to live up to. Exactly like my reaction to The Fellowship of the Rings when I first saw it, I left the theater with my expectations both rewarded and dashed. I have read the novel several times, and again the the week before The Two Towers opened nationwide. I kept thinking, "wow! that's incredible!" followed by "wait a minute--- that's not right!" due to my own vision of what should have been left alone and what should have been changed for the theatrical version. Any 1000+ page epic like the Lord of the Rings novel leaves each person with their own interpretation, focus, and feel for what they read. Peter Jackson took on the un-envious task of creating a CINEMATIC vision that would appeal to hard core and casual readers of the novel as well as those who have never picked it up. I'm sure some hard core fans that can't let go of their own vision will be disappointed or even angry, while some non-readers will be befuddled or uninterested. So be it. I myself left the theater dazed and amazed, and with a positive yet somewhat jumbled opinion due to the changes made. Now that I've had some time to adjust to the changes and contemplate the film, however, Jackson's vision is growing on me. I was vaguely disappointed with "Fellowship" at first, also, but that initial disappointment has given way to great admiration for Fellowship. I now love the first film for it's own sake, separate from the novel. I think the same is going to apply for me with The Two Towers, especially if the altered story arc comes to a unified and satisfying end in the next part.
The visuals, sets, musical score, and costuming are beyond reproach. The pacing is perfect in my opinion. The acting is superb once again. The dialog itself is a mixed bag, but serves its purpose, and is spoken with authority. You can nitpick a few things, such as blue screen lines being visible in some scenes, but for me they never distracted from the overall look of and feel of the film at all. Overall, it is an incredibly crafted film, and superior to most of the so called "blockbuster" films of late. It is full of action, drama, humor,love, hate, beauty, ugliness, hope, and despair. It's all wrapped up in a visual treat that is compressed into 3 hours of movie magic that if anything feels too short. Unless they have no interest whatsoever in the action/fantasy genre or are Tolkien purists, I can't see anyone outright disliking what the Two Towers gives.
I, for one, am really looking forward to how Jackson is going to wrap up his vision in the third installment. Bring on The Return of the King! Now another year of anticipation and expectation.....