An Epic, and Unlike FOTR, Many Changes to Tolkien

Rating: Null/10 (18 December 2002)

"The Two Towers" is an imaginative adaptation of Tolkien's second book of the trilogy, filled with epic battles in the continued fight between good and evil. It is a strong sequel to "Fellowship Of The Rings," and to those who have never read the books or those who have not read them in many years, flows smoothly. Unlike FOTR, TTT did not follow the Tolkien books as closely. I was not disappointed with the movie... even though attending the midnight show I had no trouble staying awake or interested. To someone unfamiliar with the Tolkien works, I'm sure the film lacked nothing. I realize that print and movies are different media, and sometimes time doesn't allow a similar adaptation. But as a longtime fan of the writings of Tolkien, some of the changes seemed unnecessary and completely unrelated to keeping the film's time to a watchable minimum. To me, the worst change came in the character of Faramir. In Tolkien's work, he was a juxtaposition of his brother, Boromir. Faramir knew his brother so well, that though he loved him immensely he guessed that Boromir must have tried to take the ring from Frodo, due to his impossible aspirations to be king. In the movie, Faramir kidnaps Frodo and takes him to Gondor, to gift his own father with the great ring. He comes to his senses, but shows a weakness of spirit never shown by Tolkien. With time constraints acknowledged, I also was disappointed the Ents were not allowed to come to the conclusion of going to war with Saruman before prodding by the hobbits or witnessing a burned forest on the outskirts of Isengard. Makeup, costume design and computer enhanced technology have certainly added to the movie's believability, as Ents, the creature Gollum and the agility of elves are all credibly done. The Battle of Helm's Deep, with an army of elves added in the movie version, is spectacular. Just to show I am not a Tolkien purist who would argue with any change, I thought that was a well-thought out twist to re-unite a pact of old, and cut out the neutrals in a good vs. evil war. I also understand the increased screen time of Arwen, as signing Liv Tyler to the role of Arwen in only "Return Of The King," would have been improbable at best. Peter Jackson has done another fine job with TTT. As a fan, my recommendation would be that if time is a concern, subtract scenes that can either be summarized or deleted, but don't add. Tolkien's imagination has added enough for all of us. From the standpoint of a movie critic, he is certainly on track to another huge success.