First impressions

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2002)

So, after a full year, and countless viewings of the first movie, The Two Towers finally have premiered. During the year I have been building up expectations, despite knowing that this behavior is foolish. By, alas, I´m only human and Certified Tolkien Fanatic at that.
It pains me but.... I am not satisfied after my first viewing. Coming out from the cinema, I could not decide if I had seen a good film or not, and with me, that is a very bad sign.
During the movie there were actually scenes when I deliberately looked away since what I saw was completely...embarrassing..?
For a diehard Tolkien:ist the rewritings have truly a great impact. Of course, I understand that some of them had to be done to make an actual movie, but there are some that I do not at all get.
Here are some of the things I´m no friend of:
*WARNING SPOILERS*
That whole thing with Galadriel and Elrond just so that Haldir could show up at Helms Deep is just plain wrong. Aragorn and Arwen, not just the fact that their scenes together this time did not add to the plot or flow of the story, but also for the fact that; It Does Not Work between them. It´s stone cold dead. Timelines (of wich I´m a big fan) does not work anymore in this movie than they did in the previous one. Too many to recount here. The Ents got far too small a role to play. Did someone miss their impact on Helms Deep? How about the Huorns? Also, I have never seen the dwarves of Middle Earth as inferior beings, and Gimli not only lagged during the hunt for the Hobbits, but his height also came into focus at the Deep.
I felt that all those storylines should work better given a little extra time before cutting to the next scene.
But there were magnificent scenes also! As soon as I got used to Gollums appearance, and could ignore the fact that he was a bunch of pixels, he shone very brightly in every scene. Osgiliath were masterful. Gandalf and the Balrog would be a real stunner if it were not cut as short as it were. There are alot of scenes in that cathegory, and it will be a long wait for the extended dvd in 10 months time.
As far as the actors go, many new ones got to show themselves off. Everyone did their job fine, but the ones at the top were Brad Dourif as Grima, Andy Serkis as Gollum and of course Theoden Son of Thengel. Aragorn were great as usual.
This movie will undoubtedly be alot better on the second viewing. And by my third, I will probably think it´s as good, if not better than, as the first installment. This is, however, not the luxury reviewers have usually, so I fear that some reviews will not be 100% truthful.
I have decided now, after having written this, and against better judgement that... I'ts actually a quite brilliant film, and I can´t wait for the concluding Return of the King. I'll give it around 8 and I gave the first film a 9,5 (extended).