It's Great, but...It was still somewhat a let down.

Rating: Null/10 (29 December 2002)

Sorry, but I did something in Two Towers I never thought I'd do. I actually dozed off a couple of times! I wasn't sleep-deprived, and overall I've enjoyed Peter Jackson's effort. Still, I thought this movie somewhat less than Fellowship. First, Character development suffered...and yes, that was the job of Fellowship; but still, each installment should develop all the characters to SOME degree. Gimli became the comic relief; Legolas's character was almost totally ignored. He became a kind of elvish Terminator. Frodo and Sam went well, and I actually enjoyed what Jackson did with Gollum/ Smeagol. Still, the introduction of 'new material' concerning Arwen and Aragorn seemed almost silly. Helm's deep took WAY to long to tell (at the expensive of almost the rest of the story) and while it was visually wonderful, it too took way to many detours from the original story line. I fully understand that Jackson - or any director, really - would have to take some liberties to tell the story. But some of Jackson's liberties simply haven't made sense to me. The cast remains solid however, and visually this is one of the greatest movies ever made. Please, Mr. Jackson...not so many liberties with the story! Compress,but please don't make so many wholesale changes!