Yes, it's different from the book, BUT it's still great!

Rating: Null/10 (9 November 2003)

I am so tired of reading comments about how "awful" this film is because it "destroys Tolkien's vision." THIS ISN'T TOLKIEN'S VISION--IT'S PETER JACKSON'S! Yes, the Two Towers strays from the literature in several key places. Most notably, Sam and Frodo don't go to Mordor in the book, Aragorn doesn't fall off a cliff, and backstory of Arwen and Aragorn's romance isn't discussed, Shelob the spider is missing, and there are no elves fighting at Helm's Deep (speaking of which, the battle in the book is quite short--but it manages to take up the last thirty minutes of the movie.)
OKAY, so it's different. But how can you say the film is "awful?" The movie is absolutley beautiful and breathtaking, and some scenes look like gothic, epic, biblical portraits. The scene in which Gandalf the White comes down the hill to battle the Orcs at Helm's Deep, for example is wonderful. His entire army backlit by his powerful white light, it's such an image of hope that it gave me chills.
And Gollum is terrific in this movie. The scenes in which he argues with himself were done superbly. His character as a whole sets up suspense and humor. He is simply the most realistic CGI character ever created.
I think it is fair to say that you can feel frustrated that Peter Jackson changed some of the material and some of the characters. But how can you hate such a powerful, beautiful film just because it's different??