Exceptionally well made movie - But somewhat ruined

Rating: Null/10 (5 April 2003)

"The Two Towers" is an exceptionally well made movie, acting, special effects and music are all at the top notch. It is probably the movie I've enjoyed watching 2003. (Yes, it I know it was released during 2002, but I always wait until there is possible to get a good seat in the theaters, and leave the camping outside the movie theaters to the geeks! ;-)) The scenery was stunning, as was the visualizations of the characters in the books, as well as the atmosphere.
Unfortunately, I'm not by far as satisfied by the way Peter Jackson converted the plot of the book into a movie. There are a few changes that was made, although not all of them were bad, many of them somewhat ruined the story. Mostly these "bad" changes consists of scenes invented by mr Jackson himself, that have nothing to do with the plot, and was shown at the expense of some, more imporant scenes that had to be left out. As for example, the warg riders that assault the people of Rohan on their way to Helms Deep is quite out of line. I just can't figure out, did Peter Jackson wake up one morning, realizing that he thought it would be really cool to put orcs on big wolfs, and put them in a movie they didn't belong to? As those who have read the books probably know, there were no warg riders in the Lord of the Rings saga. The battle of Helms Deep were stretched from just a minor happening in the book, to the focal point of this entire movie. Quite naturally, a lot of scenes had to be left out then. And what is this with Osgiliath, were Frodo and Sam were brought? In the books, this was just the remnants of a former city, that had been abandoned when the forces of Mordor started to push against the people of Gondor. This meant that all references to Minas Morgul and Minas Tirith were left out of the movie, probably because of the lack of time or money, probably both. Thus, the audience missed the entire core of the story, as for exampe why it is named "The Two Towers" - Those are the citadels of Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul, towers that represent goodness and evil. Yes, that is correct, the name of this book doesn't refer to Barad-Dur and Orthanc. All these ways of showing Arwen is another way of wasting precious time; She shouldn't appear at all in TTT.
Another set of bad changes - Characters. Peter Jackson have by reasons unknown decided that the craracters in the book were to be changed. The most anoying to me is Gimli, who by mr Jacksons interpretation is supposed to be a kind of fool that we should all laugh at. Yes, he's short. And can't se over the battlements of a normal fortress. He is clumsy and crude beyond belief. All he lives for is drinking beer (subsequently burping, even in the presence of a king) and fighting. Well, as described by Tolkien, Gimli is one of the more majestic and adorable characters of the entire trilogy. And quite unique for being a dwarf, because of his deep with an elf (Legolas), a race otherwise despised by the dwarves. But this is obviously not good enough for Peter Jackson. King Theoden of Rohan have been degraded from the calm, wise and understanding regent of the books, to a grumpy, somewhat incompetent and violent "don't-argue-with-me-I'm-the-king"-type of character in the movies. After being "cured" by Gandalf, his first thought was to slay Wormtongue, and Aragorn had to intervene. Well, in the book, a soldier wanted to slay Wormtongue, while Theoden intervened and instead told the guards to give him a horse and let him go. So, in essence, that is what happened in the movie, so why do all these changes? Treebeard, the wise ent, picked by curiosity up the two hobbits in the book, eager to learn more about them. By Peter Jacksons interpretation, he only wanted to kill them, because he thought they were orcs. Why was this change necessary? Besides this, the ents decided, by their own initiative, to assault Isengard according to the book, as Treebeard (a.k.a Fangorn, as he not only lived in this forrest, but he also was the soul of the forrest and knew about everything that happened in there) had grown mad with the ways of Saruman. But according to Jackson, it took the cunning of two little brats from the Shire to convince the oldest living being in Middle-Earth (Treebeard) that he should assault Isengaard. Faramir, the younger brother of Boromir, was according to Tolkien the opposite of his hot-headed and bad-tempered older brother. He was wise and calm, and choose the way of the mind instead of the way of the sword. Well, not according to Jackson. Instead, he behaves like a blueprint of his older brother, seizes the hobbits, and brings them to Gondor.
I could go on forever, but I'll think I better halt here. I always expect some changes to the plot and storyline when a movie is made with a book as the foundation. Otherwise, it would probably not be possible to make something watchable. But what disturbs me about TTT is that most of these changes are totally out of line, there is no need or reason for the director of doing them! So why were these changes made? Why removing scenes that could easily have done, and replacing them with stuff that is totally out of line and that in fact does a lot of damage to the plot? Why change the characteristics and behaviour of the characters in this story, when they have already been outlined by someone who dedicated almost his entire life to create these stories?
IMHO, what Peter Jackson did is unforgivable. Yes, it is a great movie and very watchable. But remember this, the author of the Lord of the Ring saga is John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, not Peter Jackson or Frances Walsh. They probably don't understand that the plot of this saga is a lot more complicated than just a bunch of orcs, humans and elves that play hack'n slash with each other.
Other changes that I liked is the scene were Arwen stand by Aragorns dead body in the future, and then sits by his grave for quite some time, and finally walk off into Loth-Lorien - Although the movie never explains that it is were she's heading, as well as that's were she'll die, at her own wish. I think that scene was beautiful, and quite interesting to see in this movie, since the books never states what happens to the others after the ending of the "Return of the King". And it also explains why Elrond is so hostile to the idea of his daughter marrying a simple human.
This is a great movie. But make sure you watch it before you read the book if possible, otherwise you might be disappointed.