Jackson remains a genius, and this series remains a masterpiece--Faithful enough to Tolkein, and a fantastic movie!

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2002)

I've read ---with care and delight--- the books four times in the last 34 years, including the recent reversion to Tolkein's "original" manuscript, edited by his son. I'm a fan. There, I said it, and I'm glad, I tell you!
This second installment of the trilogy is probably as good as a movie could get. It captures the Tolkein vibe probably as well as it could be captured in a theatrical release. Watching the flick tonight I realized that much of the vaunted charm of the very readable and very "literary" Tolkein books is in part the time it takes to read the long pages--- 1,000 to 1,400 pages, depending on the edition your are holding. And that time--- weeks and weeks of pouring over pages, re-reading certain passages, pondering and mulling over the fake languages and songs, and histories Tolkein concocted--- allows one to create and invent the Tolkein world inside oneself. That's GREAT! I loved each time I read the original. But no one could possibly expect a movie to give you, in 2-1/2 hours, that kind of luxurious lingering in the fantasy world. Duh!
Therefore, the movie's focus on action--- and FYI, it is dead-on accurate and faithful to the books--- is OK. The Ents' meeting in the forest took 3 or 4 DAYS in the book, and Merry and Pippin spent many more days hanging with Treebeard. The movie telescoped that down into a few hours. But hey!!! Think about it--- how could a movie, ANY movie, capture all of the sylvan reverie (including the Hobbits growing a couple of feet taller with the Entwash, etc.) in a trilogy movie series? All of that dreamy book-world stuff would be great to see on the screen--- but it would take dozens and dozens of hours of screen-time. Who could sit in a theater for that many weeks? There aren't that many "festive" people on the planet to make such a theatrical release profitable.
Maybe if we were wishing, we could have wished for a 30 or 40 hour TV mini-series. Then we COULD afford to meander and linger and all of that. Seriously--- I'd have enjoyed it. But then, the battles and evil empire and such would have to be portrayed with a vigor equal to Jackson's efforts, else the drama and peril (etc.) would be lost. For MY ridiculous wishing, then, I'm wishing for them to have made two projects--- the 3 theater-release movies, AND a 30-hour TV mini-series for all the "literary" vibe. But then, instead of a $300 million triology, we'd have had a $1 BILLION dollar (but memorable!) TV mini-series. Oh well--- if wishing were having...
Overall, "LOTR Two Towers" is an excellent movie! A "10" out of "10"!!!