The Pros of The Two Towers

Cafe Society
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I have been reading a lot of negative about the newest LORD OF THE RINGS movie. Granted, there were some apparent misses, but i forgave them as i sat in the theaters on the 18th of december. I would like anyone who posts to give only the pros that they have discovered in the movie.
So…here’s my PROS for THE TWO TOWERS:

Directorial issues:

-Finally, a book of this magnitude has been put to film. Granted it has taken since 1999 and has been a pressure after pressure, but it is finally here!

-Peter Jackson has taken a very non-adaptable book and has turned it into cinematic history. His vision isn’t necessarily Tolkien, but it gets pretty damn close to the bullseye. His vision of Gollum is flawless, and his ideals around the wide landscape shots are brilliant. It gives a definite scope to the movie. I feel like it would take weeks to travel those distances.

-Faramir is, admittedly, changed. To me, he is not an improvement but an interpretation. The actor who played him was well accepted and Peter Jackson was smart to choose him.

-The director has a lot of balls to make the changes that he did, but the way he has set things up before, answers will be spewing our way very shortly in entish, elvish, and common tongue.
Gollum:

-Wow…the most realistic CGI i have seen ever. I knew it was CGI, but there were certain instances where i had to convince myself of that fact. And the acting was head on what i thought of Gollum. I have seen and heard many visions of that retched creature, but this one is genuine Tolkien. Just the sort of animation i can’t help but applaud.
Balrog’s death:(intro)

-HOLY CRAP! As the camera turned downward at Khazad-Dum, I couldn’t help but feel the story unfolding beautifully. As Gandalf grasped his mighty sword and fell to what was his death. It was amazing and i watched it for the first time, friends making fun of me because my mouth had fallen off. From the CLANG to the WHAM, i was instantly into the movie.
MUSIC:

-was simply the best. I felt like i was in Edoras, when the hardinger began its stint, and when the brass brought the Rohirrim theme to amazing climax. Gandalf the White’s theme is quite nice and the flourish is awesome.

That’s all i have for now…

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The costumes!!
Everything and everyone in Edoras, from the Golden Hall right down to the belt buckles. Weapons. MMmm!

Grima! Slime - wonderful.

The “Where is the Rider?” speech of Theoden.
The final charge(s).
(and the wonderful horn of Helmsdeep!!!)

The Dead Marshes - ooky!

Gollum

Yes, I liked the opening of the movie too - it was definitely “Audience, the movie has started and you will pay attention NOW…”

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…And the movie score. Again - “Forth Eorlingas”.

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The new characters were set up nicely for The Return of the King. Théoden, Éowyn, Éomer, Faramir and Gollum will be familiar in that movie and we’ll care what happens to them. (Too bad Denethor couldn’t have been introduced in TTT, but it’s understandable why he wasn’t).

The long look at the map in Faramir’s cave was unexpected and welcome.

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Can’t forget the amazing Oliphaunts…

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Hmm, I’m not sure I get the “not Tolkien” bit, or the need to scrounge up positives about the movie. I loved the movie, every second of it. Saw it twice the first week, and am itching to see it again. I got the impression that the people who were complaining were just a vocal minority.

Anyway: Gollum, of course. Amazing work; within minutes after he came on screen I stopped thinking of him as a CG effect and started seeing him as a character. I was stunned by his Gollum/Smeagol argument – it was funny and pathetic at the same time, and totally gripping. Who else would devote so much screen time to a CG character?

I loved the battle scenes; in the book the Helm’s Deep sequence just seemed to be a mass of confusing character and place names.

I really loved how they managed to carry the tone of the book throughout the movie; instead of just acting as a bridge between the first and third movies, the story had a complete arc. I’d considered The Two Towers to be unfilmable because it was just big confusing battle scenes and then Sam & Frodo wandering through the wilderness feeling miserable and hopeless. By the time of Sam’s speech, I realized that the movie had completely conveyed the epic scale of the battle, the growing power of the ring, and the weight of the journey on Sam & Frodo, without getting bogged down in details.

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Gollum, for sure.
and yes, the oliphaunts were definitely cool

and Eowyn ( :::dreamy sigh::: )

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Everyone else hated the Elrond/Arwen parts; I found them a nice emotional addition to the plot. Added insight to the Aragorn/Arwen romance.

Plus, seeing Hugo Weaving ponce about in a dressing-gown thing almost always gets my approval.

Ditto to all else mentioned previously.

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The details in arms and armor and costumes is amazing.

The battles left me breathless.

Hearing the elven language gave me shivers.

Gollum and Treebeard were, in my mind, perfect.

The music is fabulous. The backgrounds and vistas were awesome.

The casting is excellent, as far as I’m concerned. I remember reading about that way back when and wondering “Who?” but I think they all settled very nicely into their roles. (I swear Orlando Bloom looks very much the way Legolas always has in my mind when I read the books in Jr. High. I thought he was a hottie then and I still do.)

The vision of Arwen future and after Aragorn’s death was beautifully done.

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Details?
Did someone say details?
-geeky woodworker post follows-

I liked Theodin’s throne. Very nicely wrought! I was saying, “…Think I’ll build one of those…”

I like roof structures. It’s kind of a construction guy fetish.
Theodin’s kingdom had cool roof structures. I liked how the rafters on gabled ends crossed at the ridgelines and had horses heads carved on them. The interior of the hall was cool too.

<hijack>
In Kurasawa’s “Ran” the rails and stiles met on the castle gates in the exact manner for geatest strength. Silently I thought, “The mortice piece bypasses the tenon piece. Why? Oh, I get it, makes it stronger. I’ll put that in my bag of tricks too!”
Then I thought, "Haha, nobody sees it but me!
Sad really…
</hijack>

Elves are into L’Art Nouveau architecture. Check.
Gondor is Neoclassical. Check.
Rohan is Scandinavian, with knotwork and zoomorphs. Check. (They had roof structures like Norwegian stave churches too. I liked that)

To the OP,
I’ve read all the negative stuff too.
In a word, I was very entertained by the movie. I thought it was great. It’s been a long time since I read the books, so I’m not as sensitive to whatever changes were made.
And the Balrog fight? It was great. Loved it!

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The long shot of the Balrog (and Gandalf) falling through a hole in the ceiling of the cave, and falling toward the water. That was an “what am I seeing?..OH MY GOD!!!” moment!
Shadowfax!

Frodo in the Dead Marshes. It may have been a pure Peter Jackson moment, but wow, it was a pure Peter Jackson moment and quite cool.

The horn of the Elves.

The spectacular caves that the women and children were hiding in.
The way the Elf cloak made itself out to look like a rock.

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Forbin, I love what you wrote. I know nothing about architecture and it’s interesting to hear someone who is in the know talk about it.

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Did anyone but me sit through the credits?

MAN! Talk about your hordes without number!

And I bet every one of them is a Tolkien geek.

No wonder the detail is so magnificent. Every actor had his sword. His own sword, with elvish engraving. Most of them (even minor parts) knew what the elvish meant. These people were engaged in an act of love, not a job for profit. I hope they all get rich. Rich enough to decide to take a crack at Silmarillion.

Tris

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The story, in my opinion, wasn’t as strong as Fellowship (the movie). BUT, I think that’s just a product of the fact that things were a bit more rushed. With FOTR, everything was eased into… a more comfortable level of growth. In regard of storytelling, I think TTT is great, but a hair below FOTR in terms of quality.

However, in terms of just the sheer scope, scale, grandeur of the world… wow. The Rohirrim were amazing. The Ents were excellent (although I pictured creatures with shorter legs and longer torsos, but that’s a matter of opinion). The battle of Helm’s Deep was astounding… instead of one constant clashing of swords, a series of skirmishes that result in a constant retreat on the part of Aragorn’s forces.

And the giggles! “Toss me… don’t tell the Elf…” Oh my god! I didn’t know whether to smack Peter Jackson upside the head or give him a million Oscar’s right then and there! One thing I’ll say about Peter Jackson… I may find his additions a little jarring, but fuck, that guy has balls - giant, wrecking ball-sized testicles - and, so far, he’s had the talent to back them up.

The additions… I hated them at the time (me and my silly, little-boy expectations), but in retrospect, I enjoy them. Jackson knew that there was gonna be a million geeky, twerpy little fannerds like me, going into the movie expecting to see Tolkien’s book, word-for-word. By giving us a little curve, he keeps us on our toes, and keeps us from falling out of the movie and back into our memory of the books. After all, if he wanted us to read the books… he’d have just re-released another edition of the books.

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When I saw Frodo and Sam slowly making their way to Mordor at the beginning of the movie, all alone, I was thinking: “Are you crazy?” For the first time, the movie brought home to me how hopeless and desperate their quest was. The movies have made me look at the books in a new light, which makes them a work of art in their own right.

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i have to agree about Eowyn…wow…to bad she’s married already. I thought she was a great improvement to the book arwen…

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At the end of the movie, when the three plot lines seem inescapably divergent, placing Sam’s speech as a voice-over to the battle climaxes pulls them all back together with a wrench, and it was an awesome idea by the three writers.

The little added scene of Frodo lying awake, fondling the Ring, while Gollum croons, “Sooo bright, sooo beautiful . . .” was impeccably done and was a brilliant way to show how Frodo and Gollum understood each other.

The forbidden pool scene was so exactly like how my mind’s eye had imagined it that it was scary.

I loved the ents chucking house-sized boulders a half-mile through the air. Perfect!

[slight hijack] You know what? Frodo wasn’t offering up the Ring to the nazgul in that controversial Osgiliath scene. He was taking in out and preparing to put it on, just like at Weathertop, the last time he faced the witch king. The scene makes better sense when you understand this. [/end slight hijack]

I also loved the Rohan theme with the hardinger fiddle. It completes the “Beowulf” feeling to the scenes.

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forbin, you weren’t the only one who noticed the roof lines. i loved the horse touch. the carvings and gingerbread on the trim. very scandinavian. it made me pine for the fjords.

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The Theoden Scene: “Where are the Riders” as old men and boys are gathered together to be issued weapons and armor.

Awesome.

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Forgive me for a brief hijack, please? I’ve been trying to Google and search here but keep getting shut down by my browser, and really don’t want to start another LOTR thread for such insignificant trivia. I haven’t re-read the books since I was a kid, and a friend with whom I saw TTT last night wants to know more about the dwarf-tossing bits in TTT and FOTR; mainly, are they in the original text or not? I’m confident someone can give me sources either way.

Sooo . . . back to the OP. I loved the little wink Gandalf gave when he begged to keep his “walking stick.” Perfect.