The Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers DVD > Reviews > walk, fight, walk, fight, walk, fight....

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	looks stunning
Disadvantages:	odd tinkering with the book

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Tha title is in fact a description I heard of the film on a radio 4 comedy program, and they ahd a point. It is often the case that people reading the Lord of the rings stumble to a halt somewhere in 'the two towers'and find it painfully slow going, because largely what happens is, people travel about, and they fight. As film material goes, it isn't ideal, and I was wondering how on earth Peter Jackson was going to make it interesting.

The film is not self contained, although there is one plot line that might at a pinch stand alone. If you haven't seen the first film and/or read the books, don't watch this is will confuse you silly. If you have, well worth a go.

We pick up the story with Frodo and Sam making their way towards Mordor, and finding Gollum on their trail. Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin are carried off by orcs only to meet up with Ents. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas run for days and don't manage to find them. The main story then kicks in - King Theoden is under the influence of evil Grima Wormtongue, who serves the various evil forces at play. When Theoden is rescued, he realises that his kingdom, Rohan (a tad mongul in look) is about to be invaded by a huge army or orcs. A few hundred humans go to Helm's Deep in the hopes of making a stand against a few hundred thousand orcs. Meanwhile, the ents are taking action against Saroman's evil industrialization, in a scene that should make every nature lover smile.

There's some love interest thrown in - for the brooding and stubbly Aragorn, there's some absolutly brilliant scenes as Gollum/Smeagle fight for dominance with each other - some fantastically schizophrenic conversations there. There's a surprising dash of comedy, mostly centered around Gimli - a bit of slapstick and assorted silliness that serves to break the tension. It didn't go too far. Best of all there's Orlando Bloom - Legolas, who gets most of the best lines, some of the most gloriously unbelievable and cool stunts and who has perfect hair no matter what. (Did I mention that I think he's gorgeous?) Legolas as a character, much to my surprise, is largely the one set up to provide the emotional context for the audience - Aragorn is just gruff and grim, Gimli is too hairy for any facial expressions to be readily determinable, and most of the hobbits are still intent on optimism. Legolas/Bloonm has a beautifully expresive face and is usually the only one to really respond to anything.

The special effects are superb - ruined cities, ents - walking tree people,, Gollum, vast orc armies, flying monsters, oliphants, massive fight scenes, Gandalf glowing like he's radioactive - visually this film is a feast.

On the whole it is an inevitably flawed piece, a middle section that could not hope to stand alone. Basically what happens is they walk/run/ride, fight, show different characters doing the walk thing and not fighting, then another set, then back to the first who are.... walking, and then fighting! But the fighting is superbly good, and everything looks surprisingly realistic, and there is a fairly convincing stab at getting a stand alone plot going around the Helm's Deep battle. I was riveted for the whole film, I hardly seemed to breath during the several hours of running time and I loved every minute of it.

It bodes well for the final film, and like everyone else I know, I am gnashing my teeth at the prospect of having to wait a whole year for the final part.