Rating: Summary: Sacrifices for Dumb People Review: Let's get a few things straight here. First, the book that upon which this movie is based is a wonderful book, one of the best ever written, no doubt, and it has delighted millions of readers over the years. Second, it is an extremely difficult book to turn into a movie. Third, the movie will not follow the book exactly, which is too bad, but in some respects understandable. However, while I enjoyed the movie and I understand that changes had to be made, I did not enjoy these particular changes themselves. It seemed to me that the producers and directors of this film sold out the Tolkien ideal in order to dumb the movie down to the lowest common demoninator of movie goers. This is what irked me the most. I realize that it is impossible to include all the nuances of each character into a movie, although they did a great job with Gollum. However, I have never liked the way they have turned Merry and Pippin into semi-coherent idiots and phasing out Eomer and over emphasising Aragorn really hurt the flow of the movie. Let's face it, the whole Aragorn falling off the cliff scene and dreaming about Arwen was really boring and seemed totally out of place with the rest of the film. The only reason it was in there was to "attract" female viewers. In other words, it is just another example of putting a Hollywood Formula into the movie where it was neither needed nor wanted. The overextended battle of Helm's Deep and the confusing and totally unnecessary portrayal of Faramir seriously dampened the effect of the movie as a whole and are just further examples of the Director inserting the Hollywood Formula to cater to the perceived needs of a dumb audience. To summarize, while I understand the complexities of turning such a fantastic and intricate book into a movie, the changes that were made were unnecessary and detracted from the enjoyment of the movie as a whole. Overall, the movie is quite good. As a comparison to the book, you'll be disappointed because it's obvious that those who are making these movies care only about tried and true Hollywood formulas and will use them at the expense of the far better written word.
Rating: Summary: Great Story Coninues... Review: No book has ever been made into a movie without there being some changes. So we embark on a journey that has some Tolkien fans pulling their hair out (Good!!) There we things that happened in FOTR that didn't happen in the book but they overlooked them I guess. Anyways Ive reviewed this moive once already so I just want to talk about what I look forward to seeing in the extended version. The Huorns are in it!!!! Holy cow all else fails to compare!! Ok and I really want to see the added stuff between Boromir, Faramir and Denethor their father.It should enrich an already great movie just as it did for the the Fellowship. I can't wait to see it.
Rating: Summary: A splendid interpretation Review: I first read the Lord of the Rings nearly forty years ago and was swept away by the moving story and the beautiful writing. I remain convinced that no motion picture can do full justice to the trilogy, but both Peter Jackson's Fellowship and Two Towers provide a beautiful and entertaining interpretation. The second volume was obviously a more difficult work to bring to the screen owing to its shifting plotlines, but Jackson and the other two screenwriters have produced a coherent and powerful story, as should be even more evident in the forthcoming extended DVD. One can quibble about a number of things here--the scrub-brush look of Rohan, the funky look of the wargs, Faramir taking Frodo to Osgilliath--but the best thing is to just calm down and let Jackson take you on one hell of a fine ride. This is a splendid interpretation given the tremendous challenges posed by Tolkien's masterpiece.
Rating: Summary: Simply awesome! Review: I never thought that Lord of the Rings could be successfully made into a movie, I was wrong. This is an awesome movie!
Rating: Summary: Scattered and Unfaithful Story Line Review: After the perfectly plotted, seamlessly edited Fellowship, the scattered, unfaithful, and frequently confusing Two Towers is not merely an artistic disappointment, but also cause for a falling out with Peter Jackson's vision. We see much, but in several small parts--the DVD lists more than 50 scenes--not all of which cohere or have sufficient time to explore the developments of the characters or the depths of Tolkien's theme; the writers and director seem to have tried to compensate by inserting several brief melodramatic bits of dialogue that are so anomalous that they come out almost farcically. Perhaps the film is best symbolized by Sean Astin; not only have his acting and pseudo-British accent degraded since the first film, but he is given several calculatingly sappy lines that, at the conclusion of a long and difficult-to-appreciate story, are downright outrageous. While Elijah Wood shines for his increasingly confident and even mature acting, he cannot make up for poor writing, directing, and editing. This is literary adaptation at its very worst. But what is perhaps even more disturbing than the adaptation are the reviews here at amazon.com; why is ignorance about books and authors--and anti-Tolkienism in particular--being touted by customers at a website that earned its fame by selling books? Have we become so foolish? I recommend www.tolkiensociety.org for reviews that tend to be written by people who remember that the author of The Two Towers was Tolkien, not Jackson. I look forward to the "Return" hesitantly, with little faith; I hope that the final film reawakens the enjoyment that I experienced when viewing "Fellowship."
Rating: Summary: The Two Towers Review: This movie is AWESOME. and i have seen all of the lord of the rings movies including the extended edition. I have bought the two towers DVD on widescreen and that is awesome. I would Rate this movie 10 stars if i could!!
Rating: Summary: I think you are missing something Review: Note: I love The Two Towers! I can't wait for the Return of the King! I think those that are "Tolken Purists" are forgetting something important about these movies. You where entertained. Admit it. You loved the visuals even though not all of Tolken's orignal story was not compleatly played to the letter. You where still entertained. I also see that you don't realise how many people worked soooo hard on this film to present it to you. If you get the extended DVD or at least rent it and take a look at some of the documentaries you will see the years of work. YEARS of hard work that went into this. PJ wasn't the only one to make decisions in plot line and edits. It isn't fair to blame him for your malcontent. Bringing LOTR to life is no mean trick. It has been a labor of love for so many people for so long. What have you done that you have poured your blood sweat and tears over for YEARS? So what if it is missing or has changed a few things. At least these people dared to bring their love for this increadible story to life and presented it to all the world. If you hate it so much, get some money together, get a cast & crew, have some studio back you and do it yourself. I wonder if you could do better. Till then Enjoy! Be Entertained! and Stop complaining about things you are unwilling to change!
Rating: Summary: Just what we need! Review: An even longer version of a movie that was too long to begin with! The other version gets three stars because you can almost get through it before you die of old age.
Rating: Summary: Did someone say wait for a LONGER version? Review: My complaint is that the thing is just tooooooooooooo long, just like Fellowship. I enjoy the story (which is why 3 stars is appropriate) and all but how can they expect repeated viewings at 3 hours and they will add more to the Super duper special edition in Oct? Enough already. Titanic ruined the movies with its "Epic" 3+ hour flick. I don't know about you, but I wait for the DVD on these. How can you sit in a nasty movie theater chair for half the day?
Rating: Summary: The Battle for Middle-Earth is about to begin Review: When I first saw this in theater I knew that it was good. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were captovating. When we come back to Frodo and Sam. and there harsh struggles, and Gollum how badly he was treated by Sam. All of this was good This is a mind blowing movie. It will practicly keep you guessing till the end. Now when Dec. 17 Comes we will see the last part. but for now we are come to The Two Towers. the most riviting film of our time and I agree for what Rickard Corliss says. "The supreme film adventure of our time. Own it today.
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