Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic
Review: The extended versions of these movies are even better than the originals. They're so good, in fact, that I wish they would skip the standard edition and just go right to the extended one. Great movie, and the best mastered DVD I've seen yet.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Middle to a Great Series
Review: "The Two Towers", as you know, is the second installment in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. This is good movie, but my least favorite of the three. I'll tell you what I DON'T like first, and then tell you what I DO like, althought there is more DO's than DONT's. I've always thought that this movie's acting was not as convincing as 'The Fellowship of the Ring', the first installment. Especially the 'Extended' scenes on this DVD. As much as the scenes do indeed provide a better backdrop on the story and characters, the only one that I liked was the flashback scene between Boromir and Faramir.
In the Special Extended Edition of 'Fellowship', the scenes were well acted and actually entertaining, pulling you further into the depth of Middle-Earth. Not that these don't do that, but not as much, and not as well.
Some of the scenes are kind of corny, like when Gandalf first comes back and appears to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. In the Special Edition, after shooting at him, Legolas kneels down, and says "Forgive me - I mistook you for Saruman." Then Gandalf says, "I am Saruman. Or rather Saruman as he should have been." I thought it sounded kind of fake.
But it got even worse as they were walking through the forest, and Gimli says he can't wait to get out such a stinking forest, to which the trees instantly start groaning and shaking. Then Gimli starts trembling and says, "I mean lovely, charming, beautiful," blah, blah, blah. It sounded more like little-kid comedy.
Also some of the lost scenes with Merry and Pippen are kind of corny. But there is one part at the end of the movie, where they discover Saruman's store room, that might make more sense to their scene in 'Return of the King', where they're seen feasting and drinking at the flooded tower. I don't know why the acting wasn't as good in this as it was in the first. Many roles were well played, but others weren't as satisfactory. Eowyn talks kind of awkwardly (I'm glad she settled down in 'The Return of the King'), and Eomer seems too, "Oh, I'm so cool to be in Lord of the Rings." The second big problem I have with this film is that it doesn't advance the story very much. The only significant thing that happens is that Saruman is taken care of. That stetches out over the ENTIRE movie. I thought it kind of odd and a little boring at times.
Obviously it moves the story in some ways, but in a lot of ways it doesn't. In 'Fellowship', Frodo goes halfway across the earth in half the movie, and is last seen heading into Mordor.
In 'Towers', he is captured and gets a total of about two miles. It also ends with him heading into Mordor. I mean, I know some of these things are essential to the story, but why spread it alllll out over one three-hour movie? I'm not saying they should have only had two movies, but I'm mostly blaming Tolkein.
You might not believe it from the big stink I've made, but all this isn't enough to ruin the movie or even put a dent in it. It's just a tiny flaw, but a flaw that I can stomach. Now for the good things. Like in 'Fellowship', the special effects are incredible. So are the landscapes. Maybe not as much as Movie One, but this film definately sucks you into Middle Earth and its cultures.
We can almost believe that there is indeed a land of Rohan, since they go so deep into the culture and history. It's amazing. Theoden was played brilliantly by Bernard Hill, as was Grima Wormtongue by Brad Dourhif. Helm's Deep was a great battle sequence, and the special effects used in that were outstanding. It is an epic battle that portrays the unending fight of good against evil, and the measures that good will go to win. And that is yet one of the amazing things about this whole story. There is such a clear line between good and evil, and shows to what great lengths and sacrifices must be made for good to endure. It shows that evil cannot be comprehended with. Evil does not negotiate. Evil cannot be softened or altered. Evil must be destroyed, or it will destroy you. I think this applies very much to our own situation now.
The music to this film is once again well done by Howard Shore, sensational, even. The music to 'Helm's Deep','Last March of the Ents', 'The Flooding of Isengaard' and 'The Stories that Really Mattered', were all terrific, climactic melodies. I also loved the Rohan music. Another well-done job by the music team. Gollum must be the most realistic CGI character ever created. I'm glad they didn't use a real man as Gollum, because you cannot get the same motions or reactions as you can a CGI character. It makes you feel as if this character is partly human, yet is also something completely differant and on its own. Like its not part of our world, which Gollum isn't.
Overall, I like this film A LOT. Although I liked 'Fellowship' and 'King' better, this is still better than almost any other movie out there. Any fans of Tolkein or the movies would do themselves a favor to buy this, especially the Special Extened Edition. Although some scenes, as I said were corny, it is worth it to get the backdrop.
This is a good middle to a great series!
Rating: 
Summary: A mediocre continuation of a solid beginning.
Review: Despite my dislike for the Rings saga in their original literary form, I enjoyed The Fellowship Of The Ring; it was a good adventure film, with strong acting, amazingly immersive details, and some excellent combat sequences. However, I left The Two Towers in a somewhat odd mood, as I just couldn't figure why I wasn't praising it like my cousin beside me. I eventually boiled it down to the fact that Towers is an inferior piece of filmmaking. With the Fellowship now separated (not that it took very long, mind you), Towers struggles with the fact that its heroes are now scattered throughout Middle Earth. A lot of critics have let this movie off the hook in this regard, given that this is usually what happens during the second act of these epics, and that this is the middle of three films. But I'm not going to do that. This film is extremely disjointed and uneven, with massive gaps in plot and a seemingly askew sense of priorities. We spend quite a bit of time watching Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli run around New Zealand... er, Middle Earth, chasing a band of Uruk-hai who took two of the hobbits captive, yet the relationship between Eowyn and Aragorn is given almost no screen time. This is a problem since we're supposed to understand why she's so damned distraught when he doesn't come home and why she's so damned happy when he finally shows up, and we don't. With such a massive source material, every second of screen time is, well, "precioussss," and when director Peter Jackson chooses to give us a man, an elf and a dwarf running over rocks instead of character interaction and development, it confuses those of us who care and hurts the movie. Faramir's character is particularly damaged by this phenomenon, leaving him one-dimensional and robbing him of the depth Tolkien provided him with. What do we get instead? Orcs arguing over whether or not to eat the hobbits, a useless scene in the long run of things with Gandalf and Frodo pretty much out of the picture for the majority of the film. Go figure. Next we have the completely out of place comic relief provided by Gimli, the dwarf (though John Rhys-Davies' performance is wonderful). After Jackson spends something over twenty minutes telling us just how evil and dangerous this army of Uruk-hai coming towards them is, and gives a lengthy slow-motion shot of men young and old being pulled away from their families (a dramatic shot, as we're supposed to believe most of them are going to die), he completely destroys the credibility of the battle by having Gimli dropping one-liners all over. By having Legolas and Gimli compete for kills, and having both tossing jokes out left and right, the sense of peril is removed completely from the scene, and suddenly we're left wondering why this army is such a big deal, since clearly the elf and the dwarf alone can take most of them on and still have time to a nice little chit-chat. The Two Towers is a dark part of Tolkien's trilogy, and to have Jackson trying desperately to lighten it diminishes its impact. Finally, the reality of The Two Towers isn't as immediate as it was in The Fellowship. Rohan looks like New Zealand, which is rather bland when compared to the fantastical Lothlorien and Rivendell of the first film. While this is more a fault of the story than of the filmmakers, it hurts the film no less. Also, the fight choreography in this film seems off, lacking the brutal authenticity of the combat in Fellowship; you won't find any duels like the climatic Aragorn against the Uruk-hai leader scene, as most of combat in this film is between armies and shot from afar with massive CGI enhancing. Finally, Howard Shore's musical score seems less important in this film, almost like background music, whereas his triumphant horns and proud themes gave incredible emotional impact in the first movie. The Two Towers isn't an awful film. Visually, it is less impressive than its predecessor, but remains quite a feast for the eyes nonetheless, with several jaw-dropping and spine-tingling scenes (most of them during the battle for Helm's Deep). The acting is good throughout, and when it's not giving us idiotic one-liners, the script is elegant, if somewhat incoherent. When it works, Towers is an epic delight. Unfortunately, it doesn't work much, much less most of the three hour run time. Some say to me, "It's because it's the middle movie." However, being the middle movie isn't an excuse for inadequacy. With both The Empire Strikes Back and The Matrix Reloaded proving that the middle can be mind-blowing and equal (if not superior in some places) to their predecessors, The Two Towers is mediocre piece of storytelling that will undoubtedly be embraced and worshipped by legions of Tolkien fanatics willing to overlook what are to this reviewer monstrous flaws.
Rating:
Summary: Subtitulos en español.
Review: Los discos 1 y 2 no poseen subtitulos en español para las pistas de audio de los comentarios.
El resto realmente fuera de serie, una gran compra.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait
Review: This movie is even better than the original version (which i LOVED too). I want to give it a 7/5. We really should be able to.
Anyway, it really is worth waiting and paying the slight extra fee for the extended edition. The added scenes are hard to distinguish, but it does add more depth to the story. I recomend this movie to all Lord of the Rings fans.
Rating:
Summary: A miraculous accomplishment
Review: Peter Jackson proved me wrong when I opined, like many people, that Lord of the Rings would be a bust: Spielberg-adventure at best, Lucas-disaster at worst. Had I known Tolkien's classic was in the hands of the guy who directed Heavenly Creatures, I would have perhaps been more optimistic. As it turns out, my expectations were completely overturned. In some ways the films are actually better than the books, especially in terms of emotional power. Competent actors, amazing cinematography, and a brilliant music score combine to offer us Middle-Earth as we'd never imagined it. Fellowship of the Ring is the most polished film, with its elegant episodic pacing. We start in the idyllic world of the hobbits and flee with Ringwraiths hot on our heels; we rest in Elrond's sanctuary and plunge into Moria; we come out grieving and console ourselves in Galadriel's safe (yet unsettling) dream-wood, and then wind up surrounded by Uruk-hai. This is a quintessential fantasy road-journey containing three episodes within an episode, each beginning in a haven and followed by a dark journey. The pacing is flawless, and the plot unfolds to a perfect beat. Two Towers is the ambiguous film. It's excellent (or at least the extended version is) but structured in a way that the hobbits become sidelined by the Rohan story. As they are the soul of Tolkien's epic, we feel slightly nonplussed at their consignment to B-storylines. Ironically, the film is a showcase for cgi characters Gollum and Treebeard, who manage to steal the show from within these storylines. Return of the King is the most dramatic film, tragic on almost a biblical level, and certainly the most satisfying. I can understand why Elijah Wood calls it "better than one and two combined". It centers on the hopeless mission to Mount Doom, which, as every fan knows, is the heart of the story. Around this we're bombarded by apocalyptic chaos and destruction on the Pelennor Fields, followed by Aragorn's hopeless march on the Black Gate. We finish at the Grey Havens, the best ending in literary and cinematic history, which encapsulates all of Tolkien's themes: courage, friendship, suffering, and passing on. It just doesn't get better than this. Of particular interest is the way Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King share so many dramatic features -- without any sense of formula or "been there before" -- lacking in Two Towers. The Nine Nazgul play a major role (whether on horseback or fell beasts), memorable and menacing villains: Weathertop and the Morgul Vale are easily the most frightening scenes of the trilogy; Flight to the Ford and the Siege of Gondor are the most exciting. Frodo's life is put in jeopardy after being stabbed by the Witch-King and poisoned by Shelob, and there is an "edge-of-your-seat" excitement to the horse-chase and spider-fight scenes not found in the second film. Gandalf plays a major role as his character unfolds primarily through his relationship with a hobbit (Frodo in the first film, Pippin in the third), while his appearance in the second film is really an extended cameo. He has dramatic confrontations at Isengard with his rival Saruman; in the middle film the wizards combat each other only indirectly, through Theoden's exorcism. The Ring often speaks to Frodo -- who puts it on three times, and then once -- but in TT the chief antagonist is somewhat sidelined. The Mirror of Galadriel offers Frodo some terrifying visions (not least Galadriel herself), just as the Palantir does to Pippin. The deaths of Boromir and Thedoen are emotionally intense. Likewise, the Breaking of the Fellowship and Grey Havens are emotional endings which accentuate Tolkien's themes of parting and loss. Two Towers suffers from a lack of protagonist deaths and an emotional "Tolkienesque" ending. None of this is intended to deny that Two Towers is an excellent film (as I said, the extended version certainly is), but the other two films supersede it by virtue of the particular drama contained in the storylines. They're more menacing, exciting, and emotional. My individual ratings are as follows. Fellowship of the Ring -- 97 (5 stars). Two Towers -- 91 (4 1/2 stars). Return of the King -- 99 (5 stars). Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, and the WETA team deserve more accolades than I'm capable of heaping to the point of overkill. Suffice to say that these films will be treasured as long as, and as much as, Tolkien's classic itself.
Rating:
Summary: A+++++
Review: First off don't believe ANYONE who says WalMart won't give you your money back. Walmart will refund a peice of chewed gum, they are probably on of the best companies about that hands down. If the edition doesn't play on your machine, it's probably YOUR machine, not the discs. This edition is CHOKED full of special footage, extended scenes actually added back in the film(not seperate like most editions), and awesome packaging. If you love these movies don't miss out on the TRUE directors vision and extended scenes. WAAAAAY to much to talk about, just buy it already!!
Rating:
Summary: My 2nd Favorite Movie!
Review: This is one the greatest movies ever! Better than the first! Better action, creautres, and some new characters! I recommend this movie to anyone!
Rating: 
Summary: Appendices Won't Play
Review: I have bought two of these at Wal-mart and neither one of them has appendices that will play. The problem is, Wal-mart will not give me my money back-only replacements. How may times will I have to return this piece of worthless junk? Am I the only one who's had this problem?
Rating:
Summary: "Remember today, little brother...."
Review: The extended edition of Two Towers adds much more depth to the Lord of the Rings experience. Gondor, Denethor, Boromir and Faramir are much more fleshed out here, making the subesequent final installment of the series that much more enjoyable. Most of the additional footage is scattered throughout the film as scene extensions. But the flashback to Osgilliath is the longest of the deleted scenes. It cements the demeanor of Gondor and its line of stewards. I felt more sympathy for Boromir and Faramir after watching this scene. It captured how much they love their country and the lengths they would go to serve Gondor. The scene made me think back to how vehement Boromir was in Fellowship and how insane Denethor was in Return of the King. I can only hope the extended Return of the King DVD has as much additional, character developing footage.
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