Rating: 
Summary: Remember where we were.....
Review: Anyone who complains and quibbles about Peter Jackson's version of The Lord of the Rings, especially the Two Towers, needs to pause and reflect on where we were only 2 years ago....with the exception of endlessly reading the books or listening to the very good audio version produced by the Mind's Eye, what else did we have? Well there was Ralph Barkshi's 70's animated attempt which, though it had it's moments, was a disaster and left incomplete. Then we had the animated TV version of The Hobbit which was fairly good considering the confines of time. This however was followed up by the rather pathetic Return of the King. Throughout all this time, we would read little snippets of news that director "so and so" was interested in producing a film version but it never would come to fruition.Along comes Peter Jackson..not only does he tackle a work, that for some people, ranks higher than the Bible for scholarly interpretation, but he has the foresight to produce all three movies simultaneously and provide us with high quality entertainment for three consecutive years. I shudder to think what George Lukas would have done with Tolkien. Know one thing, like Star Wars, Lukas' Ring trilogy would have taken 12 years or more to complete, so let's be thankful that he did not get his hands on it. Tolkien purists who complain about sections missing or changed need to put their egos on hold and realize that this movie was made for ALL audiences, not just for them. Sure there were things that annoyed me but, with a shrug, I realized that Jackson knows what he's doing and who am I to question him... how Faramir is handled is a perfect example...there was no real conflict in the original Frodo-Faramir encounter so Jackson probably realized that, since conflict propels a story forward, he needed to have Faramir behave like most Humans would when faced with the chance of taking the Ring. That is afterall, the centerpiece of the Ring, namely Man's lust and greed for power. And since Faramir does redeem himself at the end, he now is more align with Tolkiens original intent....Remember, this movie wasn't made just for Tolkien afficionados though they are the ones acting like monday morning quarterbacks regarding this film...it amazes me how short sighted some people are...So, everyone take a deep breath and relax and enjoy what is no doubt the epic masterpiece in fantasy film making...the extended version trailer shows great promise and the Return of the King featurette makes you long for winter's coming....
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent movie. As for excellent adaptation...
Review: You've got action, angst, humor, romance, and Gollum. It all makes for a blockbuster.
But not all is well. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a purist. I know the book and movie can't be the same, or else it'd take forever to tell. But some of the changes made by Jackson and crew were really unneccesary.
[begin rant]
-Why did the Elves have to march into Helm's Deep? The Battle of The Last Alliance is called that for a reason.
-Why was Faramir such a prick? Having a 'good' Faramir was a gamble, yes, but one that they should have still tried.
-Why did Merry backtalk to Treebeard, and why did the Ents seem like such boneheads?
-Why was Gimli scraping the bottom of the barrel for humor? Poor Gimli. I felt sorry for his character.
-Why in the name of Hades was Legolas using a skateboar..Okay, I'll stop here.
[/end rant]
They say for the movie to work, changes were necessary. The movie could have still worked, I say, had they not changed SO MUCH. Jackson and crew would have still been left with a mega-blockbuster. FOTR was about as good as a movie adaptation could get. Where did this go wrong? Forgetting the books for a minute: The movie, even to someone whose ever read the books, is not seamless. Not everything flows well. Some scenes are totally out in the left field (all Treebeard scenes). Perhaps the movie is flawed because it had to be chopped up due to time constraints. Let's hope the extended version fixes it. (That said, it's a wiser move to wait and buy the long version only). However, there are many good points. The acting was pretty decent. Gollum was fantastic. Many of the battle scenes rocked. Special effects were seamless. The ending shot (of Mount Doom) was inspired. And this is just to name a few.
Note: The best scenes of the movie, in my opinion, were the 'Arwen' scenes. Yes, of course this veers from the novel, but I loved this change. These scenes were perfect, and kept 100% in the 'feel' of the books. Had all the changes been as good as this, then this movie would probably be untouchable. To the average joe whose never read the books, this movie is an absolute mega-hit. An all-time favourite.
But to others...they must still wait for the definitive adaptation of the 'The Two Towers'. Though, I'd say this comes extremely close. But given the bar that was set by FOTR, it's comes up short. So don't be tempted by the 10 minute preview of Return of the King, wait for the Extended edition.
Rating:
Summary: BETTER THAN THE FIRST???
Review: I don't like when people say that thsi movie is better than the first or that they wish that the third movie would be better than the first two. Isn't it just one story? one movie as the director says it...
This continuation of the movie is bigger and darker, I can't find words to express the emotion I get from watching these movies. I just CAN'T wait to see the end of the story (Return of the king). I guess these movies will be around for decades. They're the best movies on the universe. These movies have changed my life. The music score is the most fascinating one I have heard in my life and the special effects are magnificent.
I guess I fell sad just like everybody else: After the December 2003, what next?
Rating:
Summary: Beware the Ch. 51 pixellation glitch!!!
Review: New Line has released a huge batch of defective discs with this film. On certain older DVD players (mostly SONY players, but occasionally others), "The Two Towers" will halt, pixellate and sometimes backtrack to a point approximately an hour and a half from the end when Gandalf begins his "fight for Middle Earth has yet to begin" speach at Ch. 51 of the disc. There is literally no way to tell whether your disc is defective simply by looking at the surface of the DVD. Only by bringing it home and watching through Ch. 51 will you be able to tell whether you received a clean copy or a defective coaster. Please BEWARE when purchasing this disc.
Rating:
Summary: Two Towers is good... Gollum is amazing
Review: I haven't read the books myself so my review is based on strictly the movie itself... I also read a few reviews and know about the deviations from the book... I give it five stars because of Gollum basically and just the sheer fact that this movie is being made and the organization, it takes to film in the locations with so many extras and have the special effects this movie has, and the CGI involved and the balancing of the book and screenplay.... just thinking about what it took to make three movies at the same time just boggles the mind, and to pull it off with this much of a seemless job to me is amazing. But back to Gollum, not only is he amazing as a CGI charater, in that he works and looks flawlessly within the scenes. You forget he's totally computer generated and just pay attention to the acting of Andy Serkis.... truelly a great job on the character. I think the flow of the movie is better suited when seen with all three movies, as this seemed to be part of a trilogy, rather than a "whole" movie by itself.... besides this minor quibble... I am greatful to Peter Jackson in bringing this amazing world of middle earth to film.... Bravo!!.
Rating: 
Summary: REBUTTAL TO THE REBUTTAL OF THE PURISTS
Review: Re: Carl Haas, berserkerwhatever who is laughably blind, deaf and more dumb in ways i didn't imagine possible in movie critiquing... OH PUH-LEEEEZE... you sit around and talk about "lightening up" and "getting a life", that it's "just a movie" but you're so riled up with a difference in opinion from a couple of ppl that prefer the book more to the movie because they've probably been devout fans for ages (this ISN'T just a book you know - it actually has become a LEGEND that has spurred on countless conventions, experts and nearly-cult-like attention before a movie of it was ever even dreamed of being made). Naturally there'd be a few disgruntled ones out there. What's the big deal? Some ppl don't like the direction in which the legend was taken and some of them have just as much valid points as you. Yes, they may not be experts at film - but neither are you but does that make it justifiable to just accept a much popular epic story being shredded unnecessarily at least according to the opinions of some?? My personal opinion - the movie definitely didn't shred the entire PLOT but the whole core of the idea Tolkien was taking with his story which NATURALLY does not need to be translated in "15 hrs" of footage or dictated "page for page" was altered at some times unnecessarily.. and well, not for the better. As one reveiwer put it, it was simply not helpful.. if it's anything it may have made things a bit more complicated. Now while I slashed the anti-purists i do have to admit that some of the purists can be a bit anal-retentive.. yeah, it would have been nice to see certain things in the movie done the same way (like the whole brooch thing with Pippen) but that shouldn't allow you to ruin your whole experience. Truth be told: Peter Jackson is the director and of course that gave him the liberty to interpret things in the book differently to what the fans did and really we all have different interpretations of things. Some of it I didn't like, some were ok but in the end I liked it for what it is and we all need to admit converting a plot like this to a movie is an immensely difficult task and it's not easier with mounting pressure from as I say, cult-like fans. I walked in knowing there were things i wouldn't like, as I will with RTK. I didn't care much for the choppy editing.. i think transition from scene to scene and character crisis didn't flow in the least bit but I do feel for PJ because he had to work with the outline of the story which was originally a written thing (kind of like thinking in and out of a box at the same time). When I watch the film I usually skip to just Helm's Deep because as I said I appreciate the movie for what it is - great action which is where it all starts (though not great set work, CGI input and don't get me started on the script). Yet despite all these complaints I liked some parts of it, particularly the battles. My suggestion: the movie is definitely worth watching and you will like some parts but I wouldn't go overboard calling it excellent and breathtaking.. frankly I felt the first one was more of that than this one.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular Continuation of Tolkien's Tale
Review: The Two Towers, Peter Jackson's second of three movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, isn't a sequel to The Fellowship of the Ring. Instead, it is the continuation of a single storyline that, like its literary source, was broken up in three parts for manageability. (Tolkien never envisioned his tale of the War of the Ring to be a "trilogy" of related books. It is, in fact, a one-book narrative that publishers wisely broke up into three volumes for economic and practical reasons.) With this structural concept in mind, Jackson doesn't resort to a Cate Blanchett-narrated summary of The Fellowship of the Rings to bring viewers up to date. Instead the director takes up the plot where Fellowship left off, with Hobbits Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) making their way to the evil kingdom of Mordor, where they must climb Mount Doom and destroy Lord Sauron's powerful Ring. Lost and tired, Frodo and Sam are wandering in the dangerous regions just outside Mordor when they are ambushed by Gollum (Andy Serkis), a twisted and tormented creature that had once been a Hobbit-like creature until, centuries ago, he found the One Ring. Enslaved and transformed by the Ring's power, Gollum lives only for the possession of "the precious." After a brief scuffle with Frodo and Sam, Gollum is apparently tamed and reluctantly agrees to take the two Hobbits to the Black Gate of Mordor. Meanwhile, the rest of the now broken Fellowship follow separate paths. Frodo and Sam's fellow Hobbits Merry and Pippin (Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan) have been captured by Uruk-Hai who serve the traitorous wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee). They are being taken to Isengard, where Saruman has built Orthanc, one of the titular Two Towers (the other being Sauron's Barad-Dur in Mordor). There, the evil White Wizard hopes to get his hands on the One Ring. Pippin and Merry are seemingly doomed unless Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the Elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) can catch up to their captors and rescue them. Of course, events intervene and things become far more complicated as the War of the Ring begins. Saruman strikes first at the kingdom of Rohan from without and from within. His armies of Orcs and Wild Men attack villages in a violent rampage of sword, wargs and fire. Meanwhile, King Theoden (Bernard Hill) has been weakened by Saruman with the aid of Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif); the once powerful warrior king is a half dead shell of a man who can barely lift his head while sitting on his throne. But all is not lost, for Gandalf (Ian McKellen), thought to have perished during his battle with the Balrog in the mines of Moria, has returned, and although there will still be many challenges for the Fellowship to overcome, hope still lives on in Middle Earth. Jackson, along with co-writers Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Stephen Sinclair, did take creative liberties with Tolkien's established storyline, but not to the film's detriment. Now that the expository material has been dealt with in The Fellowship of the Ring, the movie seems less ponderous and a bit more action oriented. The introduction of Rohan's shield-maiden Eowyn (Miranda Otto) adds poignancy to the romantic subplot of Aragorn and Arwen (Liv Tyler), and we clearly see the effects of the Ring's power on Frodo. Also notable are the special effects, particularly the CGI renderings of Gollum. Taking their cue from actor Serkis' amazing performance, the computer artists create a totally believable digital character. Imagine a malignant and insane Dobby from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and multiply that image by a factor of 100, and you have Gollum. The result is a totally believable character with all the shadings of a well-written role. The Helm's Deep battle sequence that is the films effects centerpiece is equally impressive and rivals anything the effects wizards at Lucasfilm have created for the Star Wars prequels. The New Line Home Entertainment DVD (in both Wide Screen and pan and scan formats) contains the original theatrical version (the Extended Edition is due in November 2003), with English audio tracks in Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo Surround Sound, English subtitles and closed captions, and Spanish subtitles. The second disc contains an assortment of extra features, the best one being "The Long and Short of It," a short film directed by actor Sean Astin.
Rating:
Summary: Number 2
Review: I know you all are going to kill me for giving this movie a 4. But hear me out. The movie was great, and a whole lot better than the first. The war scenes seems to be picking up, and the graphic are unbelieveable. However, near the end the movie kept on switching scene from the forest of trees to the war scene. It made me want to watch it, then when the forest came, it slowed down my heart. That was very irritating.
Rating: 
Summary: What is this ...
Review: I am just kidding. This movie is so good what does my review even matter. This movie already won a HUGO AWARD. so did that last one. Christ!!!!!! is it my life's dream to write a noval, or screen play to a movie that wins a Hugo award.
OK Look let me put it this way. This movie gets SIX stars buy me. ANYTHING that wins a HUGO award is game in my book. At this point in life the only books I read are books that won either\or the nebula award or the HUGO award. Well this moive won\WILL win the award. What else do you need. HUGO means BEST OF THE BEST OF THE BEST of the BEST. christ!!!!. GET this movie. are you joking how could you NOT LIKE IT. EPIC stories are the thrid reason hummans where put on this earth. just so you know the first reason we were put here was to figure this BALL of earth out, the second is succeed to our greastest potentical using the formentiond info, and the third is to create GREAT fiction\art\imagniation. This movie does that as if god commanded the crew to do so.......
Rating:
Summary: One Ring, Two Towers
Review: Even as the extended version of The Two Towers is readied for release in a 4 disc DVD set, since I didn't get the chance to see it during its initial theatrical run, I had to rent the 2 disc set to catch up. For one reason or another, I have never read the other books, beyond the first one Based on J.R. R.Tolkien's epic tale, The Two Towers picks up imediately where The Fellowship ended and continues the story. Frodo (Elijah Wood) and his friend Samwise (Sean Astin) are headed for Mordor to stand against evil. The duo enlist the help of the sneaky Gollum and his good alter ego Smeagol (both voiced by Andy Serkis) as their guide. This, as Saruman's (Christopher Lee) army surrounds the other members of the Fellowship, in the hopes of obtaining The One Ring, and making Saruman ruler of Middle Earth. Directed once again by Peter Jackson, The Two Towers may have a lot of special effects, but at no time, do they overshadow the film's story. Take Gollum, he is a CGI creation, but thanks to Andy Serkis he blends in seemlessly and is "real" enough. The human cast, once again, makes it work. Unlike a certain series of prequels, these performances, are far from wooden or emotionless. Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, and Ian McKellen, are all back and up to the challenge. The production matches its predecessor and then some. I would have to say that I even enjoyed the theatrical cut of Towers more than I did the theatrical version of Fellowship The extras on disc two are really only meant to wet your whistle for the 4 disc set. The best bonus material for the 2 disc set includes a ten minute look at the Return Of The King, a sneak peek of the film's extended cut, actor Sean Astin's short film, The long and the short of it and a look behind the scenes and the featurette "Bringing Gollum To Life" There's more but I'm sure it will look better as part of the other set. Theatrical trailers, a "Gollum's Song" music video by Emillana Torrini and exclusive DVD-ROM content top it all off. I certainly recommend The Two Towers, but rent the 2 disc set, and spend the money later on for its extended cut
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