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The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers (Widescreen Edition)

The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers (Widescreen Edition)

List Price: $29.95
Your Price: $17.97
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: As real as Tolkien could possibly get
Review: I never thought I would see such a magnificent transfer of Tolkien's work from the written word to the big (and little) screen. After years of disappointing animated efforts this trilogy exceeded my expectations.

The Two Towers continues the story established in The Fellowship of the Ring. Readers of Tolkien's works had little problem following the story line (or in lamenting the number of excluded scenes in the movie) but first-time viewers missed much of the underlying tapestry of Middle Earth.

The same holds for this edition. The action is spectacular, and the story remains *reasonably* faithful to the written version, but what is missing from the screen version is the sense of depth readers got from the songs and notes in the books. The movie *is* different from the books, so Tolkien purists may want to keep a list of their grievances. ;) My biggest objection is that the movie portays present society attitudes about warfare--a reluctance to engage in combat. This was simply not the case in the books. Any reluctance to fight was due to Sauruman's influence (via Wormtongue), that is to say, PROPAGANDA...an important point in the book that does not come across in the movie. There are other differences, but this was to be a 2.5 hour movie, not an entire mini-series unto itself!

Despite the drawbacks the movie is excellent. It is as visually appealing as the first movie and the computer generated scenes mesh well with the live action footage, though not quite to the same level as _Attack of the Clones_.

The DVD will deliver the usual extra features: interviews with the actors, previews of the third movie, a sneak peek at the video game and additional audio/visual choices.

This will be an essential addition for fans of Tolkien, though anyone who will be purchasing the eventual "special collector's platinum anniversary utlimate edition trilogy boxed set" releases you know are coming in the years ahead might want to consider buying this used or simply renting it, then purchasing the special edition(s) that will be released in 2004 and beyond.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Epic Movie Classic!
Review: There is no better movies out there than the amazing "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. "The Fellowship of the Ring" was incredible! But, believe it or not, Its sequel "The Two Towers" is even more incredible! With a great music (score), spectacular visual effects, and great acting "The Two Towers" was easily the best movie in 2002. There is a lot of good drama, action/adventure, and excitement in this wonderful movie (making it one of my favorite films ever). "The Fellowship of the Ring" is still one of my favorite movies ever (along side with "The Two Towers"). "The Return of the King" will be a HUGE phenomenon! It will be the best movie in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: stunning
Review: to the purists: alright I'm going to acknoledge the purists first. First of all I would like you all to repeat after me. This. is. a. movie. You just can't expect every single detail from the book to be absolutly correct.
about the changes from the book. I may be sacrelig but *prepares to be stoned* the changes to Faramir's character didn't bother me. I kind of liked them actually. The quality of wanting the ring was a quality that I define as human. Sadly it's one that we all have. In "the Fellowship" Boromir died because he had that "human" quality. And Faramir relised his mistake and cleaned up his mess when he saw the destruction the ring was bringing to his people. Now I may just be crazy-In "The Fellowship" I liked Galadriel and Boromir, who creeped most people out but I cannot stand Arwen (except in the scenes with her and her father-they were very touching). About the elves coming to Helmsdeep: I think it is always a good thing to see different races working together. So I wasn't bothered by that either.
The one thing that did bother me was the wargs. They looked, as I read in another review, like hyenas crossed with hamsters that had been enlarged about fifty times.
I just loved it. The scenery and graphics were breathtaking, the actin top notch, the dialogue smooth and often quite touching. I liked all of the new characters (Eomer, Eowyn, Theoden, Smeagol/Gollum, and, yes, Faramir) and I still loved the old characters (of course). And Gimli's comic relief is always good. I cannot wait for the return of the king to come out!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Masterful Sequel - Bring on Part 3
Review: My review is based on the cinema version so my view are strictly about the film. I suppose I have an "advantage" in that I haven't read the books ...yet. Therefore no "disappointment" as some of the Tolkien purists seem have experienced. I have the book set sitting on my shelf at home as they have been for years waiting for me to read them someday. Having read some of the other reviews I think I'll wait until the film of "Return Of the King" is released later in the year before I pick up the books or maybe I'll just read to "Two Towers". With my reading track record it'll probably take me that long anyway!
I thoroughly enjoyed "Two Towers". The second film in any trilogy is the hardest to make as it's a linking film. The "Star Wars" series & Prequels are a good example of that. But "Two Towers" is big in quality especially the acting from the lead characters. It's a long perilous journey that we take with Frodo and company and we're right there with them during their highs and lows thanks to some superd camera work. (I look forward to the extended DVD set as I am currently enjoying the FOTR 4 disc version). A huge standard has been set by the making of these films and I expect no less from "Return" when released. It's a benchmark that will be hard to top in future. If you are a Tolkien purist it might be hard to divorce yourself from the book/film comparisons. But one should enjoy the films for what they are...majestic and glorious in their presentation, wonderful to watch with the family. I found watching FOTR on DVD to be more rewarding as there were things that I missed the first time around that were better explained on second or third viewing. Two Towers is no less a masterpiece and it will be wonderful on DVD when released. If the packaging & presentation of the extended version in November is anything like FOTR then I'll await it with much anticipation.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" Will NOT Dissapoint
Review: I am really tired of seeing, and reading, negative reviews about "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"!! All the reviewers who write the negative reviews about this movie do is whine, and complaine, about "The Two Towers" not going by the great "Lord of the Rings" book trilogy, which I have read many times, PERFECTLY. Well guess what?! Nothing is PERFECT. And I will say that "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" goes by the author J.R.R. Tolkiens book trilogy close enough. If you are whining about this movie because you don't think it followed the book trilogy that well then buy the Special Extended DVD (or VHS) Edition of "The Two Towers" movie. It will have 43 minutes of extra scenes that are not seen in the theatrical version. Most of those extra scenes are expected be parts read in "The Lord of the Rings" book trilogy. Anyway: in my opinion "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is a wonderful movie and it is even better than its brilliant prequel "The Fellowship of the Ring". "The Two Towers" has great visual effects, musical (scores), and cinamatography to offer. The acting, drama, and action/adventure in this movie makes it the best film of 2002.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A New Power is Rising...
Review: ...in the movie industry. Lord of the Rings has amazed audiences and critics everywhere. I, as a loyal devotee of the books, was not the least bit disappointed with the material left out in the Fellowhsip of the Ring, and am not disappointed in the Two Towers. TTT is one of the greatest achievments in movie history, with both great special effects, great actors, and one of the greatest books ever written adapted into a great movie.

I am not going to write the plot of the movie as you have to go see it for yourself, but I will write that what most impressed me in this movie was not Gollum or the Battle of Helm's Deep (both of which were EXCELLENT), but the actors. Most every performance was believable and the characters were excellently portrayed.

In short, I give this movie a well-deserved 5 stars.

"A new power is rising! Its victory is at hand!"

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: TOLKIEN'S TWO THEMES - WAR & NATURE
Review: A Review of The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers

Throughout much of Peter Jackson's Two Towers the action jumps between two stories - Sam and Frodo off to destroy the Ring of Power while being tracked by the Dark Lord in his tower, and what's left of the original fellowship battling armies being thrown at them from Saruman's tower. Lord of the Rings when it was released in the 1960's as an American paperback book, and last years blockbuster launch of the film, became prisoners to two political themes of their day - namely, war and environmental destruction.

WAR IN THE TWO TOWERS

The trilogy sold three million copies between 1965 and 1968 coinciding with the worldwide student demonstrations of the period. It gained an underground following among hippies and anti-war protesters, as the story seemed to speak directly to their causes for environmental and social justice.

When Gandalf explained how the fellowship could outwit the Dark Lord, and stop his war on Middle-Earth, activists took notice. "That we should wish to cast him down and have NO one in his place is not a thought that occurs to his mind."

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) and Elijah Wood (Frodo) explained the film's anti-war message while on the Charlie Rose show during its December 2002 launch. Viggo even wore a shirt with the words "no more blood for oil" handwritten at the collar so that the cameras couldn't avoid it. He didn't want anyone to misconstrue the film as pro-war. Viggo even detailed how many non-Americans "see the US as Saruman" - "as a threat" Elijah added.

THE NATURE OF THE TWO TOWERS

Saruman is overthrown in Jackson's Two Towers by reluctant tree-warriors that require the coaxing of the hobbits. Pippin and Mary literally tree-sit Treebeard, and only because of their presence is the forest engaged in battle. In Jackson's Middle Earth "nature" has already been tamed - the elemental peril is reduced. We see on the screen a post-industrial landscape where the Ents must "free the river" by busting down Saruman's dam. Jackson's message is clear - "nature" needs assistance to survive.

Cate Blanchett, who plays the Elven queen Galadriel in the film, comments on her character's purpose: "She's handing on the torch to humankind, she's challenging the viewers to say what are you going to do with the Earth, we've had this paradise, so now you men-you humankind-have the responsibility of the Earth."

In Tolkien's own version of Middle Earth he mythologized "nature" differently than in the film. Nature in the book is a dark and dangerous all powerful force, capable of dishing out disasters while also providing the raw necessities of life. Thus, when Tolkien's Ents decide to go to war against Saruman on their own, he was resurrecting a mythology that was lost in his own post-industrial world. Pippin recounts the tale as a witness, "Ents and Hurons were digging great pits and trenches, making great pools and dams, gathering all the waters of the Isen and every spring and stream they could find." Here we see the old forgotten nature - "wood and water, stock and stone" - that acts of its own accord and causes the waters to rise and flood Isengard. "We come, we come with roll of drum: ta-runda runda runda rom!"

TOLKIEN PUTS THE EARTH FIRST

Tolkien, who lived from 1892 to 1973, was a stuffy Oxford don who grew up in the Warkwickshire countryside during the turn of the last century. He moved with his widowed mother when he was eight to the dirty industrial city of Birmingham. Years later when he finally returned to his childhood stomping grounds in his treasured hamlet of Sarehole, it had been overtaken by urban sprawl. This "loss of paradise" inspired Tolkien's outspoken lifelong hatred of cars, roads and machinery that is reflected in his stories.

Tolkien loved trees, and he was upset with their destruction most of all: "The savage sound of the electric saw is never silent wherever trees are still found growing' Every tree has its enemy, few have an advocate' In all my works, I take the part of trees as against all their enemies."

As Tolkien saw it - it's the trees and the rest of us versus the machines. "All this stuff is mainly concerned with the fall, mortality and the machine. By the machine, I intend all use of external devices or even the use of inherent inner powers, with the corrupted motive of dominating and bulldozing the real world. The machine is our more obvious modern form. The enemy in successive forms is always concerned with sheer domination, and so the Lord of Machines' As the servants of the machines are becoming a privileged class, the machines are going to be enormously more powerful. What's their next move?"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must
Review: I am a Lord of The Rings amateur fanatic. I became so, when I saw the first Movie: The Fellowship of the Ring. Afterwards I read the book. Anyway, I bought The Extended Edition, and the story was much more complete, eventough only 30Mins were added. The characters were much realised, and if you are a person who didn't read the book yet, you will understand much more the roles the characters play. Well I was super satisfied with the first Extended Edition, that I'm sure I will buy The Two Towers and The Return of The King Extended Edition. It's A MUST SEE

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Two Towers Does NOT Dissapoint!
Review: I can't believe that there are actually negative reviews about this wonderful movie sequel. "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is a movie that inspired me to like fantasy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Review: Spectacular! "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' was indeed the best movie of 2002. It is even better than its brilliant prequel 'The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'. It is filled with action/adventure, drama, fantasy, and excitement! 'The Two Towers' is also filled with wonderful visual effects, great musical (scores), and very well done acting. Many fantasy characters are brought to life in this movie such as: orcs, phantoms, elves, wizards, hobbits (which are halflings) and more. The actors, and actresses, did a splendid job on acting in this spectacular movie so they deserve a lot of credit and applause for their wonderful effort. Director Peter Jackson, and his crew, deserves thousands of movie awards for making such a brilliant movie. I can't wait to buy 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' on video cassette when it is released in stores!


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