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

Rating:
Summary: Do not buy! Discs are defective!
Review: Do not buy this set until New Line fixes the problem with discs 3 and 4. As mentioned in other reviews, these discs will not play on certain DVD players. I have a Zenith DVD/VCR combo, less than one year old, and I have had the exact same problem with 2 different sets. I just received my replacement set today for the one I returned, and it has the exact same problem as the first. Both discs get "hung up" between track 1 and 2 as soon as you insert them into a DVD (they work on a PC) and you never get past the blank screen. To make it worse, I let disc three in the player for a few minutes just now, thinking it might eventually play. It got stuck im my DVD player for over 10 minutes and would not eject. The DVD player kept making a loud humming noise, even when I turned it off! I thought I had ruined the DVD player, but after numerous frantic button pushing, the disc finally ejected. The problem is with New Line, and until they fix this defect I do not recommend you buy this set, especially if you have a Zenith DVD (or Sony like the reviewer below has). I love Tolkein and desperately want this set, but not until this defect is repaired!

Rating:
Summary: The OTHER best film ever made
Review: The OTHER greatest film I've ever seen

About a year ago, I watched the Extended DVD Edition of Fellowship of the Ring, and declared
this "the best film I'd ever seen". I was highly anticipating the second film in the trilogy, The Two Towers, as this was my favourite book in the original trilogy, and I had faith that Peter Jackson and co. could faithfully adapt this wonderful book to the silver screen. In the end, I do have some criticisms of the final result, but the Extended DVD Edition has put to rest many of my initial reservations. And these changes in no way affected my sheer joy and love of this film, and the series as a whole.

From the subdued music that opens the film, it's obvious that the second film will be much darker and grimmer than the first. This is wholly appropriate, as both Sauron and Saruman are now gathering their forces for an assault upon Middle Earth. The enroaching darkness is one glaring point that I missed while reading the original novel, so kudos to Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh for picking this up.

I honestly didn't think that the opening sequence of the first film could be topped - but it has. The battle between Gandalf and the Balrog is nothing short of stupendous - it's a vicious and nasty combat engagement between two mortal enemies, but at the same time it has a fantastical element that takes your breath away.

On my initial viewing of the film, the parts that I enjoyed least were Frodo and Sam's journey. This is tied up with my own experiences from the book - I always skipped over Frodo and Sam's experiences in the Two Towers, as I found them rather boring. This was obviously a huge mistake. Frodo's conflict is an internal and psychological one - the ring is attempting to possess his soul, and the introduction of Gollum is a constant reminder of what may happen to him should he falter in his quest.

And as for Gollum? The character of Gollum is one of the greatest triumphs in the area of special effects. He is a living breathing character, not an artful arrangement of pixels on a computer screen. Credit for much of that goes to Andy Serkis and the team at WETA Digital. Until viewing the extras, I had no appreciation of the sheer level of craftmanship that went into the creation of Gollum. The Academy Award for Special Effects was richly deserved.

The battle with the Warg Riders was an inspired addition to the film. It's something that could've happened between the journey to Edoras and Helm's Deep. However, like some others, I do have misgivings about Aragorn's "faked death". Anyone who has read "Return of the King" knows that Aragorn will obviously survive.

As for scenes with Aragorn and Arwen, I think Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh are grossly underestimating the audience's intelligence. We all remember who Arwen is, and what stake she has in the story. So nobody is going to mind if she doesn't appear in the second film.

Helms Deep is an epic battle done right. Peter Jackson inserts scenes to remind the audience just exactly who Aragorn and Theoden's Army are defending. An example is of the mother urging her children to flee the beseiged village. It totally ripped my heart out when I saw it for the first time.

It was pleasing to note that the Extended DVD had more scenes fleshing out the character of Treebeard. The scene with Treebeard's "poetry" was a nice touch. As a reader who was almost bored to tears with some of Tolkien's poems, I can well emphathise with this reaction. And I absolutely loved the scene with the Ent Draught.

One of the biggest misgivings I had with the second film, was the change to the character of Faramir. After viewing the Extended DVD, I know understand why those changes were made. When Faramir escorts them to an escape exit from the beseiged city of Osgiliath, we finally see the noble character of Faramir from the books.

My favourite DVD extras are the "Cameras in Middle Earth" and the Directors commentary, It's very clear that the comraderie between the actors didn't end with the first film. Bernard Hill is a perfect addition to the cast ("Look! Jamboree Sides!"), and is obviously a perfect foil for the mischevious Viggo Mortensen. And Dominic Monaghan's disclosure of Viggo Mortensen's indiscretions with a bearded lady of Rohan were absolutely priceless. And yes Dominic, I expect that Viggo will kick your a** after watching the DVD!

I enjoyed the cast commentary on the first film, but the cast commentary on the second film was curiously subdued. I suspect this was because the four hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd) were sheperded into separate rooms.

The director's commentary on the other hand, was extremely enjoyable this time around. Some favourite moments? Peter Jackson comparing the peasants at Edoras to those from the Monty Python films ("Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!"). A potential scene where Gandalf turns up at Lothlorien stark naked, after his resurrection ("It wouldn't be Lord of the Rings, it'd be Ring of the Lord" quips Fran Walsh). Peter Jackson going on about a super expanded edition of the DVD in fifty years time ("Oh pleeeaaasseee stop!!!" wails Philippa Boyens). And finally, Peter Jackson musing on a spin-off detective series for Treebeard ("He does solve mysteries. It's just that it takes him a looooonnng time to get there"). Absolutely priceless.

In summary, I strongly recommend that you buy the Expanded Edition, regardless of whether you are a fan of Tolkien or not. I remember showing the first film's Expanded DVD Edition to my parents, and they were very impressed with what they saw. And they aren't the world's biggest LOTR fans. So go ahead, spend your hard earned cash. I guarantee you won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Defective
Review: yep here's my 2 cents worth...can't get the darned thing to work. anyone else having this problem? im polling it here : http://www.outwar.com/page.php?x=1719175 so copy and paste it and go to it

Rating:
Summary: Remains Solid 5-Star Selection--However falls short of FOTR
Review: I own and have reviewed the "LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring" gift-set. I said in that review that that gift-set would "delight" the receiver. The "Two Towers" will rather leave the receiver "extremely pleased" for two reasons.

One is this year's fifth disk is not a solid documentary, but a program-length commercial for the consumer products of the WETA workshop. A very informative, well-produced program-length commercial, but a commercial nonetheless.

Two is the movie itself. A small minority of the scenes added to this extended edition are padding. However, it is like the extended edition of FOTR an improvement over the theatrical version.

The main attraction of this gift-set is the sculpture of "Smeagol." The figurine remains like its predecessors, living-room quality. It is much larger than the pair provided with the FOTR. They are making the twin "Gollum" statue available to buyers of this package for about $80. How equitable this trade-off might be, I leave to you to decide.

The packaging for this release in the trilogy remains first-rate. It is beautiful to look at, and is solidly packed. So solidly packed, I had to destroy it to get to the materials. A demerit for those hoping to preserve it for their collection.

Again, this is well worth the investment, only in comparison to its predecessor does it fall short.

All reports are that the "Return of the King" is the best of the trilogy. Here's hoping the gift-set is the same.

Rating:
Summary: A definite improvement - but still flawed
Review: The extended version of The Two Towers is undeniably a better film than the one we watched in the cinema. At the end of the day it's impossible to give this version less than 5 stars.

But this review doesn't deal with the film's merits. It's an attempt to understand why the film is, ultimately, flawed - and why it doesn't manage to live up to its predecessor.

I think the answers to this stem from one simple but essential choice Peter Jackson has had to make: he's chosen a different approach to the story than Tolkien's.

Tolkien, you may remember, opted for two seperate storylines, told one after the other. The second of these deals with Frodo and Sam's journey (in)to Mordor. The first deals with the other remaining members of the Fellowship and leads to the battles at Helm's Deep and Isengard.
Jackson, on the other hand, has cut up the story into three parts and then tells all three stories at one and the same time, switching from line to line and back again throughout the movie. This inevitably means that the different lines each have to be roughly equal in duration and that each line must find a resolution of sorts in a climax at the end.

With this approach, though, Jackson gets into trouble with all three lines.

His problems are least grave in the first line, since that deals with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, and culminates in the natural climax of Helm's Deep. Still, all is not well even here. Had Jackson stuck to the original story he'd have been fine, but unfortunately he decided to invent new material to keep Aragorn's romance with Arwen to the fore. This material is also used to introduce a quasi-death similar to Gandalf's in Fellowship. On both counts Jackson doesn't manage things all that well: the Arwen sequences are rather muddled and distracting, whilst someone should have told Jackson that it's best not to repeat a good trick twice, lest it becomes unconvincing both times round.

The second line deals with Merry and Peppin in Fangorn Forest and should have been wonderful, given their encounter with Treebeard and the other Ents. But in order to have this line's climax (the attack on Isengard) coincide with the battle of Helm's Deep, Jackson has had to draw things out to the point of over-extension. The overall feeling I got when watching these sequences was that of Merry and Pippin being carried around almost endlessly through the forest until the Ents (in a precipitate and therefore unconvincing turn-around) decide to act. This line is not helped by the fact that Jackson does not seem to understand the Ents in the first place; they are presented as dim and comical, rather than ancient and wise.

The third line deals with Sam and Frodo (and Gollum) and must really have put Jackson in a pickle. You can merge Helm's Deep with the assault on Isengard, since they are both battles against Saruman. But where to fit in Shelob in between this? You can't, so Jackson didn't - he moved it to the third film (The Return Of the King). That left him dangling, though, since it meant that the third line would be left without any sort of climax at all. And that's where the extraordinary re-invention of Faramir comes into play. In a far cry from Tolkien's original vision, Faramir is presented as a threat, an obstacle that Frodo and Sam must surmount to continue their quest to Mount Doom.

In the theatrical version, the Faramir scenes rightly left Tolkien fans reeling in horror. Faramir an enemy? Ridiculous! But it has to said that the extended version at least makes this jump comprehensible; it is here, more than anywhere else, that the extended version surpasses the original. Still, it doesn't really work, since Jackson has to leap not once, but twice, the second jump being to get Faramir to releasing Frodo and Sam (to change him back to being a good guy, if you will). Jackson manages the first jump, but fails at the second; the reasons for Faramir's sudden turnaround are left largely unexplained.

Given all these points, a basic question arises - why get yourself into the positon where you have to fiddle around so fundamentally with the greatest story ever told? Might it be that Jackson's basic approach to The Two Towers is fundamentally wrong?

I simply don't know. I don't think anyone can really know, yet. Presumably, we'll only be able to answer this once the Return Of The King is out (the extended version, that is!).

Rating:
Summary: Disc 2 was defective
Review: Excellent extra footage, but Disc 2 was defective. The Helms Deep scene did not play properly. I exchanged it for another one, and it was also defective. The Helms Deep scene played correctly, but I was not able to select the scene from the menu. Is anyone else getting this problem?

Rating:
Summary: Problems with DTS sound track?
Review: Great Entended Edition, Let down by occassionl drop-outs/skips on the DTS soundtrack - nothing too noticable but annoying none the less. Dolby Digital was fine.

Anyone else have this issue with this DVD set?

Rating:
Summary: Problems
Review: The DVD is well worth the buying as the two movie discs are fantastic. Unfortunately I can't make any comment about the two appendices as I'm unable to play them. I'm having the same problem with the looping as other reviewers have mentioned. I have just returned my 8th copy of the deluxe version. As I have gotten the version from 4 different sources [my first came from Amazon] and have had the same problem with all of them I believe that rather than it being a bad batch there is a glich in the coding on the discs that make them uncompatible for some DVD players. No store where I've gotten the discs have reported that they are being returned because of this problem. I have a Sony DVD player and wonder if anyone else out there with a Sony player is running into the same problem.

Rating:
Summary: This Towers Above the Competition
Review: There's a reason (beyond Tolkien's neurotic fanbase) that this film has been so well received. And it's largely because of one man's vision about the making of the LOTR trilogy. His name is Peter Jackson, and he deserves our notice (as this film shows us).

But let's get into the film shall we . . .

The Two Towers is the continuation of The Fellowship of the Ring. It is based on the second book in J.R.R. Tolkien's magnum opus, The Lord of the Rings, which, in itself, is a continuation of the children's novel, The Hobbit. But don't be misled. The Lord of the Rings is NOT a children's story. This is a fantasy story for mature teens and adults. It's dark, violent and very complex.

This story picks up exactly where it's predecessor---The Fellowship of the Ring---left us. Frodo and Sam find themselves running in circles. That is, until Gollum (aka Smeagol) forcibly joins their company just so he can be close to The One Ring that Frodo is carrying toward Mount Doom inside Mordor, where he must cast it into the fire in order to destroy the spirit of Sauron (which dwells within The Ring). The acting of the Gollum character is excellently portrayed and pulled off by a combination computer generated image and real person.

Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas are pursuing a band of Orcs who've kidnapped Merry and Pippin. When they believe that Merry and Pippin were accidentally killed by a band of horsemen from Rohan, they despair. But not for long. Gandalf is reincarnated as a White Wizard, sent back to turn the tides of Middle Earth. He tells Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas that Merry and Pippin are safe with The Ents (a group of talking trees as old as mountains...sort of).

These are the two main storylines from which the camera switches back and forth.

It is worth noting here, too, that almost all of this filming took place in New Zealand. And they did an excellent job scouting out their locations. The mountain-top Hall at Edoras was absolutely spectacular, as were the shots of Helm's Deep.

For those interested in "extra footage", this platinum series edition DVD is sure to be of great joy to them. Let me show you why:

1. Sam and Frodo have more screen time as they move toward
Mordor, so the sense of time passing is more evident (this is sure to please LOTR purists).

2. Boromir returns! Scenes depicting his angst against his father and those between his brother (Faramir) and the father are also excellently done and add weight for what is to come later.

3. More time with Merry and Pippin and The Ents. Merry and Pippin get to drink from the Ent Wash and grow a bit, as well as having them find Sauruman's stash of food toward the end of the film. And the Ents talk so much that you get a better sense of how slow their thought processes are.

There is, of course, more but I don't want to spell all of it out for you. If you're a fan of the books AND the films, you'll love this extended platinum edition.

A+ Production and Film

Rating:
Summary: the rest of the story...
Review: I would only be truly satisfied if Jackson could film every detail, but we would have a 20 hour film each time with few could stand to sit thru, unless it became a miniseries. The extended version is a delight, Jackson adds the whipped cream and cherries to the already delicious banana split of a movie.