Rating: 
Summary: Hmm....How Long Can I go on about this?
Review: Well, first, I must start by saying that, while I do not consider myself a Tolkien purist, I am very enamored of his writing. I feel that some of the changes Peter Jackson made were very questionable, but after listening to his audio commentaty on the first "Extended Edition," I believe I can understand why he made some of them. He made Faramir into a pseduo-bad guy so that the journey of Frodo and Sam towards Mordor wouldn't seem like a casual stroll. Think of how boring it would have been for the entirety of their story after the marshes to be them walking, accompanied by a few badass rangers. SNOOZE. The other bone I would pick with Jackson would be his treatment of the Ents. I think he botched that part of the movie, and can think of no real ratonale for that decision to have the ents needing "convincing" to go to war. Ah, such is life. I also thought that the pacing of the movie was far too rapid, and that the constant swapping between shots was difficult at the end. I am hoping that, with the extra time provided on the extended edition, some of these pacing problems will be resolved.All in all, quite an enjoyable watch for those who haven't read the books, and an interesting, sometimes frustrating journey for those who have.
Rating:
Summary: Holy Long Reviews, Batman!
Review: Looking at the size of the reviews on the page today, there are some strong opinions about this adaptation of Tolkien's books. My review is a little bit smaller. It's good. It's not the book, but it's still good. No, it's not great; the true greatness shown in the books involved a lifetime of rewriting and world building, study and thought and rewriting again. Tolkein tinkered for DECADES over those books, that universe. Peter Jackson only had a couple years to try and take them and make them real, while dealing with budget, actors, and real life in New Zealand and Hollywood. So no, it's not the same. But.... darn good show, anyways. Glad I saw it, gonna watch it enough times over the years that it'll pay for me to own it on DVD. So... if you're having trouble making up your mind, consider this: will you be renting it to watch more than once or twice in the next 10 years or so? If yes, shuck out the cash and buy your own copy. If no, then give your money to some video place and borrow their copy for a day or so. It's not an agonizing chioce, people. It's just a movie. The book is something completely different, a labor of love created by a scholar and consumed passionately by hundreds of millions of people. The movie is cool. Get over it.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the three most spectacular films in cinematic history
Review: "The fate of the world will soon be decided. The dominion of evil grows even stronger. There is a union now, between the Two Towers: Orthanc and Barad-dûr..." December 2002, the second in the trilogy of movies from New Line, The Two Towers finally released to theaters, and into the waiting eyes and ears of millions. I was among the first of Americans to see the movie, on its second viewing in the United States. (I was there to see it the next morning when the office opened) When it released to DVD, I was among the last on the first day of its release to scoop it off the stand. Of course, the second movie is pretty worthless unless you have seen the first movie, The Fellowship of the Ring. If you haven't, I'd suggest renting the extended edition DVD from your nearest store and viewing it first. (Make sure you get the "Special Extended Edition") This is a review for those who still haven't seen it yet, and perhaps want to, or who are wondering what the mania is about. (Orlando Bloom) PLOT: The Fellowship is dissolved. Boromir of Gondor fell in battle defending Merry and Pippin, hobbits of the Shire, from the Uruk-hai, blood-thirsty, maniacal orcs that have undergone a super-sizing courtesy of the traitorous wizard Saruman. Merry and Pippin were taken captive by these Uruk-hai. Aragorn the Ranger, eventual heir to the throne of Gondor, and his friends Legolas the Elf and Gimli the stout dwarf give pursuit to the Uruks in order to save Merry and Pippin. Frodo and Sam have departed on their own, bound for Mordor and the fiery Mt. Doom in the very center of the dark lord Sauron's realm - the one place where the Ring of Power can be unmade, thus giving victory to all the free peoples of Middle-Earth. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, in search of the hobbits, find themselves in Fangorn Forest, where they find Gandalf the Grey, who heroically withstood the hideous Balrog, and fell in Moria into darkness of Khazad-Dûm. He is now Gandalf the White, more powerful than Saruman himself, victorious over death, sent back to life to complete his labors against Sauron. This foursome journey to the land of Rohan, to the Golden Hall of its King, Théoden. When Gandalf heals Théoden from the spells cast by Saruman spy Grima Wormtongue, Théoden comes to realize the great peril his kingdom already lies in, casts Wormtongue out of his kingdom, and leads his people to the fortress of Helm's Deep, on the heels of a massive hoard of Uruk-hai, an army bent on one purpose alone: dying. No! You'd think so the way they fight, but they are actually bent on destroying all the peoples of Rohan, and Mankind. Frodo and Sam, meantime, have found Gollum, the twisted Ring-addict who attempts to take his "precious" back, but when dominated by the two hobbits, promises to lead them to Mordor. GOOD: You might call be a little biased, because I'm a big Tolkien fan, but this movie is like nothing you've ever seen before. Quality of acting combined with ground-breaking special effects, set against the breath-taking landscape of New Zealand as Middle-Earth all come together to make the second of the three best movies in modern cinema. A spectacular musical score by Howard Shore merely ices the cake. The high points of the film include a battle at Helm's Deep that makes the Alamo look like a backyard game of cowboys and indians, and a last-ditch cataclysmic charge that is downright apocalyptic. Granted, "Evil" gets almost glorified in its ugliness, but there is an ultimate sense of Good for which every hero in Middle-Earth strives for, and in some cases, dies for. This is summed up in a poignant soliloquy by Sam after a particularly powerful demonstration of the terrible sway the Ring of Power possesses. When, in despair, Frodo laments "What are we holding onto, Sam?" Sam states in potent courage "That there's some good in this world. And it's worth fighting for." As far as effects go, this movie is the cream of the crop. Orcs ride entirely computer-generated hyena-like wolves called Wargs. The Ringwraiths now ride entirely computer-generated fell dragon-like beasts. The desiccated and psychotic dual personality of Gollum is created entirely by computer, and performed by Andy Serkis to perfection. BAD: As said before, evil is a bulwark of a force to reckon with, and its ugliness is often glorified. One Uruk-hai beheads another and his macabre crew dine on the corpse. An Uruk head is later shown impaled grotesquely next to a pile of burning carcasses. In battle, both orcs and their steeds are slashed, hacked, beheaded, stabbed, beaten, pummeled, run through, pierced, skewered, cloven, chopped, sliced, speared, severed, axed, you name it. Though it must be clarified that in most cases the battles take place in low light, and we don't have massively explicit gore. However, these malevolent creatures are the epitome of evil, and are shown with a frightening realism that might frighten your small kids into sleeping in your bed for the next 14 years. (I personally won't go anywhere NEAR my Palantír) THOUGHTS: Being a Christian, I've interacted with some who hate the Rings trilogy, and some who love it. Being that Tolkien was a Christian, and worked allegory into his work (whether he meant to or not, it's there), I think much of the ideas in the genre are downright Christian in their own right. Many contest the seemingly occultism and wizardry prevalent in the film(s). One must realize that these characters with this power are, if you study the histories of Middle-Earth, actually beings put on Earth by Angels to provide balance to the evil principalities. Understand that these wizards are not like pimply-faced Harry Potter at all. They have a design for existing: to take place in the battle against evil. Excellent movie, entirely, and I recommend it highly, except for kids.
Rating:
Summary: Movie Magic
Review: One of the more frustrating things about reading the reviews about either of the first two Jackson-directed Lord Of The Rings movies is that a substantial portion of the population has tremendous difficulty understanding what an incredibly difficult job it has been to adapt such rich and complex literary masterpieces to the screen. The Lord of the Rings books have enough content to keep the imagination running for days and months, yet they also have the unique ability to teach us important lessons about the human condition.
One reviewer wrote "Jackson should just make the movies as Tolkien wrote them." What said reviewer doesn't appear to realize is that the magic in Tolkien's work lies in its ability to interplay with the individual reader's imagination. In order to adapt in such a way, Jackson would have to have every perspective film viewer read the books, then give input into the adaptation. Even then, all viewers would have to have had the exact same experience while reading. Impossible.
The other problem is that to cover all of the content in the books, each of the films would have to be many hours longer than they are. Just like every other director, Jackson had a budget and time constraints. Since it would be impossible to do a completely loyal adaptation we have to look at and judge the movies within their own genre. Look at what has been accomplished. A coherent story (a miracle in and of itself) mixed with great acting, grandiose cinematography, and seamlessly blended special effects produce a truly amazing cinematic experience. We experience everything from comedy to drama to fantasy to action in one experience. While other directors seem to lose their films' humanity when integrating mind-blowing special effects (a certain G. Lucas comes to mind), Jackson does everything possible to create a real world with real characters. Please stop crying for a "pure" adaptation when you know such a thing isn't possible. Enjoy the movie for what it is: one of the great cinematic experiences of our generation.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointment
Review: TT storyline botched into some romantic semi plot and Gimli reduced to comic relief - how sad considering what was potential if the director resisted dark temptation to please mass crowds with simple love story (under strong grip The One Ring of Profits ...) well at least visual effectsa were good and it may be saved if somebody cut all this crap to make shorter movie!
Rating: 
Summary: I think the director liked, but didn't love, The Two Towers
Review: When I went to see "Fellowship of the Ring" in the movie theater, I was absolutely speechless at the end of it. I was so relieved, so encouraged by Jackson's interpretation of the novel I was beyond words. But beyond that, I got the feeling that the people who made "Fellowship" really loved the story - a sense that they'd taken great care in filming it. I do get that feeling at times while watching "The Two Towers", like during parts of the battle at Helm's Deep, but the rest of the film seems like "Tolkien Lite". The sets and visuals were top-notch, but there was entirely too much cheezy dialogue that stood out painfully from the original source material. It's not a bad movie, per se, but it's not as good as its predecessor, and it lacks the care and sensitivity that made "Fellowship" great.
Rating:
Summary: Best
Review: I love this DVD. Lord of the Rings has been one of my favorite series as a child, and watching the film allows me to bring back every aspect I had in its full entirety, plus with bonus scenes, the fun never ends!
Rating:
Summary: The Two Towers as you want it to be
Review: THE TWO TOWERS is a great movie, even if you aren't a Tolkien aficionado, you will enjoy this great piece of cinema history. This is more action oriented than the Fellowship, and this CD contains the extras that you want. If you want to see The Two Towers at its fullest this is the DVD collection you need. I won't go into details about the movie, since almost everybody knows the actors and the plot but if you are a collector this is the DVD to get, this is the expanded version with 40 minutes of footage you didn't see when it was originally released in theaters last year. This movie will raise your spirits toward THE RETURN OF THE KING, later this year in a cinema near you. If you like great and epic movies and the extras don't hesitate and get this DVD you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent! part 2
Review: Well, I was thoroughly impressed with the artistic treatment of the Fellowship of the Ring, and found only editorial advantage to the screenplay. Peter Jackson's second volume-film makes a somewhat lukewarm book into a roaring movie, and the purist-decried changes to the text serve only to reign in JRRT's sometime excessive verbiage.
SPOILER:
Purists recoiled (I saw them do so in the theatre) when the unheralded horn blows before the assault on the Hornburg. It is testimony to Mr Jackson that, when the horn sounded, my mind said "Elves!", and, dammit, I was right, and the plot addition was exactly with the spirit of the story. The Free Peoples come to each other's aid, no matter their ethnic dislikes (was there a moral here?), according to the larger issues at stake. While it might be argued that Mr Jackson has let his romanciers run wild with the attraction between Arwen and Aragorn, it must be remembered that JRRT dealt with this in his appendices, and much would be puzzling to the viewer who has not read the text. The engagement between the Rohirrim and the wolf-riders was logically necessary as JRRT's poetry did not always serve military sense; a spoiling attack by Theoden's force was necessary to allow his people time to reach the Hornburg.
This is an excellent movie made out of a weak book, and wholly in the spirit of JRRT's overall work, if deviating from it in some necessarily dramatic details. The Return of the King promises to be a whopper.
Rating:
Summary: great movie
Review: I really enjoyed the Fellowship of the Ring, and found the Two Towers to be even more enjoyable. I have read and love the books, and was mildly irritated (very at times) by some of the differences between the books and the movies. I was particularly annoyed by the way the character of Faramir was portrayed in the movie. I can't imagine how they plan to carry the Faramir they created in the movie over to the Return of the King while staying at all true to Tolkein's story. That being said, I think what all fans of the books need to keep in mind when watching the movies is that it is not possible to stick to the story exactly - the movies would be both incredibly long and boring. As much as I loved the books, there were parts of them that were slow moving. This is acceptable for a book, even necessary, but not for a movie. Everything needs to be more dramatic on screen. In addition, Jackson has the unenviable task of appealing to both die-hard Tolkein devotees, of which there are many, and the general public at the same time. I think we all need to cut the guy some slack. So far, the movies are for the most part well-done, and I for one plan to see Return of the King on opening weekend!
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