Customer Reviews

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition Collector's Gift Set)

5 star:		(716)
4 star:		(92)
3 star:		(38)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(43)

 

 

No movie protrayal can match a good book, but Jackson's attempt is the best ever effort in the history of movies. His team's enormous amount of research, attention to detail and love of the original literary work comes through. Yes, some plot lines are altered in minor ways to keep the off-screen characters part of the movie as it still has to serve an audience that didn't read the books, but overall anyone must admire their work. Yes, all of us Tolkien fanatics would love to see a movie of 139 hours in length that shows every scene and includes every line of dialog from the books, including Tom Bombadil and the everything else, exactly as written, but that obviously isn't going to happen.

Sam - please read the books again as many of your review details are wrong. Gollum does have an internal struggle of Smeagol vs. Gollum, it's right in the book. It is pretty obvious in the movie that Sam is disgusted by Gollum and Frodo is more pitying him, same as the book. There is the conflict between Arwen and Elrond about her relationship with Aragorn and her struggle with remaining elfen and going West vs. staying with Aragorn. But it is subplot not detailed in the books as much, but Jackson is trying to flesh out characters. Aragorn does have doubts and struggles about coming out of hiding to rise to the thrown, he sets this up more in movie #2 for movie #3 but it is there in the books. Saruman does have control over nameless character "A" which nameless "B" breaks with a struggle and in the movie he has to make it obvious (over-do-it) what is going on or movie-goers would go "what the heck?" since they aren't reading the book. Saruman does rip down all the trees and into forest which P-O's the Ents, moving them into action, which WAS inspired by Tolkien's dislike of the industrial age (more to come in movie #3 I'm sure as in the books). There are warg-riding (i.e. big rats) orcs (even back in the Hobbit books) - READ THE BOOKS AGAIN!!!

But some variations are needed for a movie version for the general public; I'll agree with you that all were not needed _FOR_US_, but there is the Joe Blow ticket buyer he is trying to entertain as well, to actually make money on this colossal project (which was completed, by the way, before movie #1 came out and was still a gamble then; hindsight only shows he could have gotten away with "less", perhaps).

It's easy to tear down pick on every detail especially when movies are based on books. But this has to be (with the others in the series) some of the best movies ever made, and clearly the best attempt to mirror books on the screen; especially with the fantasy setting and special effects requirements. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is another great adaption, but it's not so hard to find a small Southern town and a guy named "Boo" as it is to create Balrogs, Orcs, Rings of Power and the Eye that Never Sleeps. Give him a break.

I give LOTR The Two Towers five stars. It is among the best movies ever made. And those Tolkien purists who complain about the differences between the books and the movies don't understand that the love story of Arwen and Aragorn was really close to Tolkien's heart.

The love story of Arwen and Aragorn is not found in the LOTR story itself, although it is found in an Appendix in Vol 3 ROTK, and is also found in Tolkien's Silmarillion. And so we know that the story is based on the love story of Beren (mortal man) and Luthien (immortal elf-maiden). In the movie FOTR (extended version), Aragorn as much as tells us this himself, when he sings the song about Beren and Luthien while he leads the hobbits in the wilderness on their way to Weathertop.

The love story of Beren and Luthien was important to Tolkien. After the Hobbit was a smashing success in 1937, the publisher asked Tolkien if he had any more material to be published. Tolkien gave him the story of Beren and Luthien, as part of the Silmarillion. The publisher declined to publish this story, preferring instead to print a sequel to the Hobbit. As we all know, this sequel is LOTR...

And here's the reason why the story of Beren and Luthien was so important to Tolkien. Beren is Tolkien himself, and Luthien is Edith Mary, the sweetheart of Tolkien's youth, whom he married in 1916, and faithfully adored until her death in 1971, two years before Tolkien himself died. You can see the inscription on their tombstone in the Wolvercote Cemetery in the northern suburbs of Oxford, UK (http://www.lordotrings.com/misc/grave.asp).

When Tolkien wrote that Luthien was the fairest elf that ever lived, he was writing about his wife. And when Peter Jackson decided that his movies should showcase the themes that Tolkien really cared about, he knew what he was doing when he included the love story of Arwen and Aragorn.

The extended version of The Two Towers is richer, flows more smoothly, makes more sense, fills in the blanks on missing motives of a number of characters, most notably Faramir and Eowyn, adds some important details about Aragorn. It provides more depth, background information, humor, and overall character development. Though many of the changes are small, they affected the way I interpreted scenes from the theatrical release, put a slightly different spin on things, making for a fuller experience. Which is not to say the theatrical release didn't hold together well - but the extended version is just a better film.

I'd like to add that I notice a number of people have commented on the disappointing editing done in the theatrical release - to be fair to Jackson, et al, I would say: Just remember the theatres make their money by having multiple shows. They probably limited the length of the film to get more showings in per day. It would take planning for an intermission and a greater commitment by theatres to fit in what is essentially a four-hour movie. I don't think that's intentional "dumbing down" for the audience, it is just a business decision a lot of us would rather they didn't have to make.

Overall Viewpoint:

Well worth watching, for people who have AND haven't read the book. Can't wait for the extra footage.

Note to Whiners:

What did you expect? Tolkien's work could never be turned into another format. I've read the books six or seven times, and I'm quite aware of the atmosphere of otherworldliness that he creates. The movies are much closer to the books than most book-to-movie massacres, and Jackson DID manage to bring some of the feeling of the books to the big screen. Props to him. I don't like the changes to the plotline, but this is still a masterpiece. Not a masterpiece on par with the books, but still a true work of art.

Note to Prosaic People:

If you don't have a philosophic bent, don't waste your time on this movie. You have to be at least somewhat idealistic and interested in the purpose of humanity, or this movie will just seem way too long and overly dramatic. Put another way, you'll either "get it" and love it, or miss what it's all about and hate it. Don't worry, you'll know in the first 10 minutes or so.

Note to Old-School Readers:

There are now two kinds of people in the world---those who read the books first, and those who watched the movie first. If I ever have kids, they're reading the books first, that's for darn sure.

THE TWO TOWERS is the slowest of the three films mainly because the characters split up and many new characters enter into the scenario. Additionally, a lot of exposition must be added to explain many of the new cultures, people and scenarios.

Overall, FELLOWSHIP was smoother b/c the group stayed together.
In TWO TOWERS, we have not only the viewpoints of the villains but also three heroic viewpoints. Going back and forth takes time, but, to its credit, this is true of the books.

The extended version gives us more insights into the split personality of Gollum, Faramir's loving relationship with Boromir yet tense relationship with their father, more with Merry and Pippin dealing with the Ents (and a hostile tree) and extra clips at Helm's Deep. Look for the end fight banter between Gimli and Legolas. A favorite of the creators but one that had to be taken out.

The true value of the DVD is in the LONG commentary of the creators, which gives us more insights into the characters and story development. Examples include:

(1) Why different suits of armor were used for different races and what they represented (i.e. the uruk hai have armor for the front but nothing in back b/c they will never retreat; the elves have elegant armor to reinforce their elegance as an elder race of Middle Earth);
(2) Why Faramir changed from the books in attempting to take the ring;
(3) Why Aragorn had the pretend death in the movie;
(4) lots of info and interviews with the stunt men at Helms Deep who fell off the walls;
(5) swordplay instruction for almost all the characters (with real swords);
(6) Why Gimli would never marry;
(7) Sean Astin remarking on how Andy pulled them back at one point and ripped off Sean's wig. He was quite ticked!;
(8) Andy Serkis playing Gollum and growing into the character;
(9) the different styles of swords by each race/culture;
(10) the designing of Rohan with an emphasis on the horse culture;
(11) CGI for graphics;
(12) Why Shelob was moved from book two/movie #2 to movie #3;
(13) How they got all those people to ride horses (i.e. turns out their was a womens riding club nearby which volunteered with wigs and beards);
(14) viewpoints of various scenes by the actors;
(15) the introduction of Gollum, which includes many drawings, his CGI design and the overall studio design makeup;
(16) emphasis by the drawers/painters of various scenes/background, including the moonlight waterfall forest area where Gollum was almost shot by arrows;
(17) How Viggo (i.e. the Aragorn actor)broke his toes during one footing; and
(18) extra scenes of the Helms Deep battle, as well as some additional fight scenes with the Wargs.

Overall, a great piece of work!!! Sterling silver quality.

By this point, people interested in this movie are probably already in one of two camps: A) Loved it; B) Hated it. The storyline does not always adhere religiously to that laid down by the Professor all those years ago when he wrote the Lord of the Rings, but Pete Jackson does a FREAKING GREAT job of carrying on the story HE established in the first movie. The character moments are wonderful, the set pieces spectacular, the effects mind-blowing. It is... difficult... at times to do so, but the people that have problems with the screen versions of the LORD OF THE RINGS generally cannot accept that modifications are necessary in order to see this story on screen at all. And this is a great presentation. Fellowship of the Ring was fantastic, and The Two Towers equally so. I expect The Return of the King to be mind-blowing as well.

If you can accept that change is sometimes necessary, do NOT pass up an opportunity to experience this story on film.

If you are a fan of the books and hated this movie, you need to see this Extended Edition. While I'm sure you can find more stuff to be mad about, the added scenes fix nearly all of my caveats about the movie as it was released to theaters.

The biggest thing they fixed was Faramir. Instead of coming off as some lout who incomprehensibly lets the Ringbearer go in Osgiliath, you find him to be an intelligent, thoughtful man who is grieving for his beloved brother and trying to please a father who seems determined to hate him. And it was a real pleasure to see Boromir (in a flashback) before the Ring started to eat at him.

The orc-cleaving contest between Gimli and Legolas becomes clearer. There's more Frodo and Sam stuff. You get to find out Aragorn's true age in an otherwise-uncomfortable scene.

The 4 audio tracks are a real joy also. From the writer/director's track, you learn that the movie did indeed suffer from middle-movie-itis; this is when everyone involved was suffering under the heaviest workloads. You can tell that they're all cringing because they wanted to do it better... yet even what they did is so very good you want to comfort them.

My surprise favorite audio track this time was from the production and art people. These are the folks who built and struck the sets every day, and who painted the backgrounds and made all the props and figured out how to light the sets. They're the ones who made it all go! And you can see that they loved this work enough to put in the hours and the labor and the true caring that makes it so wonderful to see. Now, where can I find that elven furniture on EBay??

You'll have to look to another reviewer for the 2 supplimentary disks, I haven't seen them yet. It will take you WEEKS to view everything on here. I got the Collector's edition, and the documentary on the Gollum collectible was interesting, though it's also kind of a commercial for all the other collectible figures.

I recommend you buy this DVD. You won't have enough time if you just rent it!

I am one of the so called Tolkien purists, reading "Lord of the Rings on a regular basis. However, I find it hard to understand the low star comments from some of the contributors. Peter Jackson has painted a picture of middle Earth totally in balance with the vision of Tolkien. He has tweaked the story, but has totally kept the essence of it alive. I was in awe of both films as every view described by Tolkien unfolded on the screen exactly as I had always imagined it, Helms Deep, the Golden Hall,and Fangorn Forest for example.

The film leads exactly from the ending of the "Fellowship of the Ring" and begins to greatly enhance the characters as they head to the inevitable finale. The Wargs, which really belong in the first film, are stunningly realistic, and the Ents are also totally convincing, although not used exactly as Tolkien described, their portrail on film is perfect.

In Criticising Frodo and Samwise's relationship, Samwise is actually the stronger of the characters in the book and the film reflects that, and Frodo's increasing weakness also follows Tolkien's story. Gollum, quite simply, DOES have a personality disorder, he loves the ring, and yet desparately wants to care for both himself and Frodo.

The Two Towers delivers on every level, effects are, of course superb, and characterisation is perfect. The climax leaves the viewer desperate for the final installment, Helms Deep's battle is unsurpassed in movie history (until the next film!) and I truly believe J R R Tolkien would have happily shook Peter Jackson's hand had he had the chance to watch Jacksons version of his tale unfold.

Johnny

The first image of 2002's *The Two Towers* is that of a snowy vista, deep within the rock-chain of the Misty Mountains. Wreathed in sunset colors, this brief panorama is at once cold, imperious, and hauntingly pristine. Howard Shore's melancholic strings both articulate and enhance the mood intended: a moment of calm - of natural, pure-earth stillness - before the coming darkness, the storms and tribulations that threaten the ancient fields of Middle-Earth.

The camera shifts away and we, the audience, are sent upon a slow, ominous journey across eroded ridge and ice-sheet; voices emerge, dreamlike, full of remembrance past. Then the dream shifts to nightmare, and we are thrust back to the climax of *Fellowship of the Ring,* watching two Maia duel upon the bridge of Khazad-dum. One cannot help but feel a sort of tragic inevitability viewing this confrontation, a sort of "pathos rehashed:" Gandalf is whipped down into the shroud, as before... but instead of wailing hobbits and heartrending music to jog a tear from the eye, the camera instead follows the wizard on his plunge into the depths of the earth. Gandalf grasps his sword, fierce determination stark upon his wizened face. Ferocious chanting roils up from the sound-mix, augmenting the rising tension, foretelling a clash of angelic and daemonic titans. The subsequent battle is a dizzying, wrenching blend of shaky-cam, stunning CGI prowess and gut-punch editing; just as Gandalf and the Balrog are smashed through stone and the cold waters of an underground lake, so in turn are we, the fickle audience, brought crashing into the second chapter of the Lord of the Rings.

This opening is my favorite of 2002, and possibly of all time. Not only do I find the Gandalf/Balrog clash incredibly effective - even awe-inspiring - as a piece of popcorn spectacle, this scene *exemplifies* the current peak of technological advancement the film industry is now experiencing...and Gollum, our sweet schizophrenic "precious," goes beyond any CGI character to date. 0's and 1's combine to create something that actually feels alive, suffering and breathing before our very eyes, opposed to so many other computer caricatures. Gollum was a mighty gamble for Peter Jackson and his collaborators: in a cast of basic archetypes, his is one of the most complex roles, something not normally assigned to the late-hour skills of computer animators.

That they pulled it off, and so well, came as a surprise initially, but not in hindsight. Jackson's LotR combines the "classical" style of 20th century epic-filmmaking - breathtaking vistas, carefully-wrought melodrama, larger than life heroes and villains coupled with small, quiet moments of drama - all the while incorporating the digital tools of the 21st century on such a compellingly *emotional* level that it has no problem ensnaring the audience into a fantastical environment without alienating them by the oft-plasticity "shine" that infects so much use of CGI. The pathos of Smeagol/Gollum, the peril of the Two Towers, the plight of Middle-Earth and its varied peoples...these threads captivate us, pull at the heart-strings with the fingerwork of a master-puppeteer.

Now with that said... as I settled in to watch this Extended Edition, my expectations soared; my excitement was hard to contain. Fellowship was a masterwork, made even better by its Extended Edition, yet I had found the second chapter unsatisfactory in the theater. TTT bulged uncomfortably at its seams, the editing somewhat choppy, the slice-in-dice cuts quite obvious: there was simply too much story for a `mere' 3 hours (!) to properly elucidate. Jerky pacing plagued the first hour, with certain transitions almost painful in their reveal of the drastic butcher-work used to shave the movie into a respectable length. Even the ending, although magnificent in design, came to a too-abrupt denouement, a hurried wrap-up that left one acutely aware of all that missing.

It is obvious to me now that Peter Jackson et al. had the extended possibilities of the DVD in mind while scripting and crafting these films: in Extended Edition form, TTT finally feels *complete,* fully realized in a way that the theatrical edition could only hint at. Moreover, TTT is now the worthy successor of the first chapter, equal to and in some ways surpassing FotR in terms of character, scope and epic-style storytelling.

A few improvement examples:

Faramir, perhaps *the* greatest sticking point, is fully redeemed here. His very first scene in the Extended is more true to the book-character than _anything_ in the theatrical. The flashback scene helps to change Faramir from an ambiguous and self-serving rascal to a learned but conflicted man, one struggling with his place and destiny in a world gone mad.

Eowyn is fleshed out in a few extra scenes: her final confession to Aragorn peaks her character-arc and sets the foundation for her role in the final movie.

Out of all the myriad storylines, the thread of Merry and Pippin in Fangorn Forest easily benefits the most from the Extended treatment. The new scenes help bridge a much-needed *consistency* to this vital subplot thread; while in the theatrical the "other" hobbits were reduced to mere footnotes, here Merry and Pip help balance out the comical equation (the pipe-weed scene was especially endearing) while setting in motion one of the most important military coups of the battle for Middle Earth.

The extras are voluminous, covering many of the important factors of film-creation, including editing, sound, and CGI. The documentaries also reveal how stressful TTT was to make: stuck between the beginning and concluding chapters, TTT was the pillar between: it had to stand strong and cast its shadow long.

Overall, the additional time restored to TTT make it weightier, more resonant, a stronger film as a whole. Scenes are allowed to breath, characters to develop, conflict to rise and peak upon the walls of Helm's Deep. Although it has neither a true "beginning" nor "end," the Extended Edition of TTT is a masterpiece in its own right, and the perfect middle-chapter for the LotR trilogy. Five Stars.

The Two Towers Extended Edition is actually better than the theatrical version simply because it adds more depth to every aspect of the film..Settings, Characters, and most importantly, the story. The Two Towers Extended Edition clocks in at 3 hours and 43 minutes, yea, some would say "Ohh thats too long", but true Lord of the Rings fans like myself, love every second of it! The additional 43 minutes covers all new and extended scenes which give the viewer a better understanding of the 2nd chapter in this epic trilogy. Bottom line, If you have the theatrical version of The Two Towers on DVD, go ahead and purchase the Extended Edition. Not to mention, it's a 4 disc set...Discs 1 and 2 contain the movie itself, and Discs 3 and 4 contain hours of awesome special features such as doctumentaries, featurettes, etc. LOTR fans, trust me, you won't be dissapointed!