The Two Towers
Dec. 19th, 2004 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienYesterday I watched the Two Towers extended DVD for the second time.
I have very mixed feelings about this one. I've read the books more times than I can count, so I'm intimately familiar with the order in which things happen, and, viewed from certain angles, the movie bears very little resemblance to the book. It's a magnificent spectacle, full of amazing scenery and loving detail and what I'm told are groundbreaking special effects. I loved the first movie, and this one was a slight disappointment when I saw it in the theater. I almost actively disliked the theatrical version when I saw it again on DVD, but liked the extended cut better; then again, that may have something to do with watching the former uncomfortably on my desktop PC and the latter in the comfort of the living room on a real DVD player.
What follows is my attempt to sort out what I like and dislike about the movie.
Things they got mostly right:
The Emuin Muil and the Dead Marshes. Gandalf's return, and the flashbacks to the Balrog fight. Isengard. Gollum, with reservations. Merry and Pippin among the orcs, and the quest of the Three Hunters. Eowyn. Grima Wormtongue. Ithilien, complete with stewed rabbit and oliphaunts. The night scene with Gollum fishing at the forbidden pool.
Things that were different from the book, but not necessarily bad in themselves:
The fleshing-out of the ordinary folk of Rohan, and Theodred. Aragorn dreaming/daydreaming about Arwen. Elrond's long-distance call to Galadriel, though after seeing that four times I'm still not sure it makes sense.
Things that were so different from the book that I find it hard to judge whether they were good or bad:
The warg attack and Aragorn falling off the cliff. Faramir dragging Frodo off to Osgiliath, and what happened there. (Sewer under the river? Huh?) The whole Faramir and Boromir thing does make more sense with the extra flashback scenes in the EE.
Things that were just wrong:
the treatment of the Ents as rather stupid comic relief, and in particular that nonsense between the Entmoot and the attack on Isengard. Theoden's magical cure, complete with vanishing beard. Elves at Helm's Deep.
Tonight, if the other jobs get done, I'll see what I make of the extended ROTK.
I have very mixed feelings about this one. I've read the books more times than I can count, so I'm intimately familiar with the order in which things happen, and, viewed from certain angles, the movie bears very little resemblance to the book. It's a magnificent spectacle, full of amazing scenery and loving detail and what I'm told are groundbreaking special effects. I loved the first movie, and this one was a slight disappointment when I saw it in the theater. I almost actively disliked the theatrical version when I saw it again on DVD, but liked the extended cut better; then again, that may have something to do with watching the former uncomfortably on my desktop PC and the latter in the comfort of the living room on a real DVD player.
What follows is my attempt to sort out what I like and dislike about the movie.
Things they got mostly right:
The Emuin Muil and the Dead Marshes. Gandalf's return, and the flashbacks to the Balrog fight. Isengard. Gollum, with reservations. Merry and Pippin among the orcs, and the quest of the Three Hunters. Eowyn. Grima Wormtongue. Ithilien, complete with stewed rabbit and oliphaunts. The night scene with Gollum fishing at the forbidden pool.
Things that were different from the book, but not necessarily bad in themselves:
The fleshing-out of the ordinary folk of Rohan, and Theodred. Aragorn dreaming/daydreaming about Arwen. Elrond's long-distance call to Galadriel, though after seeing that four times I'm still not sure it makes sense.
Things that were so different from the book that I find it hard to judge whether they were good or bad:
The warg attack and Aragorn falling off the cliff. Faramir dragging Frodo off to Osgiliath, and what happened there. (Sewer under the river? Huh?) The whole Faramir and Boromir thing does make more sense with the extra flashback scenes in the EE.
Things that were just wrong:
the treatment of the Ents as rather stupid comic relief, and in particular that nonsense between the Entmoot and the attack on Isengard. Theoden's magical cure, complete with vanishing beard. Elves at Helm's Deep.
Tonight, if the other jobs get done, I'll see what I make of the extended ROTK.
