The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Peter Kim · Dec 4, 2002

Well, I'm now all abuzz. I'm actually trying to ratchet down the anticipation, as to not delude myself into disappointment.

But by the sounds of it, this is a winner. Thanks for the review.

I managed to find The Two Towers to be a grand epic, wide in scope, and intimately poetic.

This pretty much covers the whole gamut. By the way, what was the atmosphere of the theater, before and after the screening? Was it as charged as the first screening of LOTR:FOTR?

Click to expand...

Tim Glover · Dec 4, 2002

Hard for any movie to match the sense of wonder and exitement of the first installment, but if its " as good as the FOTR" then I'm pumped! Can't wait. Would go for the midnight showing on the 17th but 3 hours is a long time for a midnight movie!

Good review Ron.

MikeRS · Dec 4, 2002

Just in time to take care of my TTT review fix.

Brian W. · Dec 4, 2002

Thanks for the great review, Ron!

JJKP · Dec 4, 2002

Nick Sievers · Dec 4, 2002

Nice to see the 5 star rating. It would seem people are having mixed reactions to Treebeard, some people love it while others think his CG is so-so.
Ron mentioned how one of the let downs were long conversations surrounded by epic battle sets. I was actually hoping for the dialogue to take a front seat as well. So I won't be let down.
Jeremy, the link is HERE
Just one question Ron, how was the CG with the Wargs?

JJKP · Dec 4, 2002

Chris Farmer · Dec 4, 2002

Sounds fantastic to me. The only thing keeping me from a midnight showing is a biochem final the next day. Argh. Oh, and nice review Ron (anymore I'd be surprised to find a bad review Ron, for consistency you're about as good as they come).

Brian W. · Dec 4, 2002

Interesting comments about Treebeard, since someone in the TTT thread said a couple weeks ago that Sean Astin had seemed a little disappointed in Treebeard as well.

Duane Robinson · Dec 4, 2002

December 17th why do you mock me?

I shall be there with my free ticket for the midnight showing seeing as how I won't have any class until Friday and then I only have one final left by then. I will be seeing this one multiple times in the theater, probably more times than I saw the first one.

Nigel McN · Dec 4, 2002

I think his comments where more along the lines of 'it wasn't how I imagined Treebeard' which is something that will always happen.

TonyE · Dec 4, 2002

It's very nice to hear that TTT is just as good as the first, i pretty much can assume that the third and final movie will be just as good as well, you gotta hand it to the talents behind such a wonderful trilogy.

Lou Sytsma · Dec 5, 2002

Knowing the story - ROTK should end up being the best of the 3 as you get the closure that the other movies can't provide. ROTK should also have many more poignant moments than the other 2 - with the real payoff coming at the Grey Havens.

Ron - hope you have another viewing down the road and will update your thoughts at that time. These movies are so grand in scope that it is difficult to digest everything in one viewing.

I'm willing to bet any issues you had the Ents will be significantly reduced with additional viewings.

Ditto on the question concerning audience reaction - how did they respond?

Are there any great shots ie like the ring in the snow when Boromir picks it up?

Glad you mentioned the soundtrack - from the clips I have heard it is indeed awesome.

Word on the web is that the extended edition of TTT could be ~4 hours in length - WOW!

Finally whose performances stood out for you the most?

Thanks for the review Ron!

Matt Krapf · Dec 5, 2002

Great Review, Ron.
Short, sweet, and to the point.
This is a great movie. "A 5 rating."
I'm taking a half day on the 18th to see it.
I may get 2 viewings in before my friends join me at night.

Matt

Dennis Reno · Dec 5, 2002

Ron, you lucky....

Thanks for another great review. My wife and I are already scheduling a babysitter so we can go opening weekend!

Ronald Epstein · Dec 5, 2002

You know what?
That review was just thrown together. I felt as
if I was cheating all of you -- especially when I saw
the amount of material I posted for Fellowship Of
The Ring.
It's just that I rolled in at around midnight. It was
very late and I was very tired.
Audience reaction? The audience was mostly quiet
throughout. There were many chuckles that came from
watching Gimli make a pig out of himself with food or
not being able to stand high enough to see an
approaching army. Many of the gasps I heard from the
crowd came when Legolas mounted his horse. It's a
feat that must be seen to believed! I also heard many
of the women doing a lot of "oohs" and "awwws" during
the scenes with Gollum. The creature can really be
cute at times. As the credits rolled, the audience
clapped loudly. The exit chatter I heard was very
positive.
Great shots? Once again the camera twists and turns
from different angles giving us those really cool
rush-in closeups. It's not done as impressively as
the first film, and there's less of that kind of camera
work here. I think Jackson was smart to keep that
kind of camera work low-key as too much of it gets to
be tiresome. Frodo never puts the ring on his finger,
so we don't see any of the chilling images that were
so memorable in the first film. I think most of the
"wow" factor here comes from the battle for Helms
Deep. It's a long, breathtaking battle that will
be talked about for a long time.
Thanks for asking these questions. I am going to
add these paragraphs to my review. I think they are
things I should have included last night.

Dean DeMass · Dec 5, 2002

*impatiently taps fingers on desk while looking at calendar*

Great review Ron, I am so anticipating this film. I am actually picking up my tickets on Friday for a showing on the 18th. I cannot wait.

-Dean-

Peter Apruzzese · Dec 5, 2002

Thanks for the first look, Ron. I'm so mad I couldn't get to that same screening last night in Manhattan as I was also invited. "Real" life keeps getting in the way of "reel" life...

Andrew_Sch · Dec 5, 2002

I can't even bring myself to read the whole thing, just the first and last paragraphs and the score. I'm pretty sure my head would explode out of a combination of jealousy (of Ron), anticipation, anxiety and other stuff like that.

Jim_C · Dec 5, 2002

Great review. I'm glad to see it get 5 stars even though Ron seemed to have some problems with pacing WRT scenes between the battles.

As for Treebeard, this has been a concern of mine and one I've been voicing for a while. I think many people have a very clear image of Treebeard and he's probably one of the characters that's most likely to be a letdown, even if it's a minor one. Perhaps it's just the CGI or maybe it's the portrayal, in any case, Treebeard does seem to be the most common focus of uncertainty. Having said that, I'm not overly concerned about the Ents. Overall, I think the role the Ents and Huorns play is going to be one of the highlights of the film.

The fantastic news is that Gollum seems to be very well portrayed, both as a character and a CGI creation. As much as I love Treebeard, Gollum is a far more important character (obviously!) and it's very reassuring to hear all of the praise for him.

Again, great review. This is going to be an awesome movie to be sure!

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