Comments on The Two Towers movie (with spoilers)- page 4

the captain, akron, usa

yea the movie was really good especially the helms deep battle, and even though the elves weren't really supposed to be there, they created a real come-from-behind type of feeling which i enjoy, and the elves are just BADASSES so that made it sweet. i think that peter and co. got kinda lazy tho on the second movie, with having some weird effects like legolas the horse thing and not having Shelob? WHAAAAAT? that was a major part of the book, but i just hope the return of the king will kick ass and i can't wait to see it.

sebastian, san jose, costa rica

I think that the personality of Faramir in the movie is very wrong: he was an intelligent man, he never wants the ring -as his brother wanted it - and he never took Frodo and Sam as prisioners to Osgiliath. And in Osgiliath, Frodo never try to give to the nazgul the ring. and Gandalf didn't arrive to helm's deep with Éomer, he arrived with Erkenbrand. Shadowfax wasn't white, it was grey, and Gimli never talked about women dwarves. Legolas , in the second movie is whit diferent bow and arrows, and this is very wrong, because he uses only the bow that Galadriel gives him as a gift.

Nilmandra, Redditch, Worcestershire, England

I have enjoyed both films but felt with the second one that some of the characters have started to lose integrity.Gimli's comedy routine, Faramir was less noble,Frodo attacking Sam and offering the ring to that wraith.Why were the Ents going the wrong way.Wouldn't it have saved time to have had the battle cry go up at the moot like in the book.I have a feeling that the third movie is going to stray further and i wonder about the end.

Cory Adams, Gilbert, IA, USA

Very poorly done. The near death scene didn't do anything for the movie except waste time. Time that could have been spent on the interrogation of Frodo. Time that could have been spent making it right. The time wasted in taking Frodo and Sam to Gondor could have been spent better if the interrogation would have ended as in the book. The whole attack on the way to Helm's Deep is time that could have been spent making the Entmoot end as in the book. Instead we are left with Treebeard the oldest living creature on middle-earth being tricked into battle by two little hobbits. And what's more Ents never gather in great numbers or so Treebeard said at the begining of the Moot yet all he had to do was yell once and all the Ents come popping out of the forest. There is no more talking about what to do they just all read Treebeard's mind and go to war. Quite hasty for an Ent if you ask me. And why make Faramir just like his brother Boromir when the book says that they are quite unlike. Faramir was instructed by Gandalf himself concerning the One Ring and knew it could only be used for evil. You see nothing of this in movie. And not that I didn't like seeing the Elves at Helm's Deep. I quite liked the idea of renewing the Last Alliance, but why kill Haladir? There are plenty of other things I didn't like about what Peter Jackson did or didn't do in the movie but I've ranted enough for now. Thanks

A Forever Tolkien Fan, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

The Fellowship was a decent rendering of the book, but the Two Towers - wow, it feels like it was done by an entirely different production company. Why the devil did they stray so far from the story? They wasted time putting stuff in that didn't exist in the book and at the same time took stuff out. Huh?

But even that is not as bad as changing the character of the characters - as he did with Faramir - one of the absolute all time great heroes who becomes just another simpering, easily seduced, one-dimensional pretty boy in Peter Jackson's version of this story. And Aragorn! Good grief! He is so mealy-mouthed and weak. He walks into Theoden's hall with his hands clasped in front of him like a shy school boy for crying out loud. Where is the king of kings? Well let's face it, Aragorn and Frodo are horribly miscast. Frodo is supposed to be the uncle of Merry and Pippin, remember Mr. Jackson? He is supposed to get wiser during his journey. He is supposed to get some depth to him. Really! Where did this little limp distressed kid with watery blue eyes come from? And don't you think after struggling for weeks on end subsisting on nothing but Lembas, that Sam might have lost maybe a pound or two?

On the bright side, Gollum was excellent, and I do love Gandalf and Legolas.

Just one final question - please please lose those predictable Hollywood jokes? Mr. Jackson - you can do better than this.

Alessio, Firenze, Italia

The Two Towers (the film has been released in Italy the 16/01)...very disappointing...all the pathos of the story vanishes after this chapter. Gimli and Legolas challenging in numbers, Legolas descending the stairs with his skateboard, Aragorn and Gimli taking care by themselves of a legion of Auroks, ecc.

Everyone should be fighting for life and honour, but the director and his staff seem to have forgotten it.

I wonder what J.R.R.Tolkien would think about it.

Martyn Storey, Cambridge, UK

Overall, The Two Towers is a very good film. It must have been difficult to bring the book, with its multiple narratives, to the screen. So why was I left with a feeling of slight disappointment after seeing it. The Fellowship of the Ring was an effective and faithful rendition (within the limits of a 3hr film). I expected the second film to be the same. My main disquiet is how faithful some of the characterisation is to Tolkien's moral concerns:

- Expanding Gollum and Arwen are very succesful. Elrond, I need to think about.

- I regret the under-characterisation of the Ents, but it doesn't spoil the film.

- I WAS deeply unhappy with the change in Faramir. I understand the dramatic effect of the Osgiliath scene, and the idea of showing him resisting temptation in a way Boromir could not. But the character is just PLAIN FALSE to the book, and I'm not sure how an extended version of the film could rescue that.

The other thing I wasn't sure about was elves at Helm's Deep. Ok, everyone wanted to see more elves, and at least they all die, which captures some of the tragedy of the passing of the third age. And Tolkien does have the sons of Elrond join Aragorn near the start of The Return of the King. But ...

thomas, Memphis, US

dissapionting, while its hard to transfer the feel of the books to film, some of the changes in the story were inexcusable, sending the elves to helms deep, and frodo offering the ring to the Nazgul not to mention Gimli as comic relief a random warg battle video game style fighting and dumb ents I think I'll miss the next one and I think Tolkien would too

Elizabeth, North Dakota, USA

Sigh...I was disappointed, frankly. I thought I'd feel this way about FOTR and was very pleasantly surprised and delighted, and I looked forward to TTT for more of the same.

Boy, was I wrong. I couldn't BELIEVE the distortion of Faramir and his involvement. What was wrong with "Not even if I found it lying in the road would I take it, I said"? Why was it necessary for Theoden to be possessed? I had to explain to my husband who and what the Ents were and that they were actually VERY different than that portrayed. I was hoping for the song of the Ents, as well, as they marched to Isengard. They were trivalized into nothing more than cartoon characters, and the feeling of history was entirely lost with the handling of Gandalf's interaction with Treebeard.

I can live with (and occasionally even enjoy)Gimli being given lines for comic relief. I can live with Legolas "surfing" down the stairs. What I can't understand is why so many pivotal elements and interactions are being trivialized or omitted entirely. I fear that the overall poignancy and heartbreak of the theme is being lost in the "sound and fury" of the production (which is beautiful - I love the visual and aural effects, personally). I am actually fairly flexible and understand very well that they just can't include everything, nor would they make the film "exactly" like the books; I'm not a rabid Tolkienite insisting that not one word be changed. However, in my opinion, the drastic revisions/changes/additions are NOT in the spirit of the story and are very disappointing to those of us that were enthralled with the vision of FOTR and eagerly anticipated the continuation in TTT.

That being said - I will be going to ROTK when it comes out and hoping for the best.