Two Towers reviews...Possible spoilers!!!

<A HREF="http://www.reallifecomics.com/d/20021218.html" target="_new">SPOILERS??</A>

Flame not, lest ye be phlegmed.

Okay...you asked...

[rant]
First, the opening sequences felt very choppy...like they were just hurrying through all that stuff to get to the battle scenes (felt like catering to the Hollywood audience).

As for the story line changes, there were a number of them that just seemed unnecessary...and thus irritated me:

The decision to include all that business about Arwen and her father...with him being so insistant on her going with the elves etc. That felt heavy-handed to me. And they did include her too much in this movie. Although, I liked the bits when she came to Arragorn when he was near death etc....that got to me! I <i>am</i> a girl after all!

Why did they make the Ents decline to help at first? They still helped in the end...but it took a goofy segue by Pippin to get them to Isengard. And what about Merry and Pippin drinking from the Entwash and making them grow taller?? That would have been fun...

King Theoden did NOT send all those townspeople to Helm's Deep...they went somewhere else. In the movie, having them all there seemed like they were trying to play on my emotions for the safety of the villagers. And, the camera focusing on all those moaning and wailing women was too much for me.

Also, in the book, King Theoden welcomes Eomer back from "banishment" and they all ride off for Helm's Deep together! That would have been more moving to me.

The Elves decide to JOIN with men and send an army to Helm's Deep????????????? This was one of the most surprising departures to us. And that that one "head" elf died?? Wow. It was the "forest" that comes with Gandalf to the aid of the people at Helm's Deep. They could have done that easily enough, although I have to admit that watching the elves fight was pretty awesome.

Arragorn's tumble off the cliff. Why did they do that? Weird.

Faramir making Frodo go with him to Osgiliath?! That sucked. Faramir in the book is so much more likely to weigh things before making decisions, less hasty than Boromir, and I didn't think they made that obvious enough. In the book he is not tempted by the ring at all...thus further distinguishing him from his brother.

The relationship between Sam and Frodo was VERY hostile, MUCH more so than in the book. I realize they're trying to show the power that the ring has over him, but it was just too much for me. In the book, he doesn't become aggressive as much as he is just tired.

Gollum is...well...really good. I had some issues with him, but hubby says I'm off the mark...and that they did a good job, so I'll defer to him. ...doesn't happen often! LOL

The movie was definitely more "action" oriented. The depiction of the gates of Mordor was cool, and the battle scenes were really incredible. Gimli was pretty funny...dwarves are always a good choice for comic relief.

I guess I'm just one who likes to see the development of characters and of the story line more than long action sequences.
[/rant]

Thanks for your attention.... =P

<font color=green>"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "<i>doesn't</i> come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"
~The Grinch</font color=green>

I agree with a lot of your points. They did more switching and adding in this movie compared to the first. I'm not sure why they did it either. A lot of people who worked on the films were huge Tolkien fans and they must have their reasons for changing things. A movie must have a strong beginning, middle and end. This could be the reason for some of the switches. Let's hope that the third movie doesn't have as many changes in it.

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