Tolkien's T.C.B.S discussion

The quest continues....

Your thoughts on Film 2

Loved The Two Towers (especially the extended edition).

However, despite the fact that I loved the movie, this was also the one I had the most issues with. Possibly that is because this was always my favorite book of the trilogy and so I know it best.

I was bothered by what Peter Jackson did to Faramir when he encounters Sam and Frodo. The whole POINT of Faramir is that he wouldn't have been tempted by the ring, not even to gain his father's love/respect/admiration.

I also wasn't a huge fan of the falling out between Sam and Frodo... but it was a minor point and served to portray to an audience who might not be familiar with the books just how heavy the ring was for Frodo and how it twisted everything good about him.

I didn't like the animosity between Theoden and Aragorn... in the book Theoden is never worried that Aragorn is going to take over his kingdom or is trying to be a better leader than him. Theirs is a friendship that movie-makers seem loath to portray... as if kings cannot be friends.

And, of course, they left out perhaps my favorite line in the book, when Wormtongue throws the palantir down and Gandalf very wryly comments that, "That wouldn't have been something Saruman would have CHOSEN to cast aside." A lot of the wry humor of Gandalf was lost in the movies.

I really liked that Saruman died in the Two Towers movie. I never enjoyed the Scourging of the Shire section of the Return of the King (now that I'm older I can appreciate what Tolkien was trying to do) but it always seemed to me like he should have ended the books the way Peter Jackson ended the movies... but now I'm treading over into Return of the King territory, so I'll stop. :)

as for the 2nd book i loved the suspense PJ added to the movies : several times during the viewing the spectator felt down and then BAM hope is restored:
1st when aragorn is thrown off the cliff and returns to the keep
2nd the arrival of the elves at the hour of dispair to help increase the number of fighters
3nd when eomer and his riders are banished from Rohan and they return at the right moment in the Battle of Healm's Deep . the timing was perfect in the chronology of the movie.
then there was the introduction of a new powerful female eowyn. she's such a gentle and caring person plus she's courageous.
the worry theoden felt is very human character felt by the ruling monarch or president so it was nice touch to the book
as usual gimli and legolas are funny especially when gimli tells aragorn "don't tell the elf" befor being tossed :p
i liked that the ents originally didn t want to go to war but when the saw the destruction they decided to take part. a lot of people nowadays stand by watching and don't help unless they're involved personally so it was like a wake up call
i didn t really like the part where sam and frodo continue the quest i usually skip these parts to get to the more interesting stuff like the battle :)

My favorite parts of the Two Towers were:

The fight with the Balrog. That was just insane. Sword fight while falling to the center of the earth? Just amazing.

Of course the Helm's deep battle was awe-inspiring. The charge out the gate was epic, as was Eomer's and Gandalf's arrival. Theoden's scenes in general were just all awesome. Such a brilliant performance.

Sam's speech in Two Towers at the end of the film is one of the most amazing pieces of dialogue in all of cinema.

Treebeard's scenes were also well done, I thought.

Parts I did not like:

The portrayal of Faramir. He was not tempted by the ring and did not bring the hobbits to Osgilliath. That was just over the top.

I also did not like Aragorn falling off the cliff. It felt so forced and cliched.

And bringing the elves to Helm's deep was again just over reaching on the part of the screen writers. It added nothing to the film other than some cool shots of elves in armor in the rain on top of the battlements.

Overall, though, one of the greatest films of all time!