Director: Peter
Jackson | Starring:
Bruce Allpress, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin,
John Bach, Cate Blanchett
Released: 2002
| Runtime: 179m
| Rating (out of 5):
***½ |
|
I can't say I was a
huge fan of the first film in this trilogy (see review above). Sure,
it looked cool and had some interesting things going on, but it was
just missing something--call it heart. The Two Towers built
on the original, but it too had some issues. Actually, the issues
are all mine. I can't get into it for some reason. I enjoyed myself,
and didn't mind sitting for almost three hours of orcs and shit, but
I was left with an empty feeling afterward that a richer, more realized
movie wouldn't have. I don't know if this is a result of Jackson trying
to be as faithful to the book as possible, or if some of the internal
dialogue doesn't translate to the screen, but I feel like the first
two films don't really move beyond the surface story of good and evil.
The good side is there. The bad side is there. We get it. They fight
it out in spectacular fashion, but I didn't get a sense of why the
evil people are so evil and why the virtuous ones are so virtuous.
The thing that separates The Two Towers from the Fellowship of the
Ring in this sense is Gollum. I was honestly a little worried about
watching another CGI character leaping around the screen like some
sort of retarded monkey (see Jar Jar Binks), but was soon drawn in
by the deepest, most realized character of all the characters in the
trilogy so far. (Ironic that the most three-dimensional character
in the movie was technically a cartoon, but...) Watching Gollum express
his internal dialogue out loud really crystallized the conflict that
the whole movie is trying to convey. Unfortunately, this is only one
small part of the movie. The rest is spent shuttling people around
from mountain home to mountain home hiding from bad guys. There is
lots of marching and lots of shots of grunting orcs. There's some
boring stuff with tree people who talk slower than Billy Bob in Sling
Blade. I know there will be a bunch of people that want to lynch me
for blaspheming this way about a classic book and film, but I want
all of you angry freaks out there to think back--really think back--and
tell me what the hell was so great about this film. Let it be known,
though, I never read Tolkien's books, so I can't appreciate the way
he adapted the story. I'm merely looking at it from a pure movie standpoint.
It's Star Wars without the warmth. There aren't enough "Darth
Vader" moments. I'm not sure what I mean by this other than I
don't feel the evil from the head bad guy, Saruman, the way I think
I should. Yes, his minions are scary and very pig-like, but I don't
get the motivation and true darkness there. Maybe it's the way Christopher
Lee plays the part with his usual over-dramatic and stage-like boom,
but he ends up being more verbose than anything else. There are some
wonderfully cool looking scenes in this film, including the final
battle, but that's not what I'm about. As I've always said, a movie
shouldn't have to rely on special effects to tell a story (unless
it's The Matrix, of course). This is one that is going to have to
get a second viewing on DVD. Maybe I'll change my mind and agree with
all of you out there. Maybe I won't. [movie theater]
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