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| While The Two Towers is an amazing piece of cinematic perfection, I had quite a few "WHAT THE F@CK?" moments. In conversation with other Tolkien dorks, I've learned that I wasn't alone in my disapointment. Here are a list of my problems along with some hypotheses on the nature of their existence. |
| 1. ELVES IN HELMS DEEP (plus: THE DEATH OF HALDIR) I blame Arwen. In an attempt to build the sexual tension, Peter Jackson added to (virtually created) the character of Arwen. However, her existence has added more undoing to Tolkien's plot than cinematic perfection. The need for her character in the movie left the audience with the real distaste for Elrond. Honestly, every time he's on screen, the term "constipated prick" comes to mind. Elrond's assholish nature in comparison to Arwen's perfection left Peter Jackson to make amends of his character before no one cares about him at all. This led to Elrond's sympthetic decision to send the Elves to Helm's Deep. I think we're supposed to jump out of our seats and say, "Hey that guy from the Matrix ain't half bad after all." Also, the death of Haldir has really hurt me. I really enjoyed his presence in FOTR and am sad that he won't be peeking his head into the Return of the King. Although, I do understand that because no other main characters were killed, someone had to die. A sad, but true law of cinematography. 2. ARAGORN'S TUMBLE OFF THE CLIFF Excuse me Mr. Jackson, but didn't we already do the whole "character dying and coming back to life" thing? And atleast the first one was actually in the books. This was also just a blatant excuse for an Arwen moment. 3. THE FAULTINESS OF FAIRIMIR (plus: FRODO IN OSGILLIATH) I don't think I have much to say on this subject that everyone else doesn't already feel. For those that haven't read the books, I need only to point out the symbolizism in the name FAIR-imir. Let's just say that the movie's Fairimir didn't have half the quality of the one I read. The fact that Frodo and Sam were deterred from their path unwillingly by this faulty Fairimir is something that pisses me off. It was definitly my biggest "WHAT THE FUCK?" moment of the movie. It just didn't need to be changed. UPDATE: After viewing the extended edition, I have changed my mind and am now in love with Fairimir. 4. MISSING 100 PAGES, ANYONE? Wasn't one of the main reasons for the title, TWO Towers, because Saruman was brought down? Waiting to destroy Saruman's power is going to severely shorten the time alotted for the next book. I've already heard that the Sacking of the Shire has been ousted. What else will we lose because we had to watch Aragorn drift down a stream for twenty minutes? |
| A Round of Applause for: 1. Saving the character of Gimli through comedic relief. 2. The WETA crew and their amazing job with Gollum, who spanked Jar-Jar's ass. 3. Howard Shore's amazing Rohan theme. 4. Sean Astin stepping up as the best actor of the movies. 5. Treebeard and the flooding of Isengard...exactly how I pictured it. 6. Eomer's solid presence. |
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| The Two Towers |
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| Fairimir: saved by the Extended Edition. |