Amazingly, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers manages to surpass the bar that was set by Fellowship of the Ring last year. Kudos to Peter Jackson and his crew for recreating the world of Middle Earth to near perfection.
Gollum steals the show. The computer-generated creature has very lifelike facial expressions and his monologues of duality are very well done. One can really feel the internal conflict of Gollum’s character. At times it is very easy to forget that he is not real–amazing. The “Massive” software used to digitally create the large battle scenes seems to be working even better than in the first film. It is impossible to discern CGI from live action battle footage–it all blends seamlessly. Additions to Storyline Also, there is the addition of a battle scene as the people of Rohan made their way to Helm’s Deep. During this battle, Aragorn falls off a cliff into a river and is thought to be dead. His horse finds him and brings him to Helm’s Deep in time for the large battle against Saruman’s army. Superfluous dialogue is added throughout the film. The most memorable of which is Gollum referring to Samwise as the “fat hobbit.” It’s so comic, I wish it truly were in the Tolkien books. I am sure there are other additions, but they are minor or unbeknownst to me. Omissions From Storyline At Theoden’s castle, very little time if at all is given to the legacy of the weapons wielded by Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. In the book, brief histories of each weapon are spoken to the guards. This brings me to the main omission in the film. Very little time is given to explain the history and legacy of Middle Earth. Tolkien took great care in letting the reader know that these lands and their people had been there for millennia. Histories of weapons, Helm’s Deep, and the Ents are omitted for the sake of time. Anglo-Saxon Epic Influence Anglo-Saxon stories, including Beowulf, are all about man overcoming fear and impending doom. This film has doom and gloom to spare. Scenes of scared women and children in Helm’s Deep are very true to the style of Anglo-Saxon stories. It is very clear that Tokien was influenced by Beowulf in writing The Lord of the Rings. In 1936, as he was writing The Hobbit and years before writing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wrote a critical essay and lecture titled “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” This essay helped spark interest in the scholarly study of Beowulf and helped increase the literary importance of the epic poem. Tolkien scholar, Michael Martinez, wrote a great essay about Beowulf’s influence on Middle Earth. Check it out. Conclusion |
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