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It is remarkably difficult to make any movie. There are so
many things to get right that it is amazing that any make it
to the big screen at all. The Lord of the Rings was the book
they said could never be filmed successfully. To bring us movies
of the breathtaking scale and quality of The Fellowship of the
Ring and, now, The Towers, director Peter Jackson has performed
a feat which is little short of miraculous.
The Two Towers is not so much a sequel, as a continuation,
of the story which was begun with the Fellowship of the Ring.
Here, as in Tolkien's book, the narrative fractures along with
the breaking of the Fellowship, and we follow the various fortunes
of: Merry and Pippin who have been carried off by the Uruk-Hai;
Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas who are in hot pursuit; and Frodo
and Sam as they stumble inexorably towards Mordor. Along the
way, their paths cross with other influential entities including
the Riders of Rohan, the Rangers of Ithilien, the Shepherds
of the Forest, and the wretched Gollum.
So how successfully were the various elements of this film
production achieved? First and foremost, it had to withstand
the scrutiny and expectations of a planet full of people devoted
to Tolkien's books. In this respect it performed admirably.
Unlike the first installment which was forced to carve out significant
chunks of the book, this one appears to have retained most of
the main events. The most notable exception was Frodo and Sam's
journey through Cirith Ungol, but this has been postponed until
the next film to provide more balance to that episode, so it
doesn't count. It evens adds some scenes that do not appear
in the book, such as those involving Arwen and Aragorn (which
has been lifted from a story in the appendix to The Return of
the King). For real fans, the Two Towers is full of seemingly
minor scenes that seem to be exact recreations of some of Tolkien's
most detailed imagery. My favourite example was the way Eomer's
riders all halted and wheeled their horses as one to turn and
face Aragorn after he has arisen from hiding to hail them. That
is a paragraph from the book that has always stuck in my mind
and it was wonderful to see it replayed so faithfully. I look
forward to more of the same in the 'extended version' when that
comes out on DVD.
Secondly, Jackson had to make a film that would also appeal
to those who are not so familiar with the books. While I can't
speak fully for such people, I can say that the movie seemed
to provide sufficient explanation for the events that were unfolding,
although one would almost certainly have to have seen The Fellowship
of the Ring to really understand what was going on. In this
sense, the Two Towers is unusual amongst movie sequels in that
it was not an afterthought, but filmed at the same time as the
others. As a result, while it does have moments of drama in
its own right, it does very much have a 'middle part' sense
about it, which may frustrate some people. However, it would
be difficult to not be excited during the buildup to, and swashbuckling
action of, the climactic Battle for Helm's Deep. Plus, it is
always a good sign when a three hour film doesn't feel at all
like three hours.
Special effects? Not just brilliant, but so groundbreaking
as to have set a whole new standard for the art. The battle
scenes ring with realism and the amazing Gollum heralds the
future of CGI characters. The only things that looked even slightly
clunky were the Ents, but they may have stood out because of
the sheer quality of everything else (along with the difficulty
of making a tree-like giant seem real). As always, the hallmark
of great effects is that they are not even noticed, and in this
case, it is very easy to forget just how much of Tolkien's world
had to be created in the effects labs and workshops.
The characters almost all seemed to hit the spot for me. Each
of the actors has truly BECOME their characters, especially
Viggo Mortensen who bristles with hidden kingly power as Aragorn.
Orlando Bloom is dynamic as the nimble elf Legolas, while John
Rhys-Davies provides most of the comic relief as the sturdy
dwarf Gimli. One of the unexpected stars of the Two Towers is
Miranda Otto, who has already captured the beauty, sadness,
and courage of Eowyn - despite her finest hour still awaiting
us in the Return of the King.
For us New Zealanders, the Two Towers provides additional entertainment.
This is not just from seeing the wonderful scenery of our country
which provides the backdrop for the story, or from the knowledge
that so many of our countrymen (and women) have played such
a big part in this production's success. It is the unintended
humour that we derive from spotting some of our favourite home
grown soap opera stars turning up in important roles such as
Craig Parker returning as Haldir the elf, Karl Urban as Eomer,
and best of all John Leigh (Lionel Skeggins from Shortland Street)
as Hama, the King's guard.
There is very little that I can find to quibble about this
film. It should please fans and non-fans alike and has set a
new benchmark for the 'epic' film genre. The next book, The
Return of the King, contains more drama and action than the
other two combined as well as my all time favourite scene from
a book. All we can do is hold our breath and wait a year, at
which time, we can be sure to be completely blown away.
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