[color=#000000:post_uid0]Just recently I saw [i:post_uid0]The Two Towers[/i:post_uid0] again, and whatever failures it may have experienced in terms of following the plot, I still think it is a great movie. Not the greatest of all time, but still excellent.

Reasons as follows (keep in mind I haven't read the books for [i:post_uid0]years[/i:post_uid0]):

<ul>[*]The Lord of the Rings trilogy is really an epic story, and the movie reflects that. There's a sense of grandeur (the mountains may have something to do with that) and, well, [i:post_uid0]epicness[/i:post_uid0] in the movie.[*]Apparently Tolkien wasn't fond of allegories (so I hear :S), but Peter Jackson and Company weren't shy about slipping details into the movie to amplify or create perceived metaphors in the story, and often being fairly subtle about it too--something you don't see much of in movies today. The Balrog fight (they showed it again, I get to include it :D) and Gollum in particular. They pulled that part of it off pretty well.[*]I really liked how they handled Gollum/Smeagol. They took some risks: he could have come off as cheeeesy or just nonsensical, but I think the risks paid off. He emerged as a fairly rounded character--you could see his "uncivilized" comments as being a result of an actual person, not just some weirdo's ramblings--and I don't remember much of that from the books, to be honest. I just remember him as being a misbehaving creature who was to be pitied.[*]NO SHELOB YET! :D[/list][/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I can deal with the fact that it wasn't a word-for-word adaptation. Such a thing would be near-impossible, and frankly boring.

I can deal with the fact that they shuffled Shelob and the Sack of Isengard to the third movie. It was necessary for balance and cliffhangers.

I can sorta deal with Arwen's extended scenes, since they mostly occur in flashbacks and were hinted at in the Appendices.

I cannot deal with treaty a character with Gimli's nobility and dignitify as a buffoon.

And I cannot, ever, forgive the Elves at Helm's Deep. Taking stuff out is one thing. Putting stuff back in that had no business being there is just wrong.

And I must say, although it causes Zeke and Kira to throw things at me, that the reunion scene between Aragorn and Legolas looked rather...tender. Note to Peter Jackson: Don't feed the bashers.[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Yes, the reunion scene was rather ... i can't think of the right word, but you know.

I read the books once and loved them, but the movies have ruined them for me now. I don't know if that's good or bad.[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Well the movie introduced me to the books, which is always a good thing, so....

Most LotR fans can overlook most of the discrepancies between the book and the movie except the Elves being at Helm's Deep. Although I've heard one theory that the Elves being there were kind of Peter Jackson's way of exemplifying how battles against Sauron were being fought all over Middle-Earth and it wasn't just Men vs. Orcs, or something.

Me, I personally think Jackson just put them in so that he could have a cool host of Elven warriors with their long hair and shiny armor.

This is the reason why I'm not re-reading ROTK until [i:post_uid0]after[/i:post_uid0] December 17th because I know if I have my memory refreshed, I'll just sit there screaming at Peter Jackson and won't enjoy the movie as much as I should.

And Sa'ar, I agree-- it was just plain [i:post_uid0]wrong[/i:post_uid0] to turn Gimli into a form of comic relief. Just. Wrong.[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]As far as the elves being at Helmsdeep are concerned, I think that, up until that point, Jackson had spent so much time and effort convincing us that the good guys couldn't [i:post_uid0]possibly[/i:post_uid0] win that we needed some token pick-me-up to believe it when we saw them somehow last long enough for Gandalf to come to the rescue.[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]The books will always be some of my favorite reading. The movie is a movie, not the book, and as such, I think PJ did an excellent job of it. I can understand why he made most of the changes he did, and I can live with them. (Well, maybe the "Elves at Helm's Deep" thing was going too far, but that's a rant for another time.)

Mainly, the purpose of this post is to share something I found posted elsewhere, and that is:

[i:post_uid0]Why can't they just lose the ring in the sink?[/i:post_uid0], which is Dave Barry's take on [i]The Two Towers.

You may just enjoy it.[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]I didn't know Dave Barry wrote fivers.[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Call me an idiot cuz I didn't read the books, but I think that the movies have been great so far. My roommates and I rented [b:post_uid0]Two Towers[/b:post_uid0] and watched it twice last week, and we were howling in front of the TV and clapping at all of the really cool parts. Every battle and magic spell was great to see & hear in our living room, and it brought back memories of when I saw the movie inna theater a while ago.

I had a lot of fun watching [b:post_uid0]Two Towers[/b:post_uid0] with two people who hadn't seen it, and I enjoyed watching it a second time too. Sorry to disappoint everyone who was expecting a negative comment.
:p[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0][quote:post_uid0]Call me an idiot cuz I didn't read the books,[/quote:post_uid0]

*complete lack of malice mode ON*

If you insist.

Ahem.

You're an idiot.

Anything else I can do for you?

*CLOM mode OFF*[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0][quote:post_uid0="Sa'ar Chasm"]Anything else I can do for you?[/quote:post_uid0]

Buy me the B5 season 2 and 3 box sets. :D[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Yes dear.[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Oh, really? :evil glint in eye: Then I should probably give you my mailing address.... :snerf:[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]That might help. How else would we send it? We could also deliver it in person[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Sure, I wouldn't mind it either way ;)[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]<*mutters anew about the price of plane tickets*>[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Hey, it's a good thing. You get a nice vacation WHILE delivering seasons 2 and 3 of B5 to me. What's not to like about it? :D[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]18+ hours cramped into a plane seat (each way).

I suppose it could be worth it.[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0]Of course it is! You get to see the One And Only ME...






AND I get my B5.


:sweet smile:[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0][quote:post_uid0]Of course it is! You get to see the One And Only ME...[/quote:post_uid0]

I don't think the world's ready for two of you *snicker*

[quote:post_uid0]AND I get my B5.[/quote:post_uid0]

Side benefit, of course. Do I get to watch it with you and yell witticisms at the screen?[/color:post_uid0]

[color=#000000:post_uid0][quote:post_uid0="Sa'ar Chasm"]Do I get to watch it with you and yell witticisms at the screen?[/quote:post_uid0]

Absolutely, especially if it involves John abuse, of course. Repeat after me, kids:

John Abuse Is Fun!
John Abuse Is Fun!
John Abuse Is....


Have we been through this before? :suspicious:[/color:post_uid0]