Lord of the Rings, The: The Two Towers (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

Audio:
For me, "LOTR 2" was the loudest movie experience since...well, "LOTR 1". The same sequences that threatened to shatter my ears in the theatre have been well-reproduced on DVD. The Dolby Digital 5.1 EX English track features a nearly continuous bass presence. Clashing swords, explosions, and echoes flood the room. Howard Shore´s orchestral score benefits greatly from the mix´s smooth imaging across the speakers. What´s really great about the audio mix for "LOTR 2" is that there are several passages with nothing except ambient environmental noises and dialogue, and the stillness is as well-done as the loud stuff.

The DVD also includes a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround English track (for those of you without digital 5.1 set-ups), and optional English and Spanish subtitles as well as optional English closed captions support the audio.

Extras:
--Disc 1--
Clicking on the New Line logo in the Main Menu will access DVD production credits.

--Disc 2--
Since New Line saves the meaty in-depth features for these movies´ four-disc releases, the extras that come with the two-disc sets are mostly promotional in nature. Still, they´re well-done, and they ease people not familiar with the "LOTR" world into the movies.

The first extras are two promos that appeared on TV. "On the Set--´The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers´" first played on the premium cable channel Starz Encore. It´s basically an extended trailer for the movie, though it has some behind-the-scenes shots as well as interviews with some of the filmmakers. "Return to Middle-earth" played on the The WB, and it´s a good, hour-long summary of the film´s plot.

The disc also offers "The Long and Short of It", a short film directed by Sean Astin (Sam). There´s also "The Making of ´The Long and Short of It".

There are eight featurettes made for www.lordoftherings.net: "Forces of Darkness", "Designing the Sounds of Middle-earth", "Edoras: The Rohan Capital", "Creatures of Middle-earth", "Gandalf the White", "Arms and Armor", "The Battle of Helm´s Deep", and "Bringing Gollum to Life". There´s a five-minute preview of the Special Extended DVD Edition that´s being released in November, and there´s a twelve-minute behind-the-scenes preview of "The Return of the King". Finally, there are theatrical trailers, TV spots, Emiliana Torrini´s "Gollum´s Song" music video, and a preview of EA´s "The Return of the King" video game.

--DVD-ROM--
Those of you with DVD-ROM access can use the weblinks encoded on the DVDs.

--Miscellaneous--
Since an Amaray slim double-keepcase houses the 2 discs, there´s a glossy fold-out that provides extras and chapter listings.

Film Value:
Yes, I know that "LOTR 2" is the middle part of an epic story, and many people have told me that a "slow-down" is to be expected. I disagree with that excusatory assessment. Without having to set up the plot and its characters as "LOTR 1" did, "LOTR 2" could have been a home run since it should have taken the accomplishments of its predecessor and made a grand experience of itself. Instead, we get interminable scenes of people flopping in despair, only to be rescued by some deus ex machina. If you want a powerful, thrilling, involving, and moving second chapter in a fantasy series, watch or read "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" instead.

Additional Ramblings by John J. Puccio:
You now get to hear from DVD Town´s designated buffer between Eddie and the angry mobs ready to tear his throat out.

I liked the movie.

Of course, liking the movie is nothing special. "The Two Towers" was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award; it was voted the Online Film Critics Society´s Best Picture of the year; it won scores of other prizes; and it was the biggest box-office attraction of 2002. But do these accolades prove it´s a great film? No, but they help.

For me, "The Two Towers" was simply the most enjoyable film I saw all year. Greatness, as in "classic" status, comes with time, though, and no one can predict how audiences will react to something twenty years on. Nor is "The Two Towers" meant to stand on its own, as Eddie has mentioned. As the midsection of a trilogy, it will probably be seen by future generations as just another part of the whole, for better or for worse.

Needless to say, because I loved "The Fellowship of the Rings" so much, I loved "The Two Towers" as well. Unlike Eddie, however, I found "The Two Towers" quite exhilarating, although I must admit I didn´t care for it as much as I did the first installment. This is in direct contrast, by the way, to literally every one of my students I´ve talked to who enjoyed the more extensive action in "The Two Towers" over the relative calm of "The Fellowship." Still, I´d have to accord both films 9/10 ratings for the sheer magnitude of their accomplishment.

Eddie has alluded to the redundancy of the battle sequences, the "interminable scenes of people flopping in despair," and to an extent I concur. Yet, anyone who has read the complete "Lord of the Rings" will likely recall the second book as the war chapters. Although it had been over thirty years since I read the novels, it´s the way I always think of them, so the movie´s emphasis on continuous physical conflict came as no surprise. What did surprise me, though, was the number of times my wife in the seat next to me kept nudging me and complaining about all the changes the filmmakers had made from the book. She´s much more the Tolkien aficionado than I am, and she recognized every variation from the text that came up. There appeared to be about two or three times the number of such nudges than I´d received during "The Fellowship." Still and all, the changes were apparently no more than a minor annoyance to her and had little effect on her overall enjoyment of the film. She said afterward it was her favorite film of the year, too.

"The Two Towers" was never meant to be a great stand-alone movie (despite its awards), nor is it a particularly accomplished bit of storytelling in terms of character or plot development. But the unforgettable personality of Gollum will stay in memory for a long while, and the battle sequences are to me among the best staged and most exciting ever created for the screen. Both Gollum and the battles are a triumph of integrated art, technology, and sheer logistics. All in all, it´s a wonderfully entertaining piece of filmmaking, significantly different from its predecessor in tone, and filled with as much spectacle and wonder as any motion picture I´ve seen.

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---