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| The Two Towers
DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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The
Two Towers
(New Line Home Entertainment)
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| DVD
Release Date:
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August
26, 2003
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Length:
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179 mins.
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| Rated:
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PG-13
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| Format:
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Widescreen (2.35:1)
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Audio:
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Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound, Stereo Surround Sound
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| Subtitles:
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English, Spanish, Closed Captioned
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| Extras:
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On
the Set - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Return to
Middle Earth, The Long and Short of It, A Short Film Directed By
Sean Astin, The Making of The Long and Short of It, Eight
featurettes originally created for LordOfTheRings.net,
Ten-minute behind-the-scenes preview of The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King, Original Theatrical Trailers and TV
Spots, "Gollum's Song" Music Video by Emiliana Torrini,
Preview of Electronic Arts' Video Game The Lord of the Rings:
The Return to the King, An Inside Look at the Special Extended
DVD Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
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I always have a hard time remembering
that this is the middle part of a story, not a sequel but the middle
part. Maybe that's why when I first saw this, I wasn't as impressed
with it as I wanted to be. I forgot that this wasn't a sequel. It
makes a difference to keep it in that perspective. Then you can
understand the structure and positioning of this movie a lot better.
This movie is three separate stories, going in three different
directions and I think that this may be its main weakness. This is the
middle chapter of a movie. It's the hour after the half hour
introduction (Fellowship) and before the half hour conclusion (Return
of the King) that any normal two hour movie would have. So imagine
walking into a movie half an hour after it started, and leaving thirty
minutes before the end. See what I mean?
Towers picks up exactly where Fellowship ended - Sam and Frodo headed
to destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom and the remaining
members of the fellowship off to save Merry and Pippin from the
Uruk-Hai. This is where the split in storylines becomes permanent as
Frodo and Sam continue their quest, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas join up
with the people of Rohan to protect them from Saruman and his invading
army at Helms Deep and Merry and Pippin join the Ents to bring the
battle to Saruman.
I did like the fact that the movie just gets right into it, without
any lengthy synopsis. To re-cap what happened, well that would have
not only been pointless, but rather silly as well. Director Peter
Jackson uses all of his three hours to build on the characters from
the first movie. We see the relationship between Sam, Frodo and Gollum
deepen and culminate with an amazing argument between Gollum and
Smeagol (Gollum's real name). The pity that Frodo showed him, in hope
that after all those years with the ring there is still some humanity
in Gollum, is what Frodo hopes for as we see the ring continuing to to
take its toll. Frodo needs to know if he is turned completely by the
ring, that he can come back from it. Gollum, in return for Frodo's
kindness, guides them to Mount Doom.
Much has been said about Gollum since the release of this movie, and
quite honestly he probably is the best CGI character ever created for
the big screen. Andy Serkis does a wonderful job of providing the
spirit of this character. Not just that, but the FX from WETA are just
amazing - better than any other movie released. Gollum wasn't viewed
as a CG character as was Yoda or Jar Jar, but he seemed like a real
person. Gollum had a soul and that made him real on the screen.
With the subtle relationships Jackson creates, he also has no problems
with battles on an epic scale. Yes, the battle of Helms Deep was
amazing, one of the best large battle scenes since Braveheart.
As for the DVD, well the look of this movie is amazing. The artwork
for the menus is gorgeous. I love the fully animated menus and at
first I thought that 53 chapters was a bit excessive, but for this
movie it seems perfect. Less scanning to find the spot you are looking
for. I prefer animated chapters on the menu, but with everything else
this DVD has on it (like a three hour movie) a few things had to be
sacrificed. I also would have like to have a commentary track by Peter
Jackson to gain his insight; I actually like listening to him talk
about LOTR, as he does in the special features. I guess I will have to
wait for the extended.
The video looked great. I didn't notice any problems with the transfer
and the images were sharp. Now, this is one of the first movies I have
watched with my new surround sound system. Wow. Let me tell you what a
difference it makes in the sound. The layering of sound, the using of
channels left right, front or back makes the experience all the more
enjoyable. This movie sounds just as great as it looks.
The Special Features
To be honest I don't really go for the special features that DVDs
offer. I mostly like the deleted scenes and don't bother with all the
other stuff. But for this movie, I was eager to dive into them.
Obviously I watched the preview for Return of the King first, and damn
it I hate Peter Jackson! When I saw 10 minutes for this preview I
thought COOL! But it turned out to only be a minute or so of actual
footage, the rest was behind the scenes stuff. Talking with people
etc... Still, some of the preview was pretty cool.
A nice addition to the disc was the Long and Short of it, by Sean
Astin. He made a little short film that has absolutely nothing to do
with the LOTR story, but all to do with teamwork. It's sort of an
homage to the teamwork experienced on this movie shoot. However, for
some reason they included the making of this as well. Now, although it
was funny at points and generally enjoyable, it was just too darn
long! It was longer than the actual short.
Then there were the usual DVD extras - behind the scenes look at
Towers, the interviews, that thank God do not overlap (well, not too
much anyway) I hate watching two "different: behind the camera
programs only to have the people being interviewed say the same thing.
The extras on this DVD are excellent, and informative. I did think
that pushing the EA Game of Towers with a preview for it on here was a
little much and while it looked good it still seemed like a cash grab.
(Kind of like the booklet in the DVD case where you can order all the
rings, swords sets by every character in the movie) The cast
interviews were very good. You don't realize how an experience like
this can change people, or bring them together. A three year project
can do that to the cast members. Watching them become a family was a
nice touch.
After I watched this movie, I felt as though the release of the Return
of the King would make this a better picture - when you can see all
three, and see how they properly relate to each other. That may be so,
but as an individual release it still must stand on its own. After
watching it again on DVD, I seemed to like the movie more.
| The
Movie: |
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9/10 |
| The
Extras: |
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9/10 |
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| Recommendation: |
One
For The Library |
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Blair Barbesin - Contributor
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