The words to describe this movie ... not in my dictionary.
Lord of the Rings ... The Two Towers...
Firstly, I apologize...I am writing this review so late.... And, if I do manage to convince you that you should watch this movie, if you haven’t already ... sorry.
The movie starts off from where the first movie left off.
Frodo and Sam are alone, making their way to Mount Doom.
Aragorn, Legalos and Gimli are on the trail of Merry and Pippin who get captured by the Uruk-hai in the first part.
The movie has 4 sub-plots happening simultaneously.
In this movie, Gollum is introduced in the fullest ( we had only glimpses of him in the first movie )
As a countdown to the Return of the King, INOX was showing all the three movies for a couple of days ... only one show a day.
I had already seen the Two Towers on the big screen last year and later 3 - 4 times on DVD.
The movie was playing at 1:15 and the college did not get over till 3.
I was a bit tentative that we had to bunk to lectures to see the movie.
But, once I sat down in the hall and the music started playing, I realised that bunking even the whole day would be well worth watching this movie on big screen.
The experience was ... exhilarating ... just too goddamn awesome !!!
I have seen the 15 min Making of the movie on the SE DVD and also the one hour special : Return to Middle Earth, so I cannot, but empathize the fact as to how much has gone into the making of the movie.
The movie as a whole is an amazing experience, something which you shouldn’t have missed and something that you might regret once you see the Return of the King.
I would like to talk about some of the very special things that happen in the movie ...
Gollum
Played by Andy Serkis, Gollum is one of the most believable CG characters that I have ever seen.
And mind you, he plays an important part and is featured quite a lot in the movie.
A little background ...
Gollum is the previous bearer of the ring ( before Baggins gets it in part one )
The Gollum had the ring for quite long, which prolonged his life and caused him to get multiple personality disorder.
In this movie, Gollum is Frodo’s guide and he’s leading them to Mordor.
The technical aspect ... The work done
Gollum is a totally CG character. The most realistic one that I have ever seen.
All the scenes involving Gollum were first shot with Andy Serkis in Gollum’s place.
Then they do the shot without Andy Serkis
Later, Andy Serkis performs the same scene in a tight suit which is readable by the computer with only him in the shot. He also does the voice over for Gollum.
So much effort that has gone into the creation of Gollum and the very talented Andy Serkis ... nothing more can be said about them. You just can’t help falling in love with this character. Definitely one of my favourites from the movie.
The Battle of Helmsdeep
This is the ending of the movie.
Believe you me, I have never seen anything like this ... ever ...
The detailing done in this battle is too awesome.
Not to mention the efforts taken to bring the realism into the movie.
The battle scene ( which lasts about 20 - 25 mins ) was shot over a period of 6 - 9 months.
The biggest challenge according to me was the depiction of 10, 000 orcs and uruk-hai fighting against 300 or so men.
It was totally believable, the sound effects outstanding and total edge of the seat excitement.
There was so much said about the opening battle in the movie - Gladiator.
Well, this battle is nothing is comparison to the one filmed in this movie.
If you though the Gladiator battle was good, then you seen nothing yet.
Special Effects
I will not say much about this topic.
Go, look at Gollum, see the battle of Helmsdeep and you’ll know yourself.
One thing which I really wanted to mention was the scene in which Gandalf frees Theoden from Saruman’s spell.
Just observe how Theoden transforms back to his true self.
Its one of the best sfx I have ever seen.
I had to see the scene 6 times ( on DVD ) to realise what really was happening !
The best special effects are the ones which are invisible and you’ll know what I am talking about when you see the movie.
Acting
With a movie of this magnitude, you can expect nothing but the best and the movie does not disappoint. The acting is completely flawless.
From Aragorn ( Viggo Mortensen ) to Gandalf ( Ian McKellen ), Elrond ( Hugo weaving ), Arwen ( Liv Tyler ), Eowyn ( Mirando Otto ), Frodo ( Elijah Wood ), Sam ( Sean Astin ) and Gollum ( Andy Serkis ), etc. etc ... everybody acted just so brilliantly that you can’t but get involved in the story.
The Music Score
Again, the music was perfect.
It fitted the story very well and right scores play at the right time.
The scores are different from the one in the first movie in which it was a bit mellow.
In this movie, with all the battle scenes, the music is faster and of greater magnitude.
If J R Tolkein would be there, I bet he would be very, very happy with the way the movie treats his book.
If the movie is so brilliant, then the book might be just glorious ( I haven’t had the time to read it )
Well, at the end of the day, The Two Towers is an epic of a movie ... not just as a movie but also as in the making ...
Peter Jackson is God and we can all live happily ever after.
If by any chance, the movie is still playing on a big screen, don?t miss it for the world.
This movie WAS made to be watched on the big screen. Nothing, not even a 52 inch plasma screen with the best home theatre system will ever beat the movie experience that you get in the theatres.