Saw the Two Towers finally, 10pm, Jan 11th, row 6 of 30, center seats, on Stockholm's largest cinema. Just me and my bro.
The absolute first thing I had longed for was how they were going to finish the Gandalf/Balrog fight. The falling was good and the cavernous, gigantic underground pool even better. Though I had hoped to see them swim under the earth a bit, the Balrog's fire quenched, it now being a thing of foul slime and coal. It being a maiar in itself, I had hoped to've seen some nasty firespells and stuff from a servant of Morgoth, not this orangutang rage and moaning. And Gandalf should've gotten a bit more singed, IMO. :-)
I sure as hell hope the fight will be lengthened in the SE-DVD (if there will be such a thing), the mighty Balrog should get its recognition. I won't count on it, though.
Gimli got a few more redeeming scenes, not counting the burping, falling from a horse and the dwarf-tossing. He did know all the cords on them axes, yes siree.
Legolas, what can I say? Borderline Ninja-demon, hooah! 'Twas good to see he also did have an opinion and cared to voice it during the siege of Helm's Deep, I think many of us Sci-fi enthusiasts have a habit of confusing elves with the rigid Vulcans...from time to time.
�om�r, Th�oden and �owyn were good each in their own right, �owyn had really gotten her sword-moves down and she looked prettier than I glimpsed in the trailers. Karl Urban was very fitting as �om�r, and who else but Brad Dourif could deliver such quality filth as Grima, eh? Question, was it implied that Grima Wormtongue killed Th�odred (or hastened his departure) during the night? Or was he just trying to get close to �owyn with feigned sympathy?
The Ents, very imposing indeed. When they started hurling those boulders I almost hyperventilated. I had hoped to see Merry and Pippin drinking that famous Ent-draught and getting revitalized and buffed up, they shouldn't overlook that now that they even got Merry to mention the fabled rejuvenating properties of the Fangorn water...
The winged Nazg�l-beasts were clearly molded from John Howe's interpretations, not like Pterodactyls at all, which I feared.
The scene at the gates of Mordor, with the approaching legions of Easterlings, was like a photocopy of Alan Lee's painting. I'm so glad they managed to get Lee and Howe onboard, I read the entire 1400-page LOTR-edition (with Alan Lee's illustrations) just one month before "The Fellowship" premiered, so I related extremely well to the movie in that regard. First time ever where my getting the flu felt convenient... :-)
The development scenes with Aragorn and Arwen struck me very deep, for a number of reasons I will divulge in another thread shortly.
Gollum/Sm�agol was very good, best CGI-character ever IMO and Serkis' voicework was very convincing. I really felt pity for the creature and almost got mad when people in the cinema laughed at him at every opportunity, even when there was no joke and he was being genuinly miserable. The mob has been getting too comfy with Dobby and Jar-Jar, methinks...
Grudges/nitpicks
- The underused Balrog for one, but hopefully the SE can take care of that.
- The postponed (again) reforging of Nars�l into And�r�l. It should've been taken care of in Rivendell already, do you think they felt it would interfere with the Aragorn/Boromir conflict at the time?
- The orc-dispute between Grishnakh and Ugl�k. A bit rushed, wasn't it? Did they even mention their names??
- The postponed (cut?) Sm�agol/D�agol flashback story, showing the good ol' days... Will they put it in "Return of the King" or the TTT SE?
- The snuck-in Galadriel-dialogue in the middle, where did she come from all of a sudden?
- Elrond's venomous monologue about Arwen's terrible fate (as he sees it), I do not remember that even being an issue in the book. And regardless, wasn't he a bit too mean?
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
Registered: Aug 1999
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