A (real) review of Jackson's "The Two
Towers"
Two Towers Tour
TP finds that Jackson's middle does not sag...
"Where to begin?" as Bilbo says at the start of the recently released Special Edition Fellowship. Of course, with Fellowship finding the start was easy. With the Two Towers, a start is a difficulty for both film maker and reviewer.
For anyone who recalls, however dimly, my review of Fellowship, I can assure them that I was not this time caught in the headlights of Jackson's movie. Although I was still damnably unable to shift all my analytical faculties and enjoy the film the way I could tell the murmuring hordes around me were enjoying it, I was certainly swept up in it by the end. Conversely, what I did analyse did not match up to the standards I so coldly observed in this film's predecessor.
"Towers stumbles fairly mindlessly at times, only to redeem itself with sequences of such remarkable impact you would forgive the sudden intrusion of a tap-dancing cactus"
The Two Towers is not the equal of the Fellowship. It is, simultaneously, better and worse. Whereas Fellowship established a rolling process of ongoing wonderments, Towers stumbles fairly mindlessly at times, only to redeem itself with sequences of such remarkable impact you would forgive the sudden intrusion of a tap-dancing cactus.
Jackson starts as he means to go on. A clever opening sequence leads us to a replay of the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog. This serves both to get the audience excited with the 'sequel' to one of the best scenes of Fellowship, but also as a pretty clear statement that Gandalf would return. The scene is quite amazing (and brings to life Gimli's statement in the book that "the chasm is of a depth immeasurable!"), but also misleading. Gandalf does return, and then promptly clears off again, just as we were getting use to his nice new dress.
A suddenly hilarious Gimli aside (what happened there? Where's the annoying ginger pain in the butt we all know and hate?), Jackson fares much better with the early adventures of Frodo and Sam than he does with the three hunters and their short quarry. The arrival of Gollum (who the audience will probably analyse for some time before half forgetting that he's animated) allows Jackson to play with a certain subtlety that he does not permit himself in the story's other strands. Of course, even here he has simplified Gollum's personality by externalising the debate between his split personality (he probably think he has made it more complex - recent interviews certainly hint as much - but all he has really done is cinematise it), but although the resultant Smeagol is so sweet and lovable that you can't understand Sam's hostility, it does at least lend a frission of both sadness and horror when the nasty Gollum side remerges in the film final moments.
Elsewhere, Merry and Pippin do (as one reviewer said) spend the film up a tree, but in their defence the tree does move around a lot, so they probably cover as much distance as anybody. Said walking tree, Treebeard, is a gloriously stylised piece of animation, who, while never actually looking real, never looks unreal either. Jackson someone how manages to convey the slowness and lack of haste of the Ents, while not giving them very much screen time. It's not totally satisfying, but it works surprisingly well.
But, Gollum aside, you can tell Jackson is playing with his toys again. In this case there is no Cave Troll to distract him, so he throws his weight behind turning Helm's Deep into an epic struggle which, while following Tolkien's description fairly closely, turns out almost to be worthy of a film of its own. He makes a few mistakes - he just about makes Hama likeable, then kills him before they even get to the Hornburg, and without him, there are very few soldiers in the Deep that we care a great deal about. The death of a certain camp Elf does create sadness, but that aside there was nothing to grieve over in the manner of Boromir's death. But in the end, that will probably not linger much in people's memories, supplanted as it will be with the abiding memory of 10,000 Uruk-Hai scaling ladders, swarming over walls, blowing a rather large hole in the culvert (let Gimli block that with his fingernails) and generally behaving like Celtic fans after a defeat by Rangers. There's no smooth choreography to this battle, as you might have found in Braveheart. But it's a battle - it's not about detail, it's about impact, which it oozes.
"the heights that lead characters fall from are getting progressively less as the films proceed. Gandalf falls into a bottomless pit, Aragorn into a river, so no doubt Frodo will fall off a brick sometime in film three"
Of course, The Purist could not watch this without getting a little ticked off with the changes. The trees remain rooted in Fangorn. Aragorn gets knocked off a cliff (though the heights that lead characters fall from are getting progressively less as the films proceed. Gandalf falls into a bottomless pit, Aragorn into a river, so no doubt Frodo will fall off a brick sometime in film three) in a really unconvincing attempt to worry the audience and give the wonderful Mirando Otto another chance for her lip to wobble. Theoden goes from being the living embodiment of "you are as old as you feel" to being the girl from The Exorcist in a beard, and the hangs around the film moping in a truly annoying fashion. Pyjama moves the dialogue about, but sometimes it becomes meaningless - Legolas' line about the Mearas makes perfect sense when spoken why the guard at Edoras in the book, but in the film just makes the Elf look a bit of a prat
The changes, if not always successful, often resolve themselves. Miserable Theoden, as part of his line in cheerful statements, pronounces that the people of Rohan are alone in the world, only to be a bit cheered up when the Elves march into town. They will, they say, honour their ancient alliance with men at the behest of Elrond. Dear old Theo almost raises a smile, and I almost forgave the change.
But those points are not really central to the film, and it is unnecessary to delve into them further, just as it is to point out that Legolas should spend less time making pompous statements about red dawns and more time listening out for horses. Pyjama Jackson has made another fine film. But there is enough wrong with this to make me urge him to pay very careful attention to The Return of the King. He's bloody good, but he's not beyond screwing it up.
Cynical? Nah, I'm just infected with Theoden's pessimism. Bring me a ginger dwarf, I need cheering up….
The Purist.
PS: I nearly forgot Faramir. And trust me, so will you.