The Two Towers

[lithera]

I'm gonna talk about somethings, so....



I didn't think it was possible for me to fall in love with the characters anymore than I had. I was wrong about that. I am so rarely pulled into a movie as I get pulled into a book and that is what happened last night.

First of all, know your genre. If you aren't expecting the main characters to be able to be small armies all alone amonst themselves - you're in the wrong area. Aragorn and Legolas track people over bare stone. If that didn't tell you the sort of skill level we're dealing with, you missed it somewhere. They can't defeat an army but they can hold them off for awhile. And let us all recall the Spartans for a few moments. 300 vs 100,000. Yeah.

The CGI - Yes, you can tell Gollum and the Ents are CG. Anyone who has watched movies over the past 10 years has gotten so adept at spotting CG that it is near impossible to hide it. Gollum is the first CG character who seemed like a cast member, who seemed like he wasn't just a bunch of pixels. The Ents were a little cartoonish, but I loved them anyway. I mean, how realistic can you make walking trees? They weren't what I had imagined, but they're great.

The elves showing up and other bits not in the books - You know what? I don't care. It was an amazingly good touch. I enjoyed it and it just gave me chills. They weren't the cavalry, but they made it so that there was a fight and not just a slaughter. And for a guy who had maybe ten mintues of screen time total, it really hurt when Haldir fell.

Switching between groups was a pain in the ass. Anyone who has played D&D knows that splitting up the party is annoying at best. It was dealt with in a decent fashion and I think it might well seem less jarring if I watched the last 30 mins of Fellowship beforehand.

Gimli grew as a character into close to what I hoped he would. I've always seen dwarves as being the sort that make those jokes, especially in battle. His friendship with Legolas grew and was shown well.

Legolas. Ummmm. Yeah. He's a bloodthirtsy little elf, isn't he? I'm glad that he and Gimli got more than two lines. If I wasn't hopeless before, I am now.

I think they needed to deal with Faramir better. If there was a place where they dropped the ball, that was it. He was just like Boromir 2.0 and he should have been more than that.

Eowyn. You can see the moment she falls in love with Aragorn. I was like... Right there. Damn. I've been there, that moment where things inside just click over. She's great. I cannot wait to see her kick some ass.

Yeah... I need to stop this here so I can start on work.

Comments

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

gee, whose comments could you possibly be addressing up there? ;)

[warpdragon.livejournal.com]

I don't mind Gimli making jokes, but in many of those parts he was the joke. Eomer ripping on him was cool, but the whole "shall I get you a box?" thing, and the tossing part... eh. Gimli is a badass, and they made him too comical.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

It's more people than just you, my dear. More than just you.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

Oh ok... and my problem was less with the abilities and more with the foreshadowing of it which is why I personally found it a flaw in the movie... however perhaps it's just taken as a given and I missed that.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I think the wall thing was a bit much, but it also gave a moment to show a little more Legolas and Gimli interaction. It seemed, to me at least, that Legolas actually joining in and saying that was sort of a moment in their friendship, that he was comfortable enough to say it. Maybe its just me.

[mistergone.livejournal.com]

I also saw it as a bit of an attempt by Legolas to get Gimli riled up for the fight. Gimli's a bit of a berserker in these movies.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

*nods* Very true. I hadn't thought about it that way. Excellent.