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In keeping with that spirit, let's declare a verdict: The Fellowship of the Ring was an excellent movie, but The Two Towers is a better one. I do have something of a bias: The Two Towers always has been my favorite part of The Lord of the Rings — the meaty middle piece is by far the most exciting. If that grand novel has a flaw — memo to Tolkien purists: Everything in this world has a flaw, as Tolkien himself would be the first to acknowledge — it's that the opening section of the Fellowship takes its time getting started and the concluding section of The Return of the King doesn't wrap up as swiftly as it might. Indeed, last year's Fellowship film engaged in a fair bit of throat clearing, and next year's Return of the King probably will have a long denouement. In other words, The Two Towers may be the best we're going to get out of the movie trilogy. And golly, is it good! Director Peter Jackson deserves immediate induction into the moviemaking hall of fame for turning the 20th century's best-loved book and into a compelling and faithful film. Sure, he takes a handful of minor liberties with the text — a scene cut here, another augmented there. Most of his dabbling is necessary to keep a bulging story within the confines of a three-hour movie. My only disappointment in watching it was the knowledge that it would actually have to end. Herewith, a few observations that may interest the Tolkien set: The battle scenes are outstanding — especially the siege of Helm's Deep, in which 10,000 black-armored Orcs storm a supposedly impregnable redoubt at night and in the rain. Jackson delivers an emotional punch that isn't in the book: He lets us have a few lingering looks at the women and children who face slaughter if the men of Rohan don't hold the keep. When the credits roll at the end of the movie, two child actors are listed as "Cute Rohan Refugee Children." Their innocence is a moral counterweight to the monstrous evil of Saruman and his minions. Speaking of Rohan, the movie reminded me of one book critic's comment that Rohan culture is essentially the culture of Tolkien's beloved Anglo Saxons, with a dash of Plains Indians tossed in. Jackson makes his Riders of Rohan look like they'd be equally at home alongside Beowulf or Crazy Horse. The major difference between them and the Anglo Saxons is that Rohan is also a horse culture. When Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli encounter the Rohirrim, spear-toting riders circle and surround them, like a scene from the Old West. The Ents are a pleasant surprise. I was worried about them, just as I was worried about the portrayal of Tom Bombadil in the first film. How might Jackson handle the Ents without seeming ridiculous or slipping into parody? Folks, we're talking about big trees that grow beards and walk around the forest speaking an odd syntax. With Bombadil in the Fellowship, Jackson probably made the right choice: He cut the character out of the story entirely. That would have been much tougher to do with the Ents, because they're more essential to the plot. Let's grant that Treebeard and his companions aren't nearly as amusing in the film as they are in the book — but also give credit for their lifelike appearance, and turning their attack on Isengard into a visual high point of the movie. Gollum will be the subject of some debate among Tolkien aficionados. Jackson has taken more liberties with this character than any of the others. Gollum made only a very brief appearance in Fellowship. In The Two Towers, we get an extended look at him. He's big-eyed, wiry, and pale. He resembles nothing so much as a junkie desperate for a fix — which isn't so far from the truth, given his crushing urge to repossess the ring Frodo carries. Jackson also portrays Gollum explicitly as a doppelganger — a dual personality who has conversations and arguments with himself. He remains a pitiable creature — "Now that I see him, I do pity him," says Frodo early on — but he's also a figure of some sympathy, especially when his good side is waxing. His long affiliation with the ring has left him permanently corrupted, but perhaps not beyond a kind of redemption. As we know from the key moment in The Return of the King, Gollum at his end becomes an unwitting and unexpected instrument of goodness. The casting choices continue to pay dividends. There's not a weak member in the ensemble, with the possible exception of Liv Tyler playing a rather moodless Arwen. Jackson chose many actors who aren't well know to the movie-going public. This was smart. I once heard that David Bowie desired to play Elrond in the movies — and thought it was a fine idea. Who looks more like an elf? The problem, however, is that people would watch him on the screen and see Ziggy Stardust rather than the king of an immortal race; his presence would have proved a hindrance. It's much better that the job went to Hugo Weaving. Some viewers may have known Elijah Wood before he took his star turn as Frodo, but in The Two Towers he shows once more that this is the role that he was born to play. Wood may become the Mark Hamill of this movie series — after Star Wars, nobody could ever look at Hamill and not think of Luke Skywalker. Ian McKellan is, of course, an accomplished actor, but not before now a major star of the silver screen. Christopher Lee remains a wickedly inspired choice as Saruman. Grima Wormtongue, played by Brad Dourif, looks like Ozzy Osbourne. The Howard Shore soundtrack is once again exceptional, but I must say that Leonard Rosenman's music for the animated Lord of the Rings film from 1978 is one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. Also, "Gollum's Song," performed by Emiliana Torrini as the credits roll, doesn't match the lush beauty of Enya's "May It Be" from Fellowship. People who don't like Tolkien — and they are legion — often accuse Middle Earth's admirers of escapism. As I've argued on the pages of NR, The Lord of the Rings is rooted in reality, though it takes place in a world of imagination. But even if it were pure fantasy, what's so bad about escapism? As Tolkien once remarked to his friend C. S. Lewis, the people who hate escapism most are jailers. |
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