Lord of the Rings (2 towers)

[Shaolin Master]

Hey it was worth watching.

I just got my cheap but not easy to find (~US70cents) copy DVD of the two towers and it was cool.

[dezhen2001]

i finally saw what you were all talking about

wow.

the scenery, landscapes and everything was just so visual! absolutely breath-taking!

i thought that although some things were slightly different form the book and not so deep, it did keep the spirit of the series, and created a great sense of escape and involvment for the 3 hours.

the battles were absolutely amazing! The animation team must have worked overtime and the effects were awesome. i thought it really showed the 'chaos' i would imagine in such a battle.

gollum/smeagle was amazing and really one of my favourite characters.

all in all i thought it was the best movie ive seen for along time - better than james bond and even minority report

dawood

[quiet man]

HKVun, if you keep up this disrespectful tone of yours, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to challenge you. NOBODY talks that way about Galadriel in my presence ...

Galadriel was like that in Silmarillion: young (for an Elf, of course), rash, hot-headed... but she's changed now. She's learned about the pain and mourning and the toll time takes on all of us (wow! that was beautiful ). She knows that the Elves of Lorien are bound to lose, no matter which side wins the war. And she would never take the Ring - she says it so herself: "I passed the test. I will diminish and go into the West and remain Galadriel". She knows herself. She's been tempted and she's resisted it. And you make it sound like she's some kind of constant threat and like she would destroy the world if not kept in control by other Elves?! Sounds to me like you need to reread that particular chapter in FOTR...

"I sang of leaves, of leaves of gold, and leaves of gold there grew:
Of wind I sang, a wind there came and in the branches blew.
Beyond the Sun, beyond the Moon, the foam was on the Sea,
And by the strand of Ilmarin there grew a golden Tree.
Beneath the stars of Ever-eve in Eldamar it shone,
In Eldamar beside the walls of Elven Tirion.
There long the golden leaves have grown upon the branching years,
While here beyond the Sundering Seas now fall the Elven Tears.
O Lorien! The Winter comes, the bare and leafless Day;
The leaves are falling in the stream, the River flows away.
O Lorien! Too long I have dwelt upon this Hither Shore
And in a fading crown have twined the golden elanor.
But if of ships I now should sing,what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?"

Gosh, I've just spent 15 minutes eagerly defending her and she's not even a real person! I need to get a life, pronto ...

dezhen2001 - it's Smeagol, not Smeagle

[dezhen2001]

sorry that was the English spelling, kinda like Beagle

dawood

[KC Elbows]

To make her speach regarding taking the ring lack emotion or real temptation would have been a diservice to Tolkien. She did not pass the test until the moment she says as much. Everything before that is her being tempted, and the feelings that temptation brought. I can see not agreeing with the visual effects, but the fact is, Galadriel was tempted, and her diminishment was as much due to the properties of the ring as her own people's fate. This needed to be acted out dramatically.

Remember, the only character in the series who is not tempted by the ring is Tom Bombadil, because it's just a trinket to him. For everyone else, it is a burden and a temptation, Galadriel most certainly included.

The reason I like Galadriel in the books is that, despite the lack of female characters in the story, she was a female character who had light and dark attributes, and great brooding power. I think too many people had a picture in their head of this sunshiny elf queen, when that speech, taken largely from the book, is dark as hell, and does not end on a bright note by any stretch of the imagination.

Now who's the geek?

[quiet man]

Not bad, not bad ... but I'm still the uncrowned king of geeks, baby
Why not crowned? Coz I'm just too geeky

I agree with you, KCE, on the need to emphasize Galadriel's temptation. But that was already done in her speech (once again, see the book), and adding those silly effects was a big turn-off for me. And I don't like Tom Bombadil when it comes to the One Ring - he's just too aloof: "Oh, the Ring cannot touch me, blah blah blah..."
In that moment, Galadriel was supposed to be (I can't remember her exact words) intimidating and beautiful, like a storm, or something like that, and in the movie she was neither. Cate Blanchett is truly an excellent choice; but one important scene is found only in DVD (gifts and Gimli's "falling in love" with her), and the other (temptation of Galadriel) is just no good. Now, if they'd only made ME the director ...

[@PLUGO]

Are Bound...

The One Thred . . . to rule them... and in the geekiness Bind Them!!!

[HuangKaiVun]

I finally saw "The Two Towers".

Actually, I enjoyed the movie more than the book. The same can be said of my take of "Fellowship of the Ring".

I liked the way Elrond and Galadriel sent Haldir and the Elves of Lorien to assist King Theoden. The House of Eorl folks (Theoden, Eomer, and Eowyn) looked exactly as I had pictured them from the book.

Also, the battle of the Ents against Isengard was more realistic than in the book. Saruman would've been one REALLY dumb wizard to have left no defenses at Isengard (which is the way the book portrayed it). The movie also elevates the roles of Meriadoc and Peregrin to pivotal roles, as far as the Entmoot is concerned.

The thing that impressed me the most was how multifaceted in personality the Gollum/Smeagol character was.

[quiet man]

Originally posted by HuangKaiVun
Actually, I enjoyed the movie more than the book. The same can be said of my take of "Fellowship of the Ring".

You're going to hell, just for that

LOL @ Design Sifu's "... and in the geekiness bind them!"