My fiancée never got around to seeing THE TWO TOWERS and figured she should before RETURN OF THE KING hits theaters next month, so we rented it on DVD this past Friday. I reviewed the film back when it came out last December and gave it a ho-hum, not-bad-but-overrated score of 3 out of a possible 4, and I was interested to see if a second helping would change my opinion. To be honest, I think I liked the film more the second time around, and I'm even starting to warm up to the whole trilogy in general -- at least more than I was a year ago.

My initial aversion to liking THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy whatsoever was based more so on the fans of the trilogy and the acclaim it received than the actual quality of the first two movies. I think FELLOWSHIP and TOWERS are a couple of well made, beautifully shot films, but they aren't without flaws. The first film should have been shorter (not longer) and became repetitive after the first hour and a half, and they are also both guilty of using far too much CGI that looks pathetically video-game-like and fake (and no, I'm not referring to Golem). On the other hand, both films put audiences into a different world and do so in a convincing manner, while at the same time embracing solid themes and demonstrating them with some degree of subtlety.


If we as a collective audience can acknowledge the bad with the good and not turn a blind eye to it -- admit you love the films without insisting they're perfect and the greatest movies ever made -- then I'm happy to join in on the fun and accept the trilogy for what it is. Anyway, watching THE TWO TOWERS without having to read about how great it is at every turn actually has me excited to see RETURN OF THE KING, which I think we all believe will be the best of the three films.

Posted November 16, 2003 | link