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 Two Towers Extended Edition DVD
Year Released: 2003
Starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto
Director: Peter Jackson
Reviewed by Cody Grimm
Well the Matrix sequels didn't live up to the original. I won't even touch what an abomination the Star Wars Prequels have turned into. If anything good comes out of the world of film during the Bush 2 Era (see also: Dumb and Dumberer), it will be Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Jackson and co-screenwriters Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens did a near flawless job of adapting the "impossible to adapt" Book of the Century. However with a 1000+ pages of material, some of the story inevitably is going to be left out. Thankfully, Jackson takes full advantage of the Special Edition DVD format to round out and finish up his version of the tale. I don't think I have to extol upon the virtues of LOTR: The Two Towers film itself. If you are reading this you already know how good the movie is. Instead, I'm here to tell you why you need The Two Towers Special Edition DVD (TTTSE) if you at all consider yourself a fan of the series. After seeing how much shit they poured into the Fellowship of the Ring Special Edition DVD (FOTRSE) I was amazed to see people buying the regular edition of The Two Towers, instead of just waiting for the special edition to come out. That's great for those who can't wait to see the movie again, but I was waiting for the main course of the Special Edition:
43 minutes of extra footage with 200 new fx shots and music.
4 (count them: 4) commentary tracks with Peter Jackson, the cast, design team and the production team. All of which are actually worth listening to.
A complete documentary of the creation of Gollum.
An atlas of Middle Earth.
An interactive map of the movie locations in New Zealand.
Documentaries on adapting the book, on the life of J.R.R. Tolkien, the sword choreography, creation of the miniatures, and it goes on.
So as you can see, TTTSE is just as jam packed as FOTRSE. It will take you days (or at least one very long day) to watch all of this, much less to gather the desire to watch everything contained herein. (I mean does anyone besides aspiring cinematographers really want to watch the "Cameras In Middle Earth" documentary? Well, ok, so I watched that too.) But what does it all add?
To the film itself, the TTTSE adds a lot to the story. For those who have not read the book (perhaps your granny or some distant relative stuck in a far off country) it will explain a lot of the character's nuances that one would never pick up having just seen the regular cut. Aragorn's origins from the Dunedain and his longevity are given more of an explanation. Eowyn's character gets a chance to develop further in some scenes. They overplay her "maiden on a mission" persona a bit too much in some instances. I wasn't a huge fan of Gimli's comic relief lines in the theatre cut and the extra lines in the Special Edition don't add much either. What's interesting to see is the use of editing in the extended scenes. Check out how different the scene is where we first see the Uruk-hai with Merry and Pippen (aka the "Manflesh!" scene) with the extended footage. The exodus of the Rohan peasants into the Glittering Caves gets a much better treatment in the Special Edition as well. Ah, the full majesty of digital matte backgrounds! Treebeard's whole stance on the War of the Ring is more understandable thanks to the added dialogue. One part I cannot believe they cut for the theatrical release is the flashback scenes with Boromir and Faramir. It sets up the relationship of the near tyrannical King of Gondor (Denethor) playing favorites with his sons Boromir and Faramir. Thus giving more dimension to both characters that you would never get from the book or theatrical cut. Thus explaining why Captain Faramir is so eager to prove his quality.
The Battle of Helm's Deep being the centerpiece of the film gets only a little extra love. What else could you add? This being the biggest battle scene in the trilogy so far you get to see Peter Jackson and his effect team WETA go to town. You do get a few added gore scenes. But they couldn't add anything to the tension once Sauraman's army pulls up the gates of Helm's Deep. (Note to the Wachowski brothers who touted spending 2 months getting perfect raindrops for the final battle in Revolutions. Guys, you could have saved a lot of time and cash just watching the rain effects in The Two Towers.) What could you add when the orcs blow the wall? Nothing, that scene still floors me. Haldir's death scene is a perfect snapshot by Jackson of the brutal savagery of war. At the end the viewer is treated to the majority of the extra footage that would not have worked in the final theatrical cut, but does work here. The retreating orcs that you assumed were scattered across Rohan after the battle are shown coming to a nasty demise as they are siphoned into the sentient trees of Fangorn forest. It is a shame there is only one Easter egg (Gollum's scathing acceptance speech at the MTV Movie Awards) compared to the two found in FOTRSE. Hopefully we can look forward to the blooper reel in ROTKSE.
One can be truly relieved that Peter Jackson & crew decided to put all these extras in now instead of 15-20 years later ala Star Wars Special Edition. In TTTSE the extra footage and features add relevance, maintains continuity and are compelling not just for the sake of demonstrating FX prowess. So is it worth buying? You bet your ass. Is it for everyone? Sure, as long as you can get your un-Tolkien savvy relatives or friends to sit thru the three hours, they should have very few questions.
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