The Two Towers

With the The Two Towers book fresh in my mind, I re-watched the extended edition of the movie to compare the two.  I wasn't disappointed.

As previously stated (in this post), I don't think a movie has to follow a book dead on, but it should follow it in spirit.  And, like The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers movie strays a bit from the book in letter, but remains true to the spirit.  A nitpicky scene-by-scene difference analysis is here.

The challenge of the "middle film" (or book) in a "hero's journey" trilogy is that the journey is neither started nor ended here, so it's basically a bunch of walking around.  I'm exaggerating, of course, but that is a common criticism.  Progress is made, an important battle is fought, but at the end, you still have the Ring-bearer trying to get to Mount Doom, and the rest of the fellowship fighting for Middle-Earth.  Thus, the author must make the middle relevant somehow, and Tolkien does it here through two main events:
- the Battle of Helm's Deep
- the inward journey of Frodo

In the former, the fellowship (minus the hobbits and one who fell) helps Rohan defeat Saruman's Uruk-hai army.  In the first book, we learned that there were two powerful allies in Middle-Earth- Sauron and Saruman.  In The Two Towers, we see the downfall of one, so progress is made in that sense.

In the latter, we see Frodo starting to get really affected by his burden- the ring.  In the first book, the beginning of the quest had an air of adventure to it- like, in a small way, the start of a marathon.  It's hard, but there's energy, and perhaps even excitement.  Now, in book two, we see the toll it takes on Frodo.  Every step becomes difficult and fraught with more hardship.  It's really starting to suck.  We see both determination and weakness; strength and doubt.  Frodo's starting to realize just how hard it is, and this realization gives him a new respect (or perhaps pity) for Gollum and his state.

So, in those two ways, the journey progresses.  Overall, this movie was dry at times- the Ents in particular could induce sleepiness in viewers (though I believe the representation was faithful to the book), and some of Sam and Frodo's journey was less than invigorating.  Still, it is good, and true to the spirit of the book.  As before, some characters or scenes were played up or altered on screen.  I didn't always understand the rationale for the changes, but I didn't find any of them significant enough to warrant offense.  In the link I share above, the reviewer sees some changes as major deviations, but I disagree.  The bottom line: both the novel and the movie are fantastic.  If you loved the book, you'll probably love this, too.

Rating: A