All right! Time for a Meg-ra reveiw of my Two Towers experience.

Before the Movie
Because none of my high school friends were available to go with me to go to the movie, I made plans with my college friends, who all live in Vriginia. I agreed to meet them at a theather that is an hour away from my house. Problem was, I had to drive there during rush hour, so it took me two hours. Ugh. And I still got there before everyone else who lives closer.
Fast forward to when the movie started. They showed the X-Men 2 trailer! :) I knew it as soon as the music started playing.

The Movie - Beware of spoilers below!!
All the reviews I read said that the first picks up right where Fellowship left off with no recap. That's true, but it's also not. The first thing we see if Gandalf fighting the Balrog and falling, so I felt like it was a little reminder of what already happened, but then it turns out to be a nightmare Frodo is having.
There is no need to retell the story, but I can tell you what I noticed to be different from the book. I did not catch a lot because I've only ever read the book once a few years ago, but one of my friends told me everything he noticed to be different. Two Towers definetly deviates more than the Fellowship. Putting aside everything having to do with Aragorn and Arwen, here's what we noticed (in the order I remembered them, not in the order they happened).

--No mention of the Entwives.
--At Helm's Deep, a band of elven arches comes to the aid of Rohan. The are led by that elf who stopped the Fellowship in Lothlorien (Dave, help me with the name!). I think in the book it was Eomer who returned to help out.
--The elves are already starting to leave on the ships to Valinor (or wherever). I don't think this happens until book 3.
--Just when Helm's Deep is about to be overtaken, Gandalf returns with reenforcements. In the movie, it is Eomer and his troops. In the book it is either the trees or the Ents.
--There is really no mention of prophecy in the movie. Also, no mention of the broken sword (Anariel? Something like that).
--When the people of Rohan are making their way to Helm's Deep, they are attacked by Urk-hai (Dave, spelling?) riding what my friend said were wargs. During the battle, Aragorn gets his hand caught on the saddle of one and it runs off a cliff with him attached. Needless to say, he falls into a river and survives. (What is it with people falling and coming back in these movies?) There is a weird dream/flashback sequence with Arwen.
--The movie does not end where the book does! Gollum is leading Sam and Frodo through his alternae route to Mordor. He is upset with Frodo for betraying him (Frodo tricked him into being captured by Faramir's men). Gollum is debating with himself about whether to kill the Hobbits and take the Ring. He decided to let "her" kill them for him. And the movie is over! Personally, this is not as good a cliffhanger as the one in the book (Frodo is supposidly dead by a bite from that big spider (Shelob?) and Sam takes the Ring), but I guess Peter Jackson just ran out of time.

Places and People
Stunning natural scenery!
Rohan and Gondor were a little disappointing looking. Rohan was a hill with roofs on it. It didn't look like anyone could actually live there. And all the people except for Eowyn wore black. Gondor looked like the ruins of Pompeii (but then again, it was under attack).
All the characters that were part of the originial Fellowship were nicely developed further. Merry and Pippin not as much as the others. They spent most of the movie riding around on Treebeard. The award for most comical character goes to Gimli! He had some of the best punch lines. A close second would be Gollum, but he was just too creepy looking. He does, however, get the award for best new character. The scenes when he debates with himself are great.
Galadriel gets one very brief appearance. She is the one who convinces Elrond to send help to Rohan.

Final Comments
I am really looking forward to seeing more of Eowyn in Return of the King. She is my favorite character because she is the only woman who makes any sense!
The Battle of Helm's Deep has a few hokey moments. An Urk-hai is running with a torch to set of some bomb that will breech the defensive wall. To me, it looked like he was carrying the Olympic Torch.
My friend turned to me in the middle of the battle scene and asked, "Can you tell what's going on?" I said no. She replied, "I guess only boys can." The battle is so dark and so thick and so violent. Definetly testosterone fodder. But before the battle are some really touching moments, such as old men and young boys being armed. *sniff sniff*
After the movie, we got some Wedny's drive-thru and sat around in my friend's car for an hour talking about the movie. We brought the twins, possibly the most outrageous people I know. They had our sides splitting suggesting alternate endings to the film such as kamakaze dragons flying into Mt. Doom with the Ring.
I guess I should wrap up not. The film stuck to the books' themes of good vs. evil and hope very well. Despite so many characters, you got to know each of them. It had a few moments when you were like "huh???" (the clip in the trailer of Aragorn bursting through a door just does not fit in context). When it comes down to it, the movie was great! :D


If you read all that rambling, I'm impressed!


Soul Sister Solidarity