Reviews

As with my Fellowship of the Ring review, I'm not going to do a proper review. You've more than likely already decided whether or not to read this; I sincerely doubt that this silly little review will convince you otherwise.

"The Two Towers" is a strange book and movie. It's a strange book because the whole first half/book is about the Quintet - Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin - while the second half/book is all about Sam and Frodo. So if you want to know what Sam/Frodo are up to while the Trio are at Helm's Deep - tough luck. If you want to know what Merry and Pippin are up to while Sam/Frodo are noming with Faramir - figure it out yourself.

The movie rectifies this for an audience (switching back and forth between all the protagonists), but, unlike FOTR, veers quite a bit from the source material, upping the ante at Helm's Deep with the arrival of the Elves, moving Shelob's lair to "Return of the King", doing that stupid "OH NOES ARAGORN FELL OFF THE CLIFF and is TOTALLY DEAD!!!" thing, and trying to squeeze more of Arwen/the romance in. Plus, it's the middle book/movie of a trilogy. That could be a death knoll for it.

What's more weird is how my thoughts and opinions have changed 180 about this book. When I first read it, I LOVED the first book with the Quintet! Characters come back, there are funny quips, battles, chases, etc. I was SHOCKED when I realized that, nearly a decade later, I was BORED STIFF with these sections. Suddenly the battle banter wasn't witty but odd - laughing your butt off as people are dying left and right? (And it didn't strike the good balance like I felt the movie did.) A huge portion felt like a waste of time as Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli run after Merry and Pippin - until *SPOILER* Gandalf tells them, nope, the hobbits are Totes OK, time to head to Edoras, biotches!! And let's not forget that Tolkien loves to have his characters tell stories that may or may not be related to the story of The Lord of the Rings! In fact, instead of SHOWING US what happens to Merry and Pippin while the Trio are at Helm's Deep, he has Merry TELL US, in a rather boring conversation with the Trio. YAWN.

And the second half, which used to bore me to death, nearly sent me into tears (and if you know me, that almost NEVER happens!) when Sam is bent over the still form of Frodo after one of the most exciting battle scenes - a rather simple one between Sam, wielding Sting, and Shelob. I finally saw the split personality Gollum, but more than that, I sympathized with the poor guy. I saw how fragile Frodo was, the courage and bravery and stalwartness of Sam. And even when Sam and Frodo meet up with Faramir and have a jolly conversation about the old days (Tolkien telling stories that may or may not be about the current story!), it was actually rather interesting and NOT BORING! (Though I will admit, Jackson's revision to make Faramir desire the Ring makes total sense, and I felt it was a good change - different, but because the movie was a different beast.)

I sit here, contemplating all this, and I'm rather stunned. It goes to show you how time changes a person, how ONE BOOK could mean so many different things to different people or even the same person at a different age. Truly, we are always growing, always changing and what we read and watch changes with us.

I must say, I like "The Two Towers" less than FOTR, even still (both book and movie), but while my views on the individual books have changed, I still do enjoy the story. It will be most interesting to see what my thoughts are on the final entry into the LOTR saga.