The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (film)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a film released on December 18, 2002, directed by Peter Jackson, with a runtime of 179 minutes. It is the second part of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, following The Fellowship of the Ring (film) and preceding The Return of the King (film). It was adapted mostly from the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic literary fantasy, The Lord of the Rings, by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. (In addition, Stephen Sinclair is credited as a writer: he worked briefly on the screenplay in 1997 before it was conceived as a stand-alone film). The movie was very well received critically^* and was an enormous box-office success, earning over $900 million worldwide (making it the fourth most successful film in history at the time of its release, ahead of its prequel).

Cast

Role	Actor
Frodo Baggins	Elijah Wood
Gandalf the White	Ian McKellen
Arwen Evenstar	Liv Tyler
Aragorn (Strider)	Viggo Mortensen
Samwise Gamgee	Sean Astin
Galadriel	Cate Blanchett
Gimli son of Glóin	John Rhys-Davies
Théoden	Bernard Hill
Saruman the White	Christopher Lee
Peregrin Took (Pippin)	Billy Boyd
Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry)	Dominic Monaghan
Legolas	Orlando Bloom
Elrond	Hugo Weaving
Éowyn	Miranda Otto
Faramir	David Wenham
Éomer	Karl Urban
Gollum	Andy Serkis (voice and captured motion)
Gríma Wormtongue	Brad Dourif
Haldir of Lórien	Craig Parker
Treebeard	John Rhys-Davies (voice)
Boromir (Extended version only)	Sean Bean
Denethor (Extended version only)	John Noble

In addition to many characters returning from the first film, The Two Towers features Éowyn, a noble lady of Rohan who yearns to be a warrior; Éomer, a stalwart Marshal of Rohan and brother to Éowyn; Théoden, a troubled king, uncle of Éowyn and Éomer; and his treacherous counsellor, Gríma Wormtongue. The human actors were supplemented by a number of special effects creatures including tree-like Ents, the pterodactyl-like flying steeds of the Nazgûl, and, especially, Gollum, widely acclaimed as the best fully realized CGI character in a live-action film up to that point. Many of his movements and facial expressions were modeled after the actor who provided his voice, Andy Serkis. Only glimpsed in the first film, Gollum here becomes a pivotal character with the potential to change the fate of the story's world. He wrestles with inner demons and becomes a source of friction in Sam and Frodo's previously unshakable friendship.

Synopsis

The surviving members of the Fellowship of the Ring have split into three groups. Frodo and Sam face many perils on their continuing quest to save Middle-earth by destroying the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Merry and Pippin escape from the Orcs and must convince the Ents to join the battle against evil. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas encounter a mysteriously transformed Gandalf and the people of Rohan, at war with Saruman's army before the climactic battle at Helm's Deep.

Filming locations

Fictional Location	Specific Location in New Zealand	General Area in New Zealand
Plains of Rohan	Greenstone Station	Kinloch
Rohan	Poolburn Lake	Maniototo Plain
Edoras	Mount Sunday	Rangitata Valley
Dead Marshes	Kepler Mire	Te Anau
The Black Gate	Rangipo Desert	Lake Taupo
Helm's Deep	Hayward's Hill	Lower Hutt

Deviations from the source material

The movie contains a number of changes from the text of the books. Notably the meaning of the title itself, 'The Two Towers', was changed. While Tolkien considered several possible sets of towers
he eventually created a final cover illustration and wrote a note included at the end The Fellowship of the Ring which identified them as Minas Morgul and Orthanc. Jackson's movie, as well as its trailers and posters, instead names them as Orthanc and Barad-dûr.

Structure

Tolkien divided The Two Towers into three distinct parts. The first related the stories of Merry and Pippin. The second told of Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and Gandalf. The third concerned Frodo, Sam and Gollum. Jackson chose to intercut between the three to present the events in chronological order.

Events

Jackson and his co-writers added several events to the story, notably:

In the movie, Faramir speaks of taking the Ring from Frodo, for the defence of Gondor; in the book, he denies having any such desire: "Not even if I found it by the side of a road", he repeats. According to Jackson, this does not work dramatically, as Faramir has no "character arc" (i.e., he does not change as a person from his first scene to his last). Jackson felt this change important for two reasons. Firstly, the most important part of all three films is the Ring, and he felt Faramir's words undermined its power. (The books have the advantage of explaining the internal struggles of the characters and can empower the Ring in that way; a film can only do so through the external words and actions of the characters.) Secondly, Jackson felt Faramir would become more compelling in the films if the character had a personal journey.
In the movie, Faramir takes Frodo, Sam and Gollum to the besieged city of Osgiliath, but subsequently lets them go. In the book, Faramir does not take them further than the forbidden pool. In the theatrical version it is not clear how Frodo and his companions get back from Osgiliath to Ithilien, but this is explained in the extended cut — they escape through the ruined city's sewers and so make their way out behind the enemy lines. (A line of Sam's seems to wink to the knowledgeable audience members that this is indeed a stark change: in the midst of his emotional monologue, Sam notes, "We shouldn't even be here.")
An attack on the Rohirrim travelling to Helm's Deep by Orcs mounted on wargs results in Aragorn's near death; he is revived by a vision of Arwen in a dream sequence. Nothing like this is present in the book.
Galadriel persuades Elrond (via long-distance telepathy) to send Elven archers to Helm's Deep. Interestingly, they appear nonetheless to be Elves of Lórien, one of whom (Haldir) we met previously in the Golden Wood. Jackson originally planned to have Arwen herself fighting at Helm's Deep and filmed some scenes along those lines, but abandoned that track. It is still possible to pick her out in the battle, as some footage was used in the Extended Edition. This addition might have been inspired by a single line spoken in passing by Legolas, when he was waiting for the coming forces of Saruman at the walls of Helm's Deep: he wished that he could have had a hundred Elven archers with him to strengthen the defence. The Elves playing such a large role than they did in the book was felt by Jackson to be an important thing. Jackson felt it was important to keep these characters from falling out of the story, as a major theme in both the books and the films is Middle-earth changing from an ethereal world of diversity to the more familiar world of mankind.
Arwen has a vision of her future which is taken somewhat loosely from The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen in the books' Appendices.
Elrond encourages Arwen "to the West", though her final decision on the matter, and her reason for making it, is revealed in The Return of the King.
Boromir's death takes place in the opening chapters and, and the events leading to it are explained a bit later on. However, the film trilogy covers all of this in The Fellowship of the Ring.
Gandalf and Saruman's confrontation at Isengard. This was originally intended to appear at the beginning of The Return of the King, but a late decision by Peter Jackson meant that this scene was not part of the theatrical version, though it has since been included in the extended cut.
Sam and Frodo's encounter with the monstrous Shelob. (This is foreshadowed by Gollum's line: "We could let her do it.") Shelob's Lair did indeed feature prominently in the third film. The filmmakers' rationale for leaving this out was that it happened later than the other events shown in The Two Towers: Frodo is captured by the orcs of Cirith Ungol on March 13th at the end of the book, while the Rohan army had reached Isengard a week before on March 5th, and the events of The Return of the King started with Gandalf and Pippin reaching Minas Tirith on March 9th. See Timeline of Arda.

Characters

Four of the characters in the film are presented somewhat differently than their counterparts in the book:

Faramir requires much more convincing to let Sam and Frodo continue on their quest, whereas in the book he immediately recognizes the wisdom of permitting them to leave freely. He is shown as being much more flawed than in the literary version, but nonetheless someone who is still capable of wisdom, although some fans insist that the changes in the film have ruined his character. On the DVD commentary, Phillipa Bowens states that to include Faramir exactly as he appeared in the book would have dealt irrevocable damage to the character of the Ring. In essence, his immediate rejection of it would dismiss the idea that it is alluring (and thus, dangerous) to all. A similar example of this can be seen in the third film where, as opposed to the version of events portrayed in the book where he quickly dismisses any idea of keeping the Ring, Samwise Gamgee hesitates to return it to Frodo's hands in Mordor. It should also be noted that the extended edition of The Two Towers establishes Faramir's desperate wish to please his father and "show his quality", as well as Denethor's desire for the Ring to be held in Gondor. Also, there is a line given to Faramir regarding a fallen Southron that belongs to Sam in the books, but is not out of keeping with Faramir's character. To read more about the changes made in Faramir's character in the films, see Faramir.
Treebeard, chief among the Ents, is unaware of the extent of what is happening on the borders of his forest and has to be "tricked" into attacking Isengard. In the theatrical release he is not seen sending Huorns to Helm's Deep, but does so in the extended video version — see below.
Continuing a trend from the first movie, Elrond (who doesn't appear in the book) is much more protective of Arwen and is almost antagonistic toward Aragorn, thus the Thingol portrayal and the stereotypical "father-daughter theme" are both apparent.
King Théoden's reaction upon learning of Gríma's treachery differs greatly from the novel: in the book, he offers Wormtongue a chance to redeem himself by riding to war with the Rohirrim, whereas in the film, a dazed Théoden tries to personally execute the traitor. Having achieved victory at Helm's Deep, in the third film Théoden offers Gríma the chance to return to him when they meet at Isengard in the extended DVD version. Théoden's attitude towards the coming conflict is also presented differently in Jackson's film: in the novel, Théoden chooses to ride to war, and only goes to Helm's Deep in order to assist Erkenbrand's forces, which had been dealt a defeat by Saruman's armies. In the film, he opts to avoid open confrontation, and treats Helm's Deep as a shelter for the civilian population of Rohan. Only the ensuing orc siege forces him into battle. The King's sense of self-doubt is greatly magnified in the film, in order to provide him with a character arc, as was done with Faramir.

Score

The musical score for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Howard Shore, who also composed the music for the other two films in the trilogy.

Awards and critical opinion

Academy Awards
- Winner: Visual Effects, Sound Editing.
- Nominee: Best Picture, Best Art Direction - Set Decoration, Best Editing, and Best Sound.
American Film Institute: Digital Effects, Production Design, Movie of the Year
Apex Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Viggo Mortensen), Best Production Design, Best Original Song Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Make-up
2003 Art Directors Guild: Best Production Design (Period or Fantasy feature Film)
Australian Film Awards: Best Foreign Film
British Academy Film Awards: Best Costume Design, Best Special Visual Effects, Orange Film of the Year (voted on by the public)
Broadcast Film Critics Association: Best Digital Acting Performance (Gollum)
Central Ohio Film Critics: Best Cinematography
Cinemarati Awards: Best Film, Best Ensemble Cast, Best Director (Peter Jackson), Best Film Editing
Dallas Fort Worth Film Critics: Best Director (Peter Jackson)
Empire Awards: Best Picture
Golden Satellite Awards: Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble, Best Visual Effects
Golden Trailer Awards: Best Action Trailer
Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hairstylist Guild Awards: Best Character Makeup, Best Character Hair Styling, Best Special Makeup Effects
Hugo Award (World Science Fiction Society): Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form
International 3-D Awards (computer graphics industry): Best Feature Film VFX (Weta)
Kansas City Film Critics: Best Director
Las Vegas Film Critics: Best Director (Peter Jackson), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects
MTV Movie Awards 2003: Best virtual performance (Gollum)
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards ^*: "Best Picture", "Best Ensemble Acting", "Best Screenplay Adapted from Another Medium", "Best Cinematography", "Best Production Design", "Best Visual Effects", and "Best Makeup" "Gollum's Song", the theme played during the end credits, won the award for "Best Original Song". The song was written by Howard Shore and sung by the Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini.
Rotten Tomatoes Awards: Best Film
Saturn Awards: Best Fantasy Film, Best Costume (Ngila Dickson), Best Supporting Actor (Andy Serkis)
Visual Effects Society Awards: Best Special Effects, Best Effects in Art Direction, Best Visual Effects in Photography, Best Models and Miniatures, Best Performance by an Actor in an Effects Film, Best Character Animation in a Live-Action Feature Film, Best Compositing and Visual Effects in an Effects-Driven Film
Followers of the Oscars predicted that the movie had a poor chance of winning Best Picture, because it received no other nominations in the major Oscar categories (Director, Actor and Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress and Screenplay). This proved to be true, though the film did win the Academy Award for Visual Effects. It was speculated that the Academy was biding its time for the concluding film, The Return of the King (film), to be released so that they could honour Peter Jackson for creating such a successful and acclaimed film trilogy. The third film was awarded 11 Oscars in 2004.

DVD release

The theatrical edition of the movie was released on DVD on August 26, 2003. The DVD was a 2-disc set with extras on the second disc. This was intended to be a simultaneous worldwide release, but some British stores began selling the DVDs on Friday August 22 because it was a Bank Holiday weekend, much to the ire of the film's UK distributor, which had threatened to withhold advance supplies of subsequent DVD releases.

The Two Towers followed the precedent set by its prequel by releasing an Extended Edition (222 minutes) with new editing, and added special effects and music. This version was released on DVD November 19, 2003 along with four commentaries and hours of supplementary material. One of the additional scenes features Sean Bean and John Noble, who do not appear in the theatrical version, in a flashback in which brothers Boromir and Faramir are seen together with their father, Denethor. This is available on a 4-disc DVD set, with the movie on discs 1 and 2 including four audio commentaries by the crew and actors, and extensive bonus material on discs 3 and 4. There is also a "Special Edition" DVD package containing the 4-disc set, a sculpture of Gollum, a booklet about the process of designing Gollum for the movie and a short DVD documentary on the process of designing collectible sculptures based on the movies' characters and artifacts.

In December, 2003 there were also limited back-to-back theatrical releases of the extended versions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, followed by premieres of The Return of the King — in all 10 hours and 32 minutes long.

References in other media

In the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Duchess of Wails", the climax is a homage to the attack on Helm's Deep from the movie. Certain lines are used in the scene's dialogue as well as memorable visual moments, like the initial volley of arrows (tomatoes in the episode) are also used.

In an episode of Malcolm in the Middle there is also a homage to The Two Towers when the employees smash into Craig's office.

9/11 Controversy

After the 9/11 attacks, an Internet troll, Klerck, posted an online petition to have Peter Jackson change the name of the film The Two Towers due to its coincidental name associated with the Twin Towers. In response, another Internet joker posted a similar petition to have the name of the third film, "The Return of the King", changed to respect the memory of Elvis Presley.

Trivia

Christopher Lee plays the main villain in this installment, Coincidentally he played a similar role in Attack of the Clones. Saruman in this one and Darth Tyranus in Attack of the Clones. In both he was sub-ordinate to a greater villain. Coincidentally both characters die at the beginning of the next installment of both series- albeit only in the special edition of The Return of the King.
Though Jackson's trilogy refrains from delving too deeply into the religious aspects of Tolkien's Middle-earth, when Aragorn addresses the Elven warriors at Helm's Deep in Elvish, he refers to them as "Eruchín". This means, "Children of Eru", with "Eru" being the creator (God) of Middle-earth. Thus the phrase essentially means, "Children of God". While Tolkien clearly established the existence of Eru in his Middle-earth, the being is not mentioned in either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. (He is alluded to as "the One" in the part of The Lord of the Rings Appendix A that speaks of the downfall of Númenor).
The Two Towers has the highest body count of any movie on http://www.moviebodycounts.com.

References

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (film)