Review of extended scenes in Two Towers (spoilers)

[Vocenoctum]

I haven't read the books in forever, plan on reading them again after the movies are done, so anything I say is with that in mind.

Ents vs Isengard: I actually figured a lot of the damage was done by tree's under the ent's control, as opposed to all Ents themselves. It's also conceivable that the departing Ent's were closer. Besides, there's no strict accounting of time during the call really.

Water looked fine, quite nit picking!

I noticed the Helms Deep blink-soldiers, but wrote it off as there being more rooms truthfully. Then they all rallied for the Horn Blowing.

While watching the EE DVD, I did FF through Sam's speech. It was okay the first time.

the "spear then draw and fire arrow" thing was great in the first movie. Shouldn't have been used again. The shield surfing was stupid IMO, but the swing into the saddle was great!

As for the speechs during the march, I think they were trying to condense it as much as possible and make it seem like time had passed. So they had speech, then cut to a scene of running, then speech. I don't find it hard to assume they're speaking to each other, but I agree it's a blah point.

mmm, Arwen. Arwen is so much prettier than Galadriel

 

[theburningman]

Water looked fine, quite nit picking!

I will say that although I think this movie is fantastic and a worth second chapter, after the "big" water was pointed out to me, I wondered how that got by them in post-production. There's only one extremely short shot that I think looks really bad, but to me, it's like the lightsabers losing their "lightsabery-ness" in Obi-Wan and Darth Vader's battle in Star Wars; why didn't they just go back and fix it?

While watching the EE DVD, I did FF through Sam's speech.

I still think this is a great moment in the film. But to me, the two defining moments, the parts that punch me in the gut every time I watch these films, are the fall of Gandalf and the reactions of the Fellowship in FotR, and the final ride of Theoden and Co. combined with the charge of Gandalf and Eomer's cavalry. Some of the most powerful filmmaking I've ever experienced.

the "spear then draw and fire arrow" thing was great in the first movie. Shouldn't have been used again. The shield surfing was stupid IMO, but the swing into the saddle was great!

Actually, when I saw TTT at the theater, I kind of winced when I Legolas swung onto the saddle; it did look fake to me. But when I saw the DVD, it looked fantastic, flawless and real. Must be the difference between film and digital medium.

 

[jdavis]

I've seen it probably around 50 times. While some of the shots don't look quite right, I hardly think it looks terrible. And as Numion points out, thousands of gallons of water were actually used - the miniature was the size of a baseball diamond - so it's not as if the whole thing was done in an office.

Well I went back and watched the movie with a friend and I still didn't notice any problems with the flooding of Isengard, looks fine to me, it wasn't awe inspiring but it wasn't that bad either.

 

[Chauzu]

My only gripes:

Well... I do wish they got rid of that dwarf tossing scene. How much would Gimli weigh in all that armor? I can't even throw 80 lbs that far without putting my body in it alot.

And they should have made Treebeards voice a bit clearer.

 

[KenM]

with regards to the flooding of Isengard and them using minis, how else would they have done it? Looked fine to me, in some shots you could tell it was mini work, but thats no big deal IMO.

 

[Dimwhit]

I just watched the Ents attack on Isengard. I thought it looked fantastic.

 

[Vocenoctum]

I still think this is a great moment in the film. But to me, the two defining moments, the parts that punch me in the gut every time I watch these films, are the fall of Gandalf and the reactions of the Fellowship in FotR, and the final ride of Theoden and Co. combined with the charge of Gandalf and Eomer's cavalry. Some of the most powerful filmmaking I've ever experienced.

In the theater, Sam's speech was good. In the theater, Gandalf's fall was something. But, they don't have repeat watchability for me. Especially in Fellowship, the constant slo-mo "is he dead" stuff was overused for my opinion.

So, for myself, it's great the first time, but just kind of doesn't hold the same strength on rewatching.

Oh, and Gandalf should have turned, smiled, got whipped into the abyss and fell. The delay just didn't work for me. Legolas should have been able to put a pair of arrows into his sleeves or something.

 

[demiurge1138]

I liked the theatrical version of The Two Towers (comic-relief be damned), and I liked the extended version even more. More Ents are always good, the Flotsam and Jetsam scene is really cool (and in the spirit of Tolkien) and the Arwen scenes weren't as annoying this time around, for whatever reason.

I've been arguing for the "villianization" of Faramir (creates tension without Shelob, empowers the Ring, humanizes Faramir) since the theatrical release, and all of his added scenes make his redemption (letting them go) even better.

My only gripe is that the scene in the beginning as Gollum argues with himself over leading the hobbits out of the rock maze softens the impact of the "schizo scene" where Smeagol banishes Gollum. That was such an impressive scene (especially the first time), and the added scene sort of previews it.

Demiurge out.

 

[Vocenoctum]

I liked the theatrical version of The Two Towers (comic-relief be damned), and I liked the extended version even more. More Ents are always good, the Flotsam and Jetsam scene is really cool (and in the spirit of Tolkien) and the Arwen scenes weren't as annoying this time around, for whatever reason.

Is it just me, or did they CUT some of the Arwen stuff? I'm not positive but it seems there's less of it. Could be just stuff added has changed the style enough to seem like that, I dunno.

My only gripe is that the scene in the beginning as Gollum argues with himself over leading the hobbits out of the rock maze softens the impact of the "schizo scene" where Smeagol banishes Gollum. That was such an impressive scene (especially the first time), and the added scene sort of previews it.

In a way, if I had only watched teh EE. Having seen the Theatrical version I already knew it, so having more of it earlier didn't detract from it for me.
Now, watching the actual actor do the scene in the extra's DVD... that was fun

 

[Piratecat]

Have you guys found the Easter Egg? On the first disk, go to the Chapter Menu. Pick the last two scenes, then cursor past both of them. You'll see a gold ring light up on the bottom of the screen. Hit enter.

It's SO worth it!