The second instalment to my The Lord of the Rings trilogy review. We begin with a brief recap from Part I.
It all began with "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit"; the first line scribbled down by university lecturer J.R.R. Tolkien on the back of a paper he was grading. In September 1937, Tolkien released The Hobbit, a children's fantasy novel following the quest of hobbit Bilbo Baggins. After the success of the novel, Tolkien was encouraged to create a sequel. He eventually released The Lord of the Rings, which the author had been working on for roughly twelve years. The novel was initially intended to be released as a whole, but when the idea was rejected by the publisher, the story was issued into three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1954) and The Return of the King (1955). The Lord of the Rings is one of the best selling novels ever written with over 150 million copies sold. Due to the books incredible level of detail and length it was later nicknamed 'The Unfilmable Book'. In its most purest form it is, however in 1996 when New Line Cinema gained the rights, technology was far more advanced than what it was. Additionally, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens, the films screenwriters, knew exactly how to adapt the story from book to the structure of a film. Although this meant beloved characters such as Tom Bombadil and other battles were not included, the screenwriters do a great job at maintaining climax for the movie. Jackson's motive for the adaption process was allowing only things relevant to the destruction of the ring to be included. This is because that is what is essential to the story. Consequently one of the most ambitious film projects began and in 2001 Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released.
The three fantasy films were shot altogether and released consecutively in 2001, 2002 and 2003. After the enormous success of the first instalment, its sequel -The Two Towers was released in 2002. Following on from the plot of The Fellowship of the Ring, the film divides into three storylines. We follow the journey of young hobbits: Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin), who travel towards the land of Mordor to destroy the One Ring; on their travels they meet the sinister and corrupted Gollum (Andy Serkis), the ring's former owner. Parallel to this runs the story of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) Ranger of the North, Elf - Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) the Dwarf. The trio arrive in the lands of a battle-scarred Rohan, who reunite with the resurrected Gandalf the White (Ian McKellen) before fighting against Orcs in the awesome Battle of Helm's Deep. We also flicker amongst Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin's (Billy Boyd) adventure of escape where they befriend Treebeard the Ent (John Rhys-Davies) and help plan an attack on Isengard, a fortress controlled by Saruman (Christopher Lee).
This movie is extraordinary, just like Jackson's first. The Battle of Helm's Deep is passionate, authentic and bad-ass! In this action-packed battle you can guarantee witnessing a devoted leader, an honourable king and an elf who can shoot arrows like bullets from a gun! Gandalf's charge is simply breathtaking; Jackson makes these films visually stunning and nothing short of fantastic, therefore it no surprise that The Two Towers received the Visual Effects Academy Award.
In terms of comparing the film to the book there are many dramatic differences, but done with best intentions. Just to name a few, in Tolkien's second volume, the Battle of Helm's Deep takes place in the seventh chapter, but for Peter he felt the battle should be the climax of the movie. This being the correct and most logical decision as if shown at the beginning, it would affect the story's structure and mood completely on screen. Another example is that towards the end of the book we have the chapter 'Shelob's Lair', which as most Lord of the Rings fanatics know, this segment isn't told until Jackson's third instalment - The Return of the King (2003).
Overall there are many themes to the story - a prophecy, myths and the seduction of power. Nevertheless the most important theme, highlighted by both Tolkien in his book and Jackson in both The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002) is the power of friendship. A friendship forged between an Elf and a Dwarf, something unheard of within the lands of Middle Earth, and of course there is Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. Two hobbits whose bond and love is so strong that they have stuck together through the breaking of the fellowship; through the taunting tricks of Gollum and the ongoing temptation of the One Ring.
SAM: "I wonder if we'll ever be put into songs or tales?"
FRODO: "What?"
SAM: "I wonder if people will ever say 'Let's hear about Frodo and the ring' and I'll say 'Yes it's one of my favourite stories. Frodo was really courageous wasn't he dad?' 'Yes my boy, the most famousest of hobbits, and that's saying a lot'."
FRODO: "We've left out one of the chief characters. Samwise the brave, I want to hear more about Sam. Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam."
SAM: "Now Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't make fun I was being serious."
FRODO: "So was I."
