wlswarts's Full Review: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring/The ...
Sometimes, "Pointless Multipack Theatre" is a public service message to the unsophisticated DVD buyers of the world. Hapless grandparent looking for a gift for the grandkid geek? See a movie in the theater and are browsing in the DVD section quickly? Well, here's the thing, sometimes two-packs that seem like a value truly are not. With the cinematic releases of the DVDs of "Fellowship Of The Ring" and "The Two Towers" bundled together, some might say "that's a great deal."
Now, however, it's not. There are three films in the Trilogy and this one does not have the finale, "Return Of The King" (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_129006866052 ). So, it's a long beginning, a cold middle and then . . . nothing. Moreover, there are better DVD incarnations of these films. If you want value, buy the "Lord Of The Rings: Extended Editions" (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_407577071236 ). If you want cheap, it's this two-pack.
These are the original DVD releases with no additional features, discs or frills included in this two-pack.
For those unfamiliar with "Fellowship of the Ring," it opens with a little primer on all you need to know about Middle Earth and the ring. Truly. The film begins with a competent history. It's a nice way to begin.
And so, as the beginning concludes, we note that the film truly begins with Bilbo Baggins preparing to leave the Hobbit Shire for a permanent holiday in Elven territory. Convinced by the wizard Gandalf, Bilbo leaves the Shire and gives everything to his nephew, Frodo Baggins. This includes a strange ring of invisibility. After a brief mission, Gandalf returns to the Shire to confirm that the ring Frodo has is the One Ring, a ring of unspeakable power and even greater evil. This is the badass piece of hardware in Middle Earth. No sooner has Gandalf confirmed this than riders arrive, hunting the One Ring. They are slaves of the evil force that created the ring, a character who appears solely in this work (outside the primer) as a vaguely vaginal eye of malevolence. The riders chase Frodo and after a long enough time and a bunch of encounters between Frodo's little pack and the riders, Frodo arrives in the Elf kingdom of Rivendell where the fate of the ring is to be decided. And that's only the first third - half of the film!
The title comes from the result of that meeting in Rivendell, where a party of hobbits, men, an elf, a dwarf and Gandalf, is assembled to make sure the ring gets where it's going. This group is called the Fellowship and they are sworn to get the ring to Mount Doom to be destroyed.
So, the question is, "What's the point?" "The Fellowship of the Ring" might well be the ultimate set-up film. That is, it's the first two chapters in a six volume work (think "Star Wars"). What works is that it doesn't feel solely like a set-up film. If you want closure, wait until all three films come out on DVD; there's no closure in this film, as well there ought not to be. It's a beginning and a promising beginning at that.
"The Fellowship of the Ring" works because it does what it's supposed to; it creates a world, then populates it with dynamic characters with their own agendas and their own strengths and weaknesses. They're not conveniently arranged, either. They are set up without a feeling of being belabored. That is, there's a great deal of characterization early in the film that does not simply feel like a list of character attributes. This works because most of the characters are differentiated well enough that their actions make sense and I would like to say it's wonderful to see a work where the initial characterization sticks! The characters act like themselves, nothing terribly surprising or uncharacteristic.
This is not to say that there is not character development. Frodo Baggins is a reluctant hero from the beginning, but after a few battles and an important casualty, Frodo becomes positively wounded, jaded. Gandalf is lost in his own sense of betrayal when one of his order is seduced by evil. Gandalf develops well or at least reveals more of his layers. And Aragorn (Strider)! Strider makes sense. He is so beautifully, nobly human. His character is rich, which is such an irony considering how humble he is throughout.
Okay, I alluded to "Jurassic Park" earlier (and when I say that, I mean the first one, no one has paid me yet to see either of the two sequels and without that, I'm not touching them!). That film suffered on the acting front. Sam Neill had a decent character and acted wonderfully, which he has a great tendency to do. Jeff Goldblum's acting might have been good if his character had made any sense whatsoever (his character went nowhere and the script wasn't there for his character). My point was, the acting was not the reason to see the film.
In "The Fellowship of the Ring," the acting IS the reason to see the film. I haven't said this yet, so let me say it now. WOW! Okay, this film may not be a perfect film, but it deserves at least one good wow. The winners in acting were: every one. I mean it. There's not a single bad actor in this film or not a single actor not acting their best. Let's start at the top and the top is hard to find here, so I'll call it a tie: Elijah Wood and Vigo Mortensen were perfectly cast as Frodo and Aragorn. I mean, they were perfect for the roles and not only did they live up to them, they defined them. Ian McKellen is Gandalf. In case you thought that was some casting call, let me try again; Ian McKellen IS Gandalf. I've not seen Liv Tyler in anything stellar up until now. She goes flawlessly from English to Elf (?, Elf Language?) and it works. She works as the incredibly minor character Arwen. Kudos to Sean Astin as Sam. He plays Sam with such passionate loyalty that he seems so natural and true. Perfect! And Ian Holm. Ian Holm is one of those "always excellent" actors. He played Bilbo perfectly. And Epinions won't let me say "sh*t" here, but let me say there comes a moment where Bilbo scares the sh*t out of the audience and it wasn't all computer effects; it's Ian Holm. Wow. Not since "Magnolia" have I seen such an adept cast working at the top of their games.
And here, my notes on special effects. Effect ought to enhance the film, never dominate it and "The Fellowship of the Ring" accomplishes this laudable goal. The make-up. Wow. As stupid as it sounds considering the level of effect employed on making Frodo seem smaller than Gandalf (Wood is only half a head shorter in real life than McKellen), the make-up done on McKellen to make him Gandalf is extraordinary. Someone knows how to make hair look real, someone knows their craft and they deserved every award for make-up they're nominated for! Computer effects; wow. I've never been a fan of major computer effects. There's a cave troll in a scene that is perfect. I didn't like "Gladiator" and a HUGE part of my beef was the CGI tigers. They weren't real and it was a simple problem; the lighting on the tiger wasn't real. Whoever did the computer effects on "The Fellowship of the Ring" knew what they were doing. Wow.
For those who might not know "The Two Towers," Frodo and Sam begin the long walk through the marshes surrounding Sauron's territory. There they are set upon by Gollum who Frodo takes in as a kindred spirit, with compassion for the crazed beings plight. Together, the trio journeys through the treacherous lands on their quest to destroy the One Ring.
While they head toward Mount Doom, Merry and Pippin find themselves abruptly freed from the Uruk-Hai captors and in the company of magical, tree-like creatures known as Ents. While the young hobbits try to convince Treebeard and the Ents to join the war against evil, specifically the turned wizard Saruman, Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn find themselves liberating the realm of the horse lords. Accompanied by a reborn Gandalf (now Gandalf the White), they rescue Theodin, King of Rohan, from the sorcery of Saruman. In the process, they call his legions of armies down upon them and they are forced to prepare to do battle at the last refuge of man, Helm's Deep.
"The Two Towers" is one of those cointoss movies for me between a 9 and a 10 on a ten-point scale. My most serious reservations about characterizing "The Two Towers" as a perfect film come in the form of the characterization of Gimli. The dwarf is relegated to comic relief throughout the film in a way that become juvenile and simplistic early on. Gimli is the source of one-line jokes and his sole purpose seems to be to crack wise and fill a "jester" type role that "The Two Towers" does not need to contain to tell the story it's telling. In the film, Gimli stands out as a sore thumb against the rest of the serious narrative and I found that troubling, even upon repeated viewings.
Of course, even more disturbing would have to be Gimli's actions in the context of the series. In "The Fellowship Of The Ring," Gimli arrives at the mountain home of his cousin to find his entire people slaughtered. Given the lack of dwarves in "The Two Towers" and "Return Of The King," an argument can be made that the dwarven race has been pretty much wiped out by the forces of evil. Regardless, seeing all his kin in Moria dead and rotting makes Gimli's one-liners seem even more ridiculous. The counter argument is that perhaps he's snapped and that might have been an interesting take on it, but it's not supported by the film.
"The Two Towers" is essentially a war film. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas are charged by Gandalf to muster the will of the men of Rohan to stand their ground and fight against the coming evil. The Battle of Helm's Deep, though it comes late in the film, is what the entire movie is building toward. Saruman is planning it, Gandalf fears it, and Aragorn is determined to survive it. The poignancy of "The Two Towers" is that it is an exploration of the need to rise up and fight when war is unavoidable.
I'm an unabashed pacifist. Before the Prequel Trilogy, I made an argumentative paper on how the Empire was functioning as any normal government fighting terrorism would (i.e. there's nothing shown in "Star Wars: Episodes 4 - 6" that illustrates the Empire as something that is oppressing its citizens, as opposed to confronting and combating the terrorists out to destroy the law and order of the galaxy). I could make the argument against the Star Wars, the American Revolution, and almost every other war on Earth save World War II. "The Two Towers" represents as World War II type situation where an adversary is rising with the goal of nothing short of world domination. There's no negotiating with such a mindset. As I used to tell my students, you can't negotiate with one who wants everything because you have nothing to bargain with that they do not already want (i.e. "Why don't you take everything but our little corner?" doesn't work against world domination villains).
Theodin, the recently un-ensorceled King of Rohan, was bewitched into a passive position by Saruman's agent, Grima Wormtongue. Theodin's desire for pacifism, even once his passive state is broken, is a laudable position. Aragorn must muster the King to the reluctant fight of his age and it is only after much bloodshed and the very fate of his kingdom is in the balance that Theodin realizes that indeed the enemy must be stopped through force of arms. That character struggle is the great character leap of "The Two Towers" and it sets this film apart from almost every other war film ever shot.
Indeed, in "The Fellowship Of The Ring," the characters fairly blindly accept Elrond's declaration that the One Ring is evil and must be destroyed at all cost. By this point, the viewer accepts that premise. The refreshing aspect of Theodin's character struggle, of him rejecting instantly the blind declaration that fighting is necessary, is that the movie is allowed to make its point until even Theodin must concede that this is one of the rare circumstances where pacifism and reason will not win the day. "The Two Towers" makes its point beautifully.
It also does it with a surprisingly human twist. While Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are fighting the big, bold fight for the fate of Middle Earth, Frodo and Sam are involved with the deeply personal struggle with Gollum. Gollum is basically a victim of a multiple personality disorder between the ring-addicted Gollum and the riverfolk creature he once was, Smeagol. Frodo takes the approach to appeal to what is left of Smeagol and attempt to heal the shattered individual. Sam, distrusting, is wary of the illness controlled Gollum.
The story has a wonderfully humanist twist to it in that while Theodin is being counseled that war is inevitable, Frodo's compassion wins out and sets the fate of Middle Earth on a path where love might actually win out. Frodo's humanity and compassion allows Smeagol to set aside his tortured other half and heal.
Sadly for Smeagol, another person enters the mix who has Sam's more draconian sensibilities and Smeagol's illness resurfaces with a vengeance.
On the topic of Smeagol and Gollum it is worth noting that director Peter Jackson and the crew at Weta Digital deserved every single award they were nominated for and received for the visual effects in "The Two Towers." Gollum is the most stunningly realistic CGI character to yet grace the screens of movie theaters. The nuanced performance given by actor Andy Serkis to provide the template for the digital construct helped bring a realism to the character that made him a genuine character as opposed to a cartoon running around in a live-action film.
Like all great films, the characters and actors have to pull their weight and outside Serkis providing a digital template for a character, the live-action characters are pretty amazing. Outside Gimli being used for comic relief, the characters from the prior film return strong and ready for growth. Legolas is still phased whenever he encounters death, though he loses any timidity toward killing. Gandalf is reborn and is even more wise and enigmatic. The hobbits Merry and Pippin become more vital and cunning and even Sam's turn toward distrusting is character growth.
New characters pop up, like the tormented King Theodin and he provides a genuine character struggle that is worth watching. His niece Eowyn pops up to make a compelling character for her arguments for equality and she adds some conflict - however fleeting - for Aragorn, who is bound to the elf maiden Arwen. Even the appearance of Faramir presents a new character with a compelling character struggle as he must choose between the demands of the State and the belief of his heart.
But the real character to watch (besides Gollum and Theodin) is Frodo. Frodo does not do so much outside be compassionate to Gollum in the film and bring forth Smeagol. But he bears the weight of the One Ring and in this film, he finds that it is quite the weight to bear. He struggles with what amounts to his own addiction and the fear that he will become like Gollum.
This offers a wonderful realm of acting possibilities for Elijah Wood and he leaps on the chance to transform Frodo throughout the course of the film. Wood is a study in exhaustion and the irony is that the commentary track reveals that while the rest of the cast was working nights for the Battle of Helm's Deep, Wood, Astin and Serkis had very little night shooting for this film. Yet, the other actors look much more awake and in control. That is the power of Wood's performance. He becomes more and more strung out, appearing like a desperate addict as the film goes on and what Frodo never says, but Wood embodies with his performance is that the hobbit's compassion is a desperate cry for his own redemption. Wood infuses the need from Frodo to break the power of the One Ring and it's a masterful presentation that did not get enough credit.
This two-disc version is light on extras, featuring a disc of behind-the-scenes featurettes (many focusing on the creation of Gollum).
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.