The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers DVD: Review By stevegibbs

The Two Towers picks up directly from the end of The Fellowship Of The Ring. Frodo and Sam are making their weary way towards the dark land of Mordor, in order to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

Meanwhile, their friends - Merry and Pippin - are still captives of a band of uruk-hai, headed for an encounter with the evil wizard Saruman.

Hot on their trail are our three hunters - Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. However, they are diverted from their quest by a small but urgent matter involving 10,000 rampaging orcs.

I won't go over the plot here. If you've seen the movie then you already know it all too well, and if you haven't, then I don't want to spoil it for you.While a few Tolkien purists were dismayed over several 'liberties' taken by director Peter Jackson in his interpretation, most of the world was more than a little impressed with the continuing high quality and commitment, originally set by Fellowship.

Once again, each new location has its own color palette and theme music, exept that as the story becomes more serious in this second act, the overall colors are are more muted than Fellowship's vivid palette. (I'm not quite sure what this bodes for Return Of The King, which is definitely the most somber part - at least until its resolution.) Composer Howard Shore again does an excellent job, starting with his themes from Fellowship and weaving in new tracks to make a soundtrack both familiar and unexpected.

As in Fellowship, the numerous effects shots seek to serve the story, rather than replace it. Most of them just feel righ; that this is the way the creatures or places should look. Instead of drawing attention to themselves as so many do, the effects in The Two Towers simply add to the believability of an increasingly fantastic tale. While we were briefly introduced to Gollum in part one, he finally becomes a major character here, getting almost as much screen time as Frodo and Sam. The effects work is so good that you can really see actor Andy Serkis' creepy and heart-wrenching performance shine through.

Taken as a stand-alone film, The Two Towers suffers somewhat from a middle child syndrome, having neither a true beginning or ending. Just keep in mind that it wasn't meant to be viewed alone. To get the full impact, you need to watch Fellowship first, particularly the extended edition which ties up very neatly with The Two Towers.

Don't forget that New Line will be releasing a similar extended version of this movie on November 18th, with about 40 additional minutes of footage.

Theatrical trailers & TV spots

Both the theatrical teaser and trailer are here, as well as about a dozen variations on the TV spots. More than you could ever want or need.

"On the Set: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (Starz/Encore special) Featurette

This 13-minutes doco was created for the casual viewer. It's just a glimpse at the production with very little footage that we haven't seen before.

Doc*mentary "Return to Middle-earth"

The 45-minute special that aired last December on WB is a little better, going into some depth on the shooting of Helm's Deep and Gollum, but it is still thin compared to what we can expect from the doc*mentaries to come on the extended edition.

Eight featurettes originally created for lordoftherings.net: "Forces of Darkness," "Sounds of Middle-earth," "Edoras & Rohan Culture," "Creatures," "Gandalf the White," "Arms & Armor," "Helm's Deep," and "Gollum: Andy Serkis, Bay Raitt"

Emiliana Torrini "Gollum Song" music video

If you watched the movie then you've basically seen all there is to see on this music video, apart from the singer herself.

Short film by Sean Astin "The Long and Short of It"

A fun little 5-minute vignette. It's a very simple storyline, but has a good heart. And I love Peter Jackson's deadpan cameo as the bus driver. There is also a short "making of" doc*mentary which I actually enjoyed more, since it features the secret ambitions of Andy Serkis.

Exclusive 10-minute behind-the-scenes preview of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

This is one of the features everyone has been waiting for, and it was worth the wait. While the behind-the-scenes peek doesn't give too much away, itis enough to whet your appetite and make December seem a long way off!

Preview of video game, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

This seems mostly to consist of footage from The Two Towers game with just an announcement of the new game tagged on the end. Don't bother.

Preview of the Special Extended DVD Edition of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"

The other much anticipated extra. Again, brief clips are enough to tantalize those of us who wanted to see more from The Two Towers. The extended cut promises more Gollum and Treebeard; an expansion of Faramir's character, his relationship with Boromir and the introduction of his father, Denethor; the Huorns at Helm's Deep and the infamous ent draught scene. Yeah!

DVD ROM Features

As one would expect, with all the effort that seems to have been put into the Lord of the Rings movies, this is a fine looking film. The DVD transfer is clean and sharp, making for a vivid picture quality. What more could you ask for.

Even the fullscreen version is pretty good. Normally I don't care for the whole pan-and-scan thing; too much frantic movement, trying to get everything in frame. But this time it has been done quite well. The extra movement isn't too obvious or intrusive (but if you've seen the original, you still know you're missing quite a bit).

Presented in Dolby 5.1 Stereo or 2.0 Stereo. The 5.1 mix is fairly good, certainly on a par with the Fellowship mix, although I found some of the quiet dialogue seems to drop way down, so I had to watch with the remote in hand to adjust the volume. Great use of the rear speakers, especially during the Helm's Deep battle. I must confess though, I am looking forward to the DTS track on the upcoming extended edition.

This is a great follow-up disk to last year's Fellowship release. It boasts a similar format and many of the same features; overall a good package. Peter Jackson and his team continue to prove that they both know and love their source material, and understand the complexities of adapting it both for the ardent fan and the casual audience. The only release I know I can recommend more highly this year is of course the Two Towers extended edition. If you haven't pre-ordered yours yet - what are you waiting for?!