Ebert Reviews LOTR Two Towers

[Despair]

Well, Here we go:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert...r-lord18f.html

Not as bad as Nemesis review, but he still complaints about LOTR becoming an Action/Adventure film.

What it supposed to be? A drama about whining hobbits?

[Sqoon]

It's a valid complaint.

[Mman]

I agree w/ Sqoon. It is a valid complaint, but personally, I prefer the way the movie is being made. Often when movies are made of great books they try to convey things in the exact same way as the books, and they fail. As long as the movie is interesting and works then any minor misgivings from Tolkein's works is forgivable.

[MrKasualUltra2000]

Ebert is ass.

I'll be damned.

[Yamcha]

It's a valid complaint, yes, but it's clear there's a double standard. Is he going to judge every book-to-movie adapatation based on faithfulness to source material? Plus he admitted in his review of FOTR that he hadn't read the books in years, so the point is omewhat moot.

I'd be lying if I didn't agree with him somewhat anout how they jacked up the violence factor in the movies, but it doesn't take anything away IMO.

[haohmaru]

I dunno. While Tolkien's saga certainly didn't describe violence in any great detail, it was certainly implied that the battles were epic and enormous. Hell, if he had described those battles in any amount of detail the series would've been six books instead of three.

[Omni]

Originally posted by haohmaru
I dunno. While Tolkien's saga certainly didn't describe violence in any great detail, it was certainly implied that the battles were epic and enormous. Hell, if he had described those battles in any amount of detail the series would've been six books instead of three.

It is six books!

*runs away*

[taloony]

Originally posted by Sqoon
It's a valid complaint.

It is, but not one that I'm not sure I agree with. Like Haoh said, violence of that factor was most definitely implied. Christ, Tolkien had first hand experience with that sort of thing. Maybe he just didn't enjoy talking about it.


That said, I don't think that the focus has been totally shifted from the hobbits. I personally think the best scenes in the movie were with Frodo, Sam, and Gollum-who especially made said scenes come alive. I appreciate a well acted character scene much more than an action sequence, which is why I like the above, and why I think that Gandalf/Ian McKellen's scenes were lacking this time around.

[haohmaru]

...why I think that Gandalf/Ian McKellen's scenes were lacking this time around.

Yeah, he seemed to disappear for quite a few long stretches during the film. It'll be interesting to see if they release a DVD similar to Fellowship Special Edition that might incorporate some of what he was doing. When he appeared with the Riders of Rohan it seemed almost out of nowhere and might confuse someone who hasn't read the books. I don't think Ian's performance was below par, I think Gandalf was minimized for whatever reason.

[FirstBlood]

i also think the strongest scenes in the film were with Frodo and Sam...

the scene with the city being attacked, and the ring-wraiths was my favorite part... with frodo's ring-induced acid trip