h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers

Posted Dec 27, 2002

The last that we saw of Frodo, Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir was their sundering at the end of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. Frodo and Sam stole away from the others to continue their quest after the brawl with the Orcs, Gandalf had a punch-up with a Balrog in Moria and was lost, Merry and Pippin were captured by the marauding Orcs, Boromir was shot down and killed, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were left to pick up the pieces.

So, what does the second film in the Trilogy have to bring to the saga of the Ring? 'The Two Towers' has three distinct stories running throughout (though the novel only splits it into two), each showing the story of the sundered few: Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli's alliance with the people of Rohan; Merry and Pippin's adventures in Fangorn Forest; and Frodo and Sam's journey towards Mordor.

However, splicing together three stories into one feature film is exceedingly difficult, and this was shown by the patchy storyline in the middle of the film. The main focus was the danger that the kingdom of Rohan faced, how the heir to the throne had died, and the nephew of the King banished. Christopher Lee reprised his role as Saruman with great ease, though this time there was no Sir Ian McKellan to beat up in a room, so not much action inside Isengard this time.

New characters in this film that were in the book included King Théoden of Rohan, played by Bernard Hill, who portrayed him as a sovereign wanting to do the best for his people. Éowyn, Théoden's niece, was played by Miranda Otto, who showed a woman who could defend herself quite well, and showed Éowyn's love for Aragorn implicitly. However, I found the wild-eyed Gríma Wormtongue the most interesting of the Rohirhim, played by Brad Dourif, giving the treacherous vizier an exquisite malevolence that not even the Dark Lord Sauron could parallel.

On the other hand, it was not only the flesh-and-blood actors that were in the film. Gollum/Sméagol had a big role in Frodo and Sam's story, being their guide to Mordor. In some places, however, it seemed that the reason for Gollum's split personality was not his corruption by the Ring, but that he was a poor creature merely suffering from schizophrenia. I somehow found little hints of Dobby the Elf from 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' peeking through his great blue bulbous eyes. Elijah Wood and Sean Astin had less to do in this film, as the focus was upon Aragorn and Company. Treebeard, voiced by the same person who plays Gimli, was quite a minor character. On the other hand, the Wargs, Uruk-hai and flying Nazgûl were suitably hideous and quite excellently produced.

There were some surprising features that I had/had not expected to see in this sequel. For example, the little bit parts of Aragorn dreaming of Arwen (and vice-versa) were rather quaint. However, when Elrond was rushing Arwen out of bed to leave for the Ship to Valinor I got the image in my head of a father getting his children out of bed to catch a train to go on holiday, and almost burst out laughing. Galadriel made a little appearance, but I suppose that that was because the film was more about Aragorn rather than Frodo.

But did Gandalf perish at the end of 'Fellowship'? No, of course not, because he is shown to be alive in the film trailers. Gandalf is no longer grey, but is the more up-market white! And he's back to kick Saruman's backside into oblivion. Again, not much of a role this time, but still the cheeky chappie nevertheless.

The Battle at Helm's Deep? Mind-blowing, bloody, and a load of people who you wouldn't expect to be there... It's far too great for me to explain here, but Gimli is the little star (and I mean *little*) of the battle here. And Legolas of course. With a shot as sharp as that, who wouldn't admire his bowing?

I could go on and on, but this film was about 3 hours long, so I'll stop here. I'll just say this - if you're expecting this to be like the novel, I'm afraid that you will be quite surprised to see things that are in the film that are not in the book, and vice-versa. Although the Merry and Pippin story in the novel is quite major, it is not the focus of the film. It is the same with Frodo and Sam's story, as Faramir doesn't have a lot to do here...

Let's just hope that the Hobbits manage to complete the quest in time for supper!

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Latest reply: Dec 27, 2002

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Posted Nov 30, 2002

Wizards, witches and a load of being blown into the air and landing on your backside. The second installment of the Harry Potter books and I was looking forward to this with great anticipation. Seeing as most of the younger cast had gone through puberty, then hopefully the acting standard would have raised a little from the first film.

I liked this a lot. Very much so... However, not everything seemed to gel together. Throughout the first half of the film the storyline was rather disjointed... the point of Gilderoy Lockhart wasn't actually realised until he appeared as the new 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' teacher randomly.

On the other hand, the acting was on the whole better... Tom Felton as Draco Malfoy was probably the best out of the child acting cast, and was very much at ease with his role. Daniel Radcliffe was a little wooden at the beginning, but seemed to settle in the Harry Potter role as time went on, and Rupert Grint continued his usual 'Bloody hell!' exclamations as Ron. However, Emma Watson, I feel, still needs to work on her role as Hermione.

The campness of Kenneth Branagh was excellent, as the local fop and poser of Hogwarts, and Jason Issacs as Lucius Malfoy showed us where Draco gets his looks and sneering edges from.

The Quidditch match this time worked a lot better, and Errol, in his brief parts, had his comic moments.

So... bring on the Dementors!

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Latest reply: Nov 30, 2002

Wy-rish?

Posted Nov 25, 2002

Just had a thought... are people of Irish and Welsh descent called Wy-rish?

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Latest reply: Nov 25, 2002

Die Another Day

Posted Nov 23, 2002

I was hoping that nobody tall was going to sit in front of me. I was eagerly awaiting the certificate of approval to pop up, and thankfully the tall person sat in front of Witty Ditty and not me (well, you didn't want to sit on my coat!

I have to admit that I am a James Bond fan. And I also have to say that I enjoyed this one very much! The music and sound effects reverberated around my head and ears, and I could swear that I felt each of the explosions as they came.

The invisible Aston Martin Vanquish... hmmm... well, that seemed to me like it was a Friday afternoon job, and that they were thinking:

"Right, erm, guns, guns, torpedos, ejector, what *else* can we get this car to do?"

"Hmmm. Tricky question."

"I know! Let's make it go invisible and give some highly complicated scientific reason why it can do it!"

"Okay! (claps hands) Let's go down the pub!"

"Yay!"

Halle Berry was an excellent Bond girl, showing that she wasn't a fawning, shrieking little chicken, but someone who could fend for themselves quite easily. Pierce Brosnan fitted into the role of Bond with the air of putting on a comfortable old coat, and Toby Stephens was a mix of the power-crazy-take-over-the-world-but-camp-and-cool villain... I was thinking of where I had seen him before, but after a little research, I found that I hadn't seen him anywhere before. The only reason why I had thought that is that he is actually Dame Maggie Smith's son, looking *very* much like her...

The only failing that I can really see is the theme tune for 'Die Another Day', sung by Madonna. Seemed to me to be more like 'Music' than anything, given the Victoria Beckham electrolysis of her voice...

Well, next week, hopefully, I will be going to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets... but James Bond will return...

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Latest reply: Nov 23, 2002

Just for the sake of pressing the 'Add a Journal Entry' button...

Posted Sep 30, 2002

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Latest reply: Sep 30, 2002