Slashdot Mirror


Lord of the Rings: Two Towers Reviews Rolling In

flogger writes "After the first showing of The Two Towers, the reviews are now coming in. They are positive and SPOILER FILLED. Reviews can be found here, here and a short one here." Don't say you weren't warned. I'm not reading them. I finished re-reading TTT saturday, and am ready to see Ents walk.

31 of 414 comments (clear)

  1. Spoiler filled? by Grylle · · Score: 5, Funny

    Like, there is something not in the books?

    1. Re:Spoiler filled? by Soulslayer · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, yes.

      It is both spoiler filled for both those that have and have not read the books.

      All info on the new film will be spoilerish for people that have not read the books (a surprisingly large group).

      Information pertaining to specific changes and added scenes as well as descriptions of the flow of the narrative would be spoilers even for the crowd that has read the books.

      --


      Once more unto the breach dear friends...
    2. Re:Spoiler filled? by halftrack · · Score: 5, Funny

      Apologies to whoever on slashdot who once wrote something very similar to this.

      I've got this genious rendering engine called B.R.A.I.N. It renders hundreds of thousands of characters realtime and it looks so realistic. All you have to do is input a text (ASCII not an requirement) and it output gorgeous scenes instantanious.

      --
      Look a monkey!
    3. Re:Spoiler filled? by $rtbl_this · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are also some of us (well, me at least) who read the books many years ago and can only remember sketchy details. I don't know if being reminded of forgotten plot points counts as being spoiled, but I'm happier rediscovering them as the films progress.

      --
      "Are you being weird, or sarcastic?" said Emma. I said I didn't know because I get the two feelings mixed up.
    4. Re:Spoiler filled? by Cruciform · · Score: 4, Funny

      Wow, you need to learn to read faster. :)

    5. Re:Spoiler filled? by Tetsujin28 · · Score: 5, Funny
      He dies in the end. Judas betrays him.


      Man, you didn't stay until the end of the credits, did you? Yeah, he dies at the end, but get this -- three days later they go to the gravesite, and IT'S EMPTY! Creepy, right? But then he actually like shows up and it turns out he came back to life. Seriously, dude. His old friends are freaked out for a while, but then they get used to it. And then they all hang out on the beach and have this fish barbecue, but I'm not sure what's up with that.

      --
      - - - -
      The real Tetsujin 28 is a giant robot.
    6. Re:Spoiler filled? by junkgrep · · Score: 4, Funny

      You left out the easter egg at the end where it's revealed that he's the king of the vampires. His followers drink his body and blood to take on his undying powers and spread out through the world looking to turn others to their master's will.

  2. Offensive title by 91degrees · · Score: 4, Funny

    I really wish the media would stop trying to cash in on the events of 9/11. I think this title will upset many people.

    What was wrong with The Lord of the Rings II?

    1. Re:Offensive title by 91degrees · · Score: 4, Funny

      Don't be daft. The novelisation's title can't have been decided on before the film was made.

    2. Re:Offensive title by onnellinen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah. Let's name it "Attack of the Orcs".

    3. Re:Offensive title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, it's being renamed The Twin Towers. Or better yet, The World Trade Center, New York City. Or how about, Attack of the Terrorist Drones. Maybe The Phantom Arab Menace? A New Hope for the Al-Quaeda Network? The 'Evil Empire' Strikes Back? Return of the Mujadeen?

      2001: An Urban Crisis Odyssey? Osama of Arabia? The Wizard of Afghanistan? The Day the Earth Watched TV? Birth of a Palestinian Nation? Casabinladen?

    4. Re:Offensive title by clickety6 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Surely in line with modern thinking, the Trilogy should realy be

      The Hobbit Episode II, III and IV,
      and then the Hobbit will be released about 20 years from now, along with enhanced Episodes II, III and IV featuring a digitally inserted Tom Bombadil with a Jamaican accent and dreadlocks.

      Or wait, should they be The Silmarillion Episodes III, IV and V

      Or maybe...

      --
      ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
    5. Re:Offensive title by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Dude, Where's My Ring?"

  3. Free pass in the super duper DVD box set. by heldlikesound · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just a heads up to all the peps out there it holdin' down. If you buy the special edition super ultra limited DVD box (with the bookend thingies), enclosed is a free pass to see TTT in the theaters, or theatres depending on your pondsidage.

    --


    Cloud City Digital: DVD Production at its cheapest/finest
    1. Re:Free pass in the super duper DVD box set. by Phosphor3k · · Score: 5, Informative

      Got news for you buddy; the free ticket also comes in the special extended edition WITHOUT the bookends. That is to say, the 25$, 4 disc version also includes it.

  4. Spoilers?!? by halftrack · · Score: 5, Funny

    What have the world come to when the submitters warn the /. crowd about spoilers in a LOTR movie. Doesn't the entire /. crowd know it by heart?? It ... makes me sad.

    --
    Look a monkey!
  5. Not in the book... by Hoarse+Whisperer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Turns out Frodo is Sauron's son.

    1. Re:Not in the book... by tanveer1979 · · Score: 4, Funny

      moderation totals:Informative=1, Funny=1, Total=2

      Funny information isnt it... moderators repeat after me: I wont have crack early in morning,
      I wont have crack early in morning,
      I wont have crack early in morning,
      I wont have crack early in morning,
      ......
      --
      My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
      FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
  6. Am I the only one ... by guybarr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... who reads some reviews only after seeing the movies ?

    seriously, some movies I'll see no matter what the reviewer says,
    LOTR is one (three) of those.

    I'll read the reviews solely for the purpose of getting other people's take on the movies. Like the "discussion" part of an article comes after
    the "results" section.

    I know it sounds sick but hey ...

    --
    Working for necessity's mother.
  7. Spoilers right in the story by daffmeister · · Score: 5, Funny
    I am ready to see Ents walk.

    Well that's ruined that bit for me.

  8. Unbiased reviews by drsquare · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Three reviews given, not one of them seemed to be from an unbiased perspective. When I read the first two, I began to think the writers were masturbating as they typed. And the third one, being from 'theonering.net', didn't seem a reliable source of an impartial view either.

    Isn't it possible to find a review from someone who isn't an obsessive zealot? I'm interested in finding out how good the film is, and I'm not going to get that from someone who has decided he's going to enjoy the film before he's even seen it.

    Secondly, what is the point in having spoilers in a review? The whole point in a review is that you can find out how good the film is, so you can decide whether to see it or not. By giving away what happens in the film, you sort of take away the fun in watching it in the first place. Most reviewers seem to get by reviewing films without giving away every single thing that happens, why can't these reviewers?

    Looks like I'll just have to see what the Filthy Critic says, although if he does review it it probably won't be up till February, and then he'll spend 90% of the review talking about his personal problems.

    1. Re:Unbiased reviews by IIRCAFAIKIANAL · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You won't see an unbiased review for awhile. The problem is the novels are so pervasive and anyone into "media" was probably into them at some time, unless they hate fantasy, in which case they would be biased against the Lord of the Rings movies.

      Look at the imdb - it has a 9.5 right now. I remember when the FOtR came out and it jumped to number one on the "best movies ever" list (#1 fantasy movie of all time, sure, #1 movie of all time, not quite). Eventually it settled to a more realistic spot.

      If I got to see it right now, I would probably gush about it and inflate it's value too. But give me two months and I'll tell you how good it really was. :)

      --
      Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
  9. about spoilers by wiredog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the spoiler obsession, born of the Internet's fan-geek culture, is the enemy of real criticism, real discussion and maybe even real thought.

    Andrew O'Hehir, at Salon.com

  10. Speaking of spoilers... by Dua · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought it was sad that they put pictures of Gandalf the White in the trailers (at least in the UK they did). It does mean that some of the impact will be lost on those who haven't read the books...

    Trailers are evil and spoilery.

  11. Re:DUMB PIECE OF AMERICAN, UNEDUCATED, PATRIOTIC S by OrangeSpyderMan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "The Two Towers gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books 3 & 4; and can be left ambiguous- it might refer to Isengard and Barad-dur, or to Minas Tirith and B; or Isengard and Cirith Ungol (1)." [Letter #140]

    Taken from JRRT's letters. You will easily find many more references on google.

    "I am not at all happy about the title `the Two Towers'. It must if there is any real reference in it to Vol II refer to Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. But since there is so much made of the basic opposition of the Dark Tower and Minas Tirith, that seems very misleading." [Letter #143]

    You see?

    --
    Try NetBSD... safe,straightforward,useful.
  12. Re:What disappointed me... by TeknoHog · · Score: 4, Informative

    LOTR is not a trilogy and the following movies are not sequels. It's one huge novel/movie that is divided into three parts for convenience.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  13. Choice quote from one review: by Anarchofascist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Talking about the fight scene in Helm's Deep:

    "...made ATTACK OF THE CLONES look like it was shot in a barn with hand puppets."

    --
    Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our American dead!
  14. "I'm not reading them" by fungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't say you weren't warned. I'm not reading them. I finished re-reading TTT saturday, and am ready to see Ents walk.

    Since when the editors read the articles anyway? :)

  15. On a good day... by artemis67 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aint It Cool acts like it is slashdotted. Linking to an aintitcool.com story on Slashdot is only pouring more gasoline on the fire.

  16. Comic Relief by Ann+Coulter · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I feel that it was alright for Gimli to be used as a tension breaker in this film since we spend the most time with him, Legolas, & Aragorn in the film.


    We need comic relief in epic movies as much as we need Jar Jar Binks to show up in The Return Of The King. IMHO it is atrocious to have humor in any serious work of epic scope. I never felt that Gimli served that purpose in the novel and I certainly despise this act by Peter Jackson.

    1. Re:Comic Relief by dswensen · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I disagree. The moments of humor in the LOTR movies so far have been very well-done, in my opinion (Merry and Pippin's antics, Gandalf threatening to bash Pippin's head against the doors of Moria, etc.) I was even okay with the line "Nobody tosses a dwarf!" (Regarded as blasphemy by some, but it goes by so quickly it's hardly worth getting excited about.)

      In the Two Towers book, I found the "contest" between Gimli and Legolas as to who could kill the most orcs to be very amusing. Not slapstick, knee-slappingly hilarious, but amusing nonetheless. I imagine TTT will be of roughly the same caliber in terms of humor.

      I don't forsee Jackson making Gimli into a joke character by any means. His role in FOTR was nicely balanced, with some great lines and some very emotional scenes in Moria and in Lothlorien. Hell, the only character to take a pratfall in the FOTR movie was Aragorn (during the hobbit "sword training" scene in the Extended Edition) and it's not like that sullied the movie experience for all time.

      Moreover, Tolkien's work was itself not dark and humorless, but full of joy -- lots of jokes, lots of songs. That joy deserves to be translated to film, not made into something overwhelmingly gloomy. Grimness and maudlin has no meaning unless it has joy and humor to contrast with.