Review of Lord Of The Rings, The, The Two Towers (Special Extended Edition Four Discs)

Introduction

The absolute delight of the Extended Edition of "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is that it`s not just the Theatrical Edition with a few added scenes. It`s a completely different movie. Okay, 80% of the footage between the two movies is identical, and the story is the same, but the character of the EE is completely different to the TE. Like the EE of "Fellowship of the Ring", it`s as if the theatrical cut of the movie has loosened its belt and given an enormous sigh of relief. Suddenly you have the opportunity to look around and admire the scenery, appreciate those nice little character moments and those little bits from the book where you sat in the theatre and said "Oh, it`s a shame they didn`t do that bit with..."

And there are plenty of those bits. Peter Jackson has added 43 minutes of footage to the movie, and none of it is padding. Virtually every new frame adds depth and grandeur to an already epic tale. There are wonderful little character pieces, some much-needed light relief, and the motives of some characters are brought out.

Most noticeable is the complete change of perception one gets of Captain Faramir (Boromir`s brother). In the TE, he`s simply some arrogant b*stard who captures Frodo, Sam and Smeagol and hauls them off to Gondor to finish what his dozy brother tried to do in the first picture. In the EE, he proves to be a young nobleman overshadowed by his elder brother and disregarded by his father. He is a reluctant leader of men, intent on protecting Gondor from the forces of Sauron. It is sheer blind fortune that he happens upon Frodo and his party.

This isn`t the place for a scene-by-scene dissection of what has been done with the movie, but the experience is a far more satisfying one than the Theatrical Cut, and that was far from an unpleasant one. If there`s one thing I`m sure of, it`s that whatever "Return Of The King" turns out like, the Extended Edition of that will blow your socks off.

Video

Presented in its original theatrical format of 2.35:1, the image quality of the EE outshines the TE completely. Whether it is because of better source material or the higher bitrate afforded by splitting the movie over two discs is for the more technically inclined to argue, but I was delighted by the end result. If there is any complaint to be made it is the choice of the break in the movie which is jarringly sudden and looks like a problem with the disc before the "to be continued" title card comes up.

Audio

Thunderous. In Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, DTS-ES 6.1, or even plain vanilla stereo surround mixes. Howard Shore`s mighty score shines once again, not least Gollum`s haunting theme which is sung over the end titles by Bjork soundalike Emilliana Torrini.

This rattling soundtrack has one puzzling moment, and that is when the Uruk-Hai mine the defences of Helm`s Deep. There is an explosion that by rights should turn your speakers inside out and throw you physically into the kitchen and yet all you get it a dull whumph noise and the sound of men, elves, bits of Uruk-Hai and stone raining around you. As per usual I didn`t see the movie at the pictures, so I can`t gauge the home theatre experience against the Odeon-ish.

Features

Got a couple of days to spare? You can watch the movie with no fewer than four full-length commentaries by the director and writers, the production and design teams and of course the most unruly one with the cast.

Over the other two discs are thirteen documentary featurettes of varying length that cover the book, the development of the movies, designs of the characters and locations and most specifically the development of Gollum. There are shorter pieces on the special effects, stunts and filming of the movie, and galleries of images totalling some 1800 images. Now you know where I`ve been with this review...

To add insult to injury to those who turned their nose up at the TE in favour of waiting for the EE, none of the extras included on the earlier version are repeated on the two discs of supplementary material.

Those of us lucky enough to have bought the Collector`s Edition now also have a statue of Gollum (provided you could get it out of the box without annihilating it or the box. I have a statuette and a shredded box.) This is frighteningly authentically detailed and is a worthy companion to the Argonath bookends included with the "Fellowship" Collectors` Edition. The Gollum statue also comes with its own companion DVD about Sideshow Weta`s collectible memorabilia and a 44 page booklet about creating Gollum for the screen.

Conclusion

This is cinema history in the making. In five years` time people will be tearing it to bits saying it was cr*p, but that`s fanboys for you. Me, I reckon it`ll go alongside stuff like Gone With The Wind and be recognised as one of the important movies of the early 21st Century. Instant Classic.