Something Good to Hold Onto in the Darkest Times

After seeing the darkness of the first Lord of the Rings movie, my wife refused to see the second. She doesn’t like dark movies, and The Two Towers is undeniably darker than the Fellowship of the Ring…but I think she would have liked the movie. Even though it’s darker both physically and in tone than the first flick, the theme of the movie is brighter. The message of the movie, told in three different plotlines, is that we should have hope. Even in our darkest times, we should find some good to hold onto, and be willing to fight for that good.

Even though she herself didn’t go see the movie, she was kind enough to buy me the extended special edition DVD of The Two Towers for a Christmas gift. My life has been so busy over the last several months, with student teaching, and getting things in order to graduate from the University of Utah (and being a father to a two-year old), that it’s just been in the last week that I’ve finally been able to sit down and enjoy the treat this boxed set provides.

I read the Lord of the Rings in 1995…long before these movies were in the works. I distinctly remember getting bogged down in The Two Towers, and putting the book aside for over a year because I hated it so much. There are many new characters, locations, and events happening, which expand the world of Middle Earth greatly. What was incomprehensible for me on the printed page was easier to understand on the big screen, and the additions of the extended edition expand some of the characters who were a bit weaker or more confusing in the theatrical version.

The story is more complicated than the previous movie, but director Peter Jackson is able to juggle the plots and characters deftly; more so than George Lucas is able to do with the Star Wars movies. With the luxury of a movie approaching four hours, Jackson is also able to devote more time to characters and story points, so often at the conclusion of a scene, we’ve already forgotten there are other threads to the movie. Each of the three plots is rich enough on their own to sustain a movie; Jackson’s mastery of all three is crucial to the success of the story, just as the heroes’ success in all three parts of Middle Earth is crucial to the defeat of evil.

The three stories are as follows:

First, Frodo and Sam’s journey towards the dark land of Mordor, in an effort to destroy the One Ring. This is really the goal of all three movies, so it’s a continuing thread through all three. Frodo and Sam are joined by Gollum, who is a twisted, tortured creature who owned the Ring before Frodo’s Uncle Bilbo found it. Gollum is possessed by the desire to own the Ring again, but also sees what he’s become—a naked, emaciated monster who wouldn’t hesitate to kill for the Ring. We see that the Ring is becoming a burden for Frodo, and he’s getting a touch Gollum-ish himself. The trio faces many dangers, both natural and supernatural, and eventually are captured by Faramir, a prince of Gondor and their late friend Boromir’s brother. Faramir’s story is bolstered in the extended edition, and to his credit…he’s a more interesting and tragic character here than he was in the theatrical version.

Second, Aragorn, Legolas the Elf, and Gimli the Dwarf are searching for the two lost Hobbits, Merry and Pippin. In the course of doing so, they end up in the kingdom of Rohan, sort of Vikings of the Prairies. They’re a noble people, who regard their horses and horsemanship as the height of their culture. But their King Theoden is under the control of the evil wizard Saruman…he’s controlled by the whispers of an aptly named lackey, Grima Wormtongue. Our heroes, joined by Gandalf, soon break Saruman’s spell, and are enlisted to help Theoden and the other Rohirrim defend their peoples’ stronghold against the forces of the dreaded Uruk-Hai. This Battle of Helm’s Deep dominates the second half of the movie, and is an incredible battle scene—something I haven’t seen done so well in a fantasy/sci-fi film before.

And where are Merry and Pippin? Lost in Fangorn forest, where they’re found by an Ent—a sort of tree shepherd who looks like a living tree himself. The Ent’s name is Treebeard, and he was one of my favorite characters in the book. In the interviews and documentaries on the DVD, we learn that author J.R.R. Tolkien had a special love for trees. This is certainly evident in the extended scenes we get with Treebeard explaining the ways of the forest to Merry and Pippin, lamenting the death of so many of his friends in Saruman’s quest for power. Merry and Pippin try to convince Treebeard and the other Ents to join in the battle against evil—but the Ents are reluctant to get involved in human (or Hobbit) affairs.

The three sets of characters don’t ever meet, and this leaves the story open-ended, which bugs some people. I will say there’s more closure here than in “Fellowship,” and it sets the stage well for the climactic conclusion of “The Return of the King.”

The characters we already know are deepened, the trials they face are greater than in the first movie, and there’s more evidence of the evil they’re fighting against. Many of the themes in the first movie were hard to understand; here they’re laid plain, and we’re able to actually see the hosts of armies gathering to destroy Middle Earth and the world of men. Even though the evil is greater, Saruman the White, played to evil perfection by Christopher Lee, is actually given less to do here. I’ve fallen in love with his villains in both Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, and I’m glad both directors unearthed this octogenarian treasure. His counterpart, Gandalf, is back for this movie even though he seemed to die in the first installment. He’s changed a bit, but happily still has that merry twinkle in his eye that keeps him from becoming too detached from the affairs of Men, Dwarves, and Elves.

The new characters are as rich as the old characters—some of my favorite characters appear for the first time in this installment. I already mentioned Treebeard—even though he’s mostly a computer-generated character, something about this giant walking tree calls out to the very primal part of us…or the part that talked back to the McDonaldland Tree when it talked to me. He’s got the voice of John Rhys Davies (also plays the dwarf Gimli), and it’s a rich, perfect voice that rumbles with size and authority. King Theoden of Rohan is another wonderful new character, played by Bernard Hill. We see him as a feeble shadow of his former self, and then a sort of baptism of fire by Gandalf that restores his life. He’s a wonderfully regal character, troubled by his neglect of family and kingdom, and desperate to save his people as he himself has been saved. His niece Eowyn (Miranda Otto) is a fine portrait of a noblewoman trying to maintain a kingdom on her own. She’s wonderful in this movie, but even better in the next one. Forget Liv Tyler—she’s the real heroine of the piece. The other new character I fell in love with was Faramir, played by David Wenham. He’s the younger, lesser brother to Boromir, and wants to please his father, Denethor. By capturing Frodo and Sam, he’s got a fine prize for his father…but has to make the decision to deliver Frodo and the Ring, or to let them go on their journey. He’s a troubled character, played very well by Wenham.

In any movie like this, the special effects play a huge role—never more so than in the character of Gollum, who has to be believeable enough to carry a big chunk of the movie. His vocal and body movement performance by Andy Serkis is remarkable (and yet easy to imitate when you’re in a Gollumy mood yourself), and is matched by WETA’s rendering of his animated character. We’re frightened of Gollum, but end up pitying him—we see that his would be an easy path to lose ourselves in, and hope Frodo will be strong enough to avoid his snares. It isn’t until the third movie in the series that we see Gollum as he once was—and that truth is more frightening than the monster he’s become.

The settings are beautiful; Peter Jackson and his team found beautiful vistas in New Zealand that work for the most lush or barren parts of Middle Earth. These are fleshed out and enhanced by the settings built by the crew and designed by skilled artists; the hilltop citadel where Theoden reigns is a masterpiece of pseudo-Scandinavian architecture. The mountain fortress of Helm’s Deep is beautiful but bleak; its black stone ramparts are a complex but believable setting for a dayslong battle.

If you enjoyed The Two Towers in the theatre, but are wondering if the extended edition has anything to offer you, I recommend it highly. The DVD includes hours of commentary and documentaries, many of which gave me new insight into the movies and the books that they’re based on. Sometimes these documentaries tend to cheapen the movies by revealing too many of the tricks—if anything, these make me enjoy them more. The effort that went into this film is extraordinary; I could only bitterly wish that the Star Wars series was in as capable hands. There are new and lengthened scenes woven throughout the film itself; Treebeard, Faramir and others gain new depth in this longer version.

Wow, this has turned into one of my longest reviews. And that’s saying something. I didn’t start out a fan of Lord of the Rings. Not by a long shot. And I don’t know if I’ll ever go back and read the books again. The movies stand on their own as a masterpiece. Full of Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits…but more than that, full of hope. Full of inspiring courage. And above all, filled with the encouragement to do what is right, even when the odds are impossibly stacked against you.