December 05, 2022

45. This Film Is Choppy.

1 hour 37 minutes

Jared, Oriana and Ned continue our own epic trilogy with a look at our

collective choice of topic: Peter Jackson’s version of The Two Towers.

Turning 20 years old this month, The Two Towers built on the success of the

previous year’s The Fellowship of the Ring, becoming another holiday

blockbuster and continuing the overall story, as well as introducing the wider

world to a variety of striking performances, among them Bernard Hill as

Theoden, Miranda Otto as Eowyn and most famously and indelibly, Andy Serkis’s

compelling performance as Gollum, further interpreted by the Weta digital

effects team to bring the character to life as an animation. All three of us

have our own distinct memories and experiences of watching it for the first

time and we’ve seen it any number of times since, but returning to it as a

standalone film – as with our previous Fellowship episode, we went back to the

original theatrical cut – made something clear to us: it’s not all that great.

Many different moments are absolutely indelible as already noted and there’s

no way something like The Rings of Power can even come close to it, but

compared to the absolute triumph of Jackson’s Fellowship, his Two Towers is

the odd one out of the series as a whole. What about the structure of the

story as adapted, filmed and edited meant that this might have always been the

weak center of the sequence? What moments in particular are absolutely perfect

– and what decisions are baffling then and now? Exactly how much Helm’s Deep

did there have to be in the first place – and do all the decisions that go

into the making of that sequence as being central rest on the best foundation?

And how great does Serkis’s performance and the realization of Gollum as a

character remain overall? (Answer: utterly.)

Show Notes.

Jared’s

doodle. If

that seems familiar, look back a

year…

Follow the HarperCollins Union Twitter feed

for strike news.

Andy Serkis reading the

Silmarillion? We are intrigued, we

are.

Hail and farewell to Jules

Bass.

We do recommend relistening to our Fellowship

episode; plenty of relevant show

notes too.

The Frodo Franchise is a very good read for sure.

The original teaser trailer

attached to the end of The Fellowship of the Ring at the conclusion of that

film’s theatrical run.

The first official trailer is

good, no question, but the second

one with the Requiem for a

Dream music? Man oh man.

Kazaa! Ah Internet nostalgia.

Phew, that opening scene. What

a way to start up again.

We do miss the Huorns, even if they

showed up a little bit in the extended version – but not by name.

It’s a mix of perfect moments and ‘hmmm’ bits but the whole start to the

Helm’s Deep battle definitely is

key to the film.

Arwen was indeed filmed at being at Helm’s

Deep and there are background

images of her here and there. (Lindsay Ellis’s

essay the other month has a bit more about that.)

Zulu, the British film

from 1964 that inspired Jackson’s take on Helm’s Deep, is…a caution. (As

stated, Zulu Dawn is more

interesting in comparison.)

The look on Theoden’s face after he takes in the

explosion – that’s good acting.

Edoras, an absolute triumph of

set design, construction, visual effects and cinematography – so it was, so it

remains. (Here’s a visit to the set

area on Mt. Sunday from a couple

of years ago.)

Feel free to pick up a copy of The Deadwood Bible by Matt Zoller Seitz if

you like, and appreciate Oriana’s work helping make it happen!

Brad Dourif’s tear (and the

scene overall). Wormtongue’s confrontation scene with Eowyn is in the Edoras

clip linked above.

The Eowyn/Aragorn blade clash/confrontation

scene? Good, good stuff. (The

warg attack scene, less so.)

Where to begin with Gollum? Frustratingly the extended Two Towers documentary

segment on Gollum doesn’t appear to be on YouTube but Serkis’s book on

working on the character is easily available and a very

good read.

Do you really want to know about the monkey from the 1997 Lost in Space? Do

you? Fine. Enjoy a video

tribute.

Now Gollum does act like a cat

here, true. And the ‘yeees?!?’

moment remains awesome.

The self-confrontation scene.

You know it.

“PO-TA-TOES.”

The buildup to Gollum snarling “My PRECIOUS!” at

Faramir is truly striking.

David Wenham dealing with Van

Helsing. The film that is. (And

yeah yeah 300.)

Gandalf returns and Ian

McKellen’s hair levels up.

The whole “give up the weapons/wink/’I TOLD you to take the WIZARD’S

STAFF’” sequence – just a treat.

The meat was always on the

menu, really.

“The Riders of Rohan” is one of

Howard Shore’s most gripping pieces, still.

“Gollum’s Song” is really good

if you haven’t heard it in a bit. (Emiliana Torrini’s

website will be back soon, it seems.)

Sheila Chandra = next level. As is “Breath

of Life.”

Isabel Bayrakdarian = also next level, and so

is “Evenstar.”

“The Last March of the Ents” is

another remarkable moment of music. “Release the

RIVER!”

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By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett

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