The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Yay, the DVD arrived! What do you think the first thing I did was? Right, I looked at that amazing stunt I was talking about earlier. (The one in which Legolas leaps from the ground to the back of a galloping horse, starting from directly in front of the horse.) And I still can't tell what they did! If you slow it down it looks disturbingly real, but if you keep it at normal speed it looks like there's CGI involved. I can't imagine CGI is not involved there, but it seems that I'll have to wait for the extended DVD release to find out. On second viewing, this film is decidely better than on first viewing. A lot of folks thought it was quite slow and boring, and it is slower paced than the first one. That's because Tolkein/Jackson has to detail several different story lines. They seem meandering and without much point, but each one comes to a real end before this film finishes. They're giving very little away in the previews for Return of the King, which I think is in their best interest. With such a hotly anticipated film, it's better to provide as little detail as possible so that the audience can be surprised by what it sees. Which is what the Wachowski brothers should have done for The Matrix Reloaded. Too much knowledge about techniques or story ruins the viewing experience.

year: 2002
length: 179 min. theatrical release / 222 min. extended release
rating: 4.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167261/combine