Customer Reviews

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Widescreen Extended Edition) (4 Discs)

5 star:		(855)
4 star:		(129)
3 star:		(53)
2 star:		(37)
1 star:		(49)

 

 

FEATURE (approx. 214 minutes) -
A new version of the second installment in the epic trilogy! The film includes over 40 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film, made especially for this video release:

Widescreen (2.35:1) version of the Special Extended Edition
Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound
DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound
Stereo Surround Sound
Four audio commentaries by director and writers, the design team the production team and the cast featuring more than 30 participants including Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom and Academy Award® winners Richard Taylor, Howard Shore, Randy Cook...and many more

DISCS 3-4: THE APPENDICES

Two discs with hours of original content including multiple documentaries and design/photo galleries with thousands of images to give viewers an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers:

DISC 3
Adapting the book into a screenplay & planning the film
Designing and inspiration for locations in Middle-earth
Storyboards to pre-visualization
Weta Workshop visit - See sculptors in action as they create the weapons, armor, creatures and miniatures from the film
Atlas of Middle-earth: Tracing the journey of the Fellowship
An interactive map of New Zealand highlighting the location scouting process
Galleries of art and slideshows with commentaries by the artists
And much more!

DISC 4
Sending actors to battle - preparation for sword fighting
Principal photography: Stories from the set
Digital effects including motion capture and "Massive" (a program to create armies of Orcs)
"Bigatures" - A close-up look at the detailed miniatures used in the film
Galleries of behind-the-scenes photographs and personal cast photos
Post-production - editing it all together
Sound design demonstration
And much more!

DVD-ROM CONTENT: Includes access to exclusive online features

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the second installment in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. But what does this Epic of a film treat us with if we purchase this Special Extended Edition of the DVD?

Well, this review is about to tell you!

DISCS 1-2: THE FEATURE

FEATURE (approx. 214 minutes) -
A new version of the second installment in the epic trilogy! The film includes over 40 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film, made especially for this video release:

-Widescreen (2.35:1) version of the Special Extended Edition

-Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound

-DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound

-Stereo Surround Sound

-Four audio commentaries by director and writers, the design team the production team and the cast featuring more than 30 participants including Peter Jackson, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom and Academy Award® winners Richard Taylor, Howard Shore, Randy Cook...and many more

DISCS 3-4: THE APPENDICES

Two discs with hours of original content including multiple documentaries and design/photo galleries with thousands of images to give viewers an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers:

DISC 3
-Adapting the book into a screenplay & planning the film

-Designing and inspiration for locations in Middle-earth

-Storyboards to pre-visualization

-Weta Workshop visit - See sculptors in action as they create the weapons, armor, creatures and miniatures from the film

-Atlas of Middle-earth: Tracing the journey of the Fellowship

-An interactive map of New Zealand highlighting the location scouting process

-Galleries of art and slideshows with commentaries by the artists

And much more!

DISC 4
-Sending actors to battle - preparation for sword fighting

-Principal photography: Stories from the set

-Digital effects including motion capture and "Massive" (a program to create armies of Orcs)

-"Bigatures" - A close-up look at the detailed miniatures used in the film

-Galleries of behind-the-scenes photographs and personal cast photos

-Post-production - editing it all together

-Sound design demonstration

And much more!

DVD-ROM CONTENT: Includes access to exclusive online features

I for one will be purchasing this Special Extended Version come November 18th. The Special Extended Version of Fellowship of the Rings was definately the best buy of DVD's in 2002 and I believe this will be no exception. Come onnnn...I know you wanna buy it! We all need out PRECIOUS!

The extra features are a delight for fans. You can enter Middle-Earth for hours on end. I love the making of this film far more than the actual movie, which is a disappointment to Tolkien fans. But since I'm focusing on the DVD we won't get into the actual movie. The features are fantastic, especially the making of Gollum. Some of the methods for his creation are hilarious. But the biggest disappointment of this DVD is that there are no trailers! Not a single one for The Two Towers or even a little peak at Return of the King. Therefore, the first release of this DVD is better since you get the trailers, and a peak at Return of the King. On top of that, the additional footage does little to improve this film.

The Blue ray was perfect, great quality, loved it. I received the product in less than a week. All in all good place to buy blue rays and DVDs.

When the first film in the epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy thrilled fans and topped the box office for weeks, expectations rose even higher for the sequel, "The Two Towers." Would the follow-up be as beautifully crafted as the first?

Fortunately moviegoers only had to wait a year for the answer, when "The Two Towers" debuted in December 2002. The second part of Peter Jackson's astounding adaptation lacks the surprise of the first movie, but it continues the strong storytelling, amazing acting, and one of the greatest battles of the silver screen.

The fellowship has been split, and two members are dead. Now Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) are pursuing a band of orcs who kidnapped Merry and Pippin (Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd). But soon Merry and Pippin are rescued by an ancient treelike creature, and the others encounter an old friend -- Gandalf (Ian McKellen), reborn as the White Wizard.

Meanwhile, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are making their way towards Mordor, and soon Frodo realizes that they are being followed by Gollum (Andy Serkis), who once possessed the One Ring and still lusts after it. But Frodo begins to pity the degenerate creature, and agrees to let Gollum lead them to Mount Doom -- but Sam suspects that Gollum cannot be trusted.

"The Two Towers" is not really a sequel. Instead, it's just a continuation of the story that left off at the end of "Fellowship of the Ring," and the focus spreads past our little band of heroes to include all of Middle-Earth. It's not all about Frodo and the hobbits anymore, but about whole kingdoms being crushed by the bad guys.

This film is much darker than the first movie, although we still get some funny moments from Gollum and the hobbits, but some creepy ones as well. Gollum/Smeagol's argument with himself is absolutely chilling. To top his previous work, Jackson creates three simultaneous climaxes, including the grimy, rain-soaked battle of Helm's Deep.

But as he tells the epic stories, Jackson doesn't neglect the smaller stories, like the hobbits befriending treelike ents and battling a wizard. The scripting is impeccable, mixing the funny moments ("Don't talk to it! Don't encourage it!" Pippin wails when a "tree" speaks to them) with the dramatic speeches, and ending with a simple, powerful speech by Sam.

And WETA Workshop's CGI effects don't disappoint. Not only do they manage whole armies and battles, but they brought the gruesome Gollum to life. He's probably the first convincing CGI character, to the point where you can actually forget that this Ring junkie is just a bunch of pixels.

Elijah Wood continues his magnificent performance as Frodo Baggins, with the deep friendship, compassion and weariness that he started to show before. But his performance deepens to include some serious Ring-lust. Sean Astin's performance grows as well, as he does whatever it takes to protect Frodo -- from soldiers, Gollum, ringwraiths, whatever.

But the supporting cast gets plenty of attention too, including a love triangle involving Aragorn and the warrior-maid Eowyn, and Legolas and Gimli becoming best buddies (even competing to see who kills the most orcs). McKellen gets to play "Gandalf 2.0," a less grumpy and wiser Gandalf, and movie veteran Christopher Lee gets more juicy scenes as the warped wizard Saruman. The scene where he sees the ents attacking is outstanding.

The journey continues in "The Two Towers," crammed with so much action and pathos that it never has time to suffer from "middle chapter syndrome." An amazing continuation.

I have seen all three films in theatre and own the Fellowship on the 4 DVD special edition... To make a film on this scale is an achievment .. more than 7 years spent and the results show.. unfortunately i disagree with those who call it a masterpiece.. It is boring.. plain and simple.. as an aspiring screenwriter i find that any film which relies so much on CGI and believes filmgoers come solely to see fantasy/action sequences and not hear a story is taking us for granted.. the book has a superb sructure. will not discuss it here.. but it slowly builds up and takes you on the journey with the characters.. every character from Aragorn to merry and pippin are shaped so well by Tolkien.. The film fails becasue it does not have a structure which involves the audience.. We are just taken through a series of action pieces in the first film.. the second film does better but not much while the third film-climax is more absorbing but because of the first two stinkers a first timer loses the plot.. On my own part I loved the Arwyn-Aragorn story, the scene where she sees him and thier child is possibly my favourite moment in the film.. pure cinema.. wordless and says everything.. A few personal notes of why you may want to pick up the DVD.. the making of the film is nothing short of amazing.. the DVDS 3 and 4 are chock pakced with info about the pre-prod, prod and post and are must have for thier extensive detailing about the prokject.. well worth the money to anyone who wants to find about the hardwork and effort that goes into making a film.. Should the lord of the Rings have been written by a professional screenwriter who understands the craft and structure of an epic.. which is what the LOTR is.. YES.. I think Peter Jackson is a brilliant filmmaker and his hardwork shows but him and Franz Walsh shine through in only certain moments when they don't let the CGI steal the human element from the film.. Having said that pick up the DVD, at that price it's a steal whether you're a lord of the rings afficiando or just a lover of films... On my own part I would have loved the LOTR as a series of six films with each book being divided into 2 parts and each part at 3 hours.. it would have been a more fulfilling experience.. but then that's what i think...

Okay, this was not a BAD film. Of course not -- but as a fan of not only film one, but also the books, fantasy, and even Jackson, I just found this, well, not what I wanted. Battle scenes galore. But it's a war movie. With just a little bit of story thrown in here and there. Sorry -- impressed, but not won over.

I have watched the first one, and much of the second one. I really wanted to like it because it is so respected. But I really don't get the appeal. Sure, the effects are great. But the story and the dialogue are as interesting as watching grass grow. If you know you are a fantasy or a Tolkien fan, go for it. Otherwise...

I don't know, I liked these movies when they hit the theater but the second time around through this series it's really hard to stomach all the eye gazing and crying between sam and frodo. too bad because there's a lot of awesome stuff in these movies that ends up getting ruined by these garbage scenes of those two affirming their love and dependency.

The Two Towers is a very complicated story. Fitting it into three hours can make some scenes seem a little rushed to those who have read the book (such as myself). That is my only problem with the theatrical edition. I really don't care about any of the changes (except maybe Aragorn falling off the cliff) because I understand why the makers made the changes, unlike "Tolkien Purists" who have not a clue the challenge of transfering a huge book with such a complicated plot to a 3 hour movie. Anyway, to the point, it was around 30 minutes added to the Fellowship on the Extended Edition. But this year, we are in for a bigger treat as 43 minutes will be added on to The Two Towers in the Extended Version. This edition will make the movie so much better as it will feel less rushed. I will, however, rent the theatrical for all the features that will not be included in the extended extras.