OT: The Two Tower.
 

who all is going to see the new lotr tonight at midnight. also which do you prefer latenight first showings or morning first showings

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

Just like with Nemesis, I will be seing it on the Sat. Matinee. Work all week prevents frivolous activity.

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Will be seeing it sometime this weekend. Day is unknown at this moment. Can't wait!

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I will probably go see it sometime this weekend. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

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I will see it tomorrow. Should have had tickets for the midnight premiere, but the queue was ridiculously long, and full of nerds, just like me.

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the movie is good. there were a lot of crazy people out there at midnight watching this. several from the lotr fanclub. i had to work also but i think it was worth only getting 3 hours of sleep. And tonight i go to see it at the IMAX.

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Probably going to see it Friday or Saturday. Was going to see it today, but there were some small conflicts with my flight... and tomorrow I'm just going to be too tired to do much of anything.

I'm hearing from some early reviews that Gollum is really good (as in well done, not an all around nice guy, silly http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif )...

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

saw it at IMAX. unfortunately they were showing regular format and not IMAX format, but the sound system was much better. The movie was very good but i forgot how slow the 2nd book was and it carried over into the movie a little. plus both times i saw it i was getting out at 2-3am so that may have had something to do with it.

unfortunately no one at either of the showings i have been to wore costumes. i have some RenFest clothes but didnt think of wearing them at the time.

edit: they did an excellent job with Gollum. he looks like he is really in the film. the digital make over of his body double was very well done. the fight scene btwn him and Frodo and Sam plus the river fishing scene where you actually see the water getting splashed around were both well done.

[ December 19, 2002, 19:17: Message edited by: desdinova ]

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You know how they did that don't you? I was watching the making Last night on TNT. It was cool, they got an actor and put him in a wet suit and made him splash around after the fish. (I still haven't seen the actual movie yet) but they had him fighting frodo and sam and everything. But then they went to a studio and put him a motion sensitive suit and had him redo all his moves to get the computer to animate Gollum. It was pretty cool to see it being done.

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

yeah i saw the making of also Last week. thats what i meant about his body double. sorry for not being more clear on that.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Oh ok, no worries, it was my bad. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

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I liked it....

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I liked it too. I wish it was longer and had more detail. More development of the new characters, and a bit more explamination on the story at the beginning. A recap or update.

Seemed like a lot of big stuff took place really quickly. And some other stuff was a bit far fetched even for LOTR's. Story gaps were great, or should I say segment gaps. Ya, segment gaps between parts were a tad long for the normal leep.

Golom (Sp) was very interesting, but his introduction into the story this time was a bit under explained. How did he get from the caves to them? How did they go from being right at the Black Gate to Gondor in such a short period of time? What, did they transport?

Some minor nit picks, but overall the movie was epic, and that is why it works. Just fricking epic. It will do nicely at the Box Office. I predict 500 million by March US sales only.

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Damn good movie... I loved it

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So who's going to see it in costume? (ie as an orc or gandalph or something.)

Gandalph, I'm not sure if you qualify as a "yes" for this one just by turning up... after all, you are Gandalph, and so anything you wear is "dressed up as Gandalph". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

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Looked like lots of stuff was cut..... Oh well we will see it on the DVD ( 2nd one out in Novemeber )

The 3 hour and 45 minute Version.....

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sweet. I haven't seen it yet but I still can't wait to see it and get my hands on the DVD. (Going to see it this weekend. Yippy!)

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

I saw it today,It was Awsome http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif ,Lots of graphics, so much hack & slash, Im going to see it again friday.The only time a see a movie twice is Star wars eposide 2 & Matrix.

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That TNT special was great, I just wish I had seen more of it.

Just a quick correction. The actor playing Gollum was wearing a drysuit, not a wetsuit. Remember that scene was filmed at a streambed they had to remove all the snow and ice. The water was freezing cold, and he had to splash through it....several times. A drysuit is designed for divers/swimmers who have to move in cold water so they can Last and remain, relatively, dry. That is one tough, dedicated actor. I like how he described it as getting stabbed right in the chest when he hit the water.

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Oh, it was a great movie!

I saw it yesterday, and dreamed about it all night long...

I gotta say that Gollum's external "internal dialogue" was plain frightening!

But, no spoilage from this cowpoke, go see it as soon as you can!

-jimbob

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

There were some good points to this movie (Gollum & the Nazgul), and it's certainly better than most in the epic fantasy genre (Conan, etc.)

But...if you are a Tolkien purist, and have not yet seen the movie, try not to set your expectations too high. There are some significant changes to Tolkien's original story line, and not all for the better, in my opinion. So, try not to get TOO excited, or you might be disappointed (as I was).

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Of course the movie was good. I expected no less. But IMO the first one was way better. Maybe I am already spoiled by the very high standard they set in the first, but I didn't have that totally blown feeling that I had one year ago.

Rollo

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Well, I really enjoyed it. Storyline changes aside. I was glad to see Haldir and the elves at Helm's Deep :-) Anyways, I though the actor who played Grima Wormtongue was great. Gollum I enjoyed too. I did find the Sam/Frodo bit (ansd the ents) less enjoyable than the action in Rohan, but then I think I thought the same when I read the book. All in all, a great effort, just as good as the first, if a little different.

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I should add one thing that I totally enjoyed and that was that the Riders of Rohan are basically Vikings on horses http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif .

Rollo

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And to you Fantasy watchers ,this is just a rumer ,there is a 3rd movie in progress.

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I enjoyed it much more than the first one, more action and the fights at helms deep was great. Although i seriously doubt the dwarf comedy bits were in the books http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Heman, they can't make 2 and then miss out the third book lol, that'd be just mean

[ December 21, 2002, 09:56: Message edited by: Raging Deadstar ]

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lol! That is great Heman. Thanks for lettings us know about that.
And actually it's not in progress, it's already been filmed. Over the next year they will just be adding more footage to what they already have.

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i like the idea they had for filming this trilogy all at once instead of individually. it was a bit of a risk for them to do it as they werent sure if the first one would do well at the box office. can you imagine spending 3 years filming a movie. i wonder if they ever wondered which life was real and which was a story.

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I did not like the movie too much. It was not bad, but the first part was really much better. There have been many unsatisfying scenes at the 2 towers so I dont think I will see it a second time. (maybe as DVD)
The fellowship was a milestone in cinema, but the 2 towers was at best average. I am no Tolkin buff, but there have been too many changes to the books and some of them have been unnecessary.

Also some scenes have been not fully authentic (just one arrow is enough to distract a Nazgul and his mighty beast from getting the ring? Whats this?) I also hate the concept of the usual "funny person" (in this film it was gimly) but maybe this is due to the fact that I am normally watching more european movies than hollywood movies.

Another bad scenes have been
-the attack of wormtonques bodyguards and the following karate session of gimli, aragorn and legolas. (ridicolous...)
-legolas surfing down the stairs and shooting 3 orcs (maybe I am too old for this kind of "fun")Next film we see Gandalf on a white mountain bike http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
- elves are shooting from behind the helms deep wall without seeing the heavily armored orcs (only vulnerable at the neck and under the arms)and there have been so many hits?
And so on...

On the other hand some scenes have been very good. Gollum was the best actor in this movie and the attack of the wargs has been sensational (but unnecessary for the story). I liked also the gate of Mordor scene and the mumakils with their 4 tusks. Some changes of the books have been good(Gandalfs exorcisting the king) and the ents great attack of Isengard (but why did Saruman not defend with magic?)

KlausD

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">as for the number of hits, with the size of the army rushing the wall it would be rather hard not to hit something, even the occasional friend on the wall they are shooting over.
as for the accuracy of shots, elves are just excellent marksmen with bows (actually it just looks good on the screen (thats hollywood for ya))

edit: plus if i remember correctly the Longbow is capable of piercing platemail in real life, even bulletproof glass.

[ December 22, 2002, 03:36: Message edited by: desdinova ]

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">In the book, he did. A number of ents were burnt to a crisp by fire shooting up from the ground (likely from burning/exploding oil). And besides, he was terrified, and caught off-guard. He never suspected that the ents would attack him.

I really didn't like how Pippin and Merry convinced Fangorn to rally the ents. It greatly detracted from their character (the ents), and made them seem too jaded. The entmoot hastily (for ents) decided to attack Isengard, not leave it be.

Also, I did not like how Theoden was portrayed as a coward (after spell was broken), being unwilling to fight Saruman. He was very willing to in the book.

Oh, and it seemed odd to me that Theoden said "And so it begins" at the beginning of the battle of Helm's Deep. What is he, a Vorlon? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ December 22, 2002, 06:58: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">as for the accuracy of shots, elves are just excellent marksmen with bows <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ok this is true, but nobody can hit anybody without seeing him. In this case hits are only pure luck.

And yes longbows have been able to penetrate plate armor. But historically they have to had a optimal entry ankle to achieve this. (similar to a crossbow which have been better at short distances for such a mission) In Austria we have some very interesting special museums called "Zeughaus" (house of things) which shows and describes nearly all medevial weapons which has been used in Europe in those times. I can really recommend this if you ever visit our country.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I really didn't like how Pippin and Merry convinced Fangorn to rally the ents <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes this was a little bit like a speach from the president to raise morale of the soldiers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
Why should a race of thousand year old entities even listen at those tiny little 30 year old hobbits? And why did they think hobbits are orcs? And what was with that gandalf scene when treebeard carried the hobbits to gandalf? Why dont they go with gandalf? The sorcerer met the rest of the fellowship a little bit later and he didnot even mention that he met Pippin and Merry, Hä? Very strange.

All in all the ents have not been portrayed that good. For my taste they have been too fast. Treebeard spoke too much and he comprehended to fast. There should have been a symbolic time delay (2 seconds at least) between a spoken word from the hobbits and an answer of treebeard to portray the different time universe.

Also it was cheesy that treebeard saw the destroyed wood and yelled for help. Then ALL ents came at the SAME time out of the woods in nearly no delay time. (BTW I was very amused by the scene in which an ent extinguished the flaming head with the water of the incoming flood)

Klaus

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klausd, I am inclined to agree with you there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

That ent on fire scene was pretty funny. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

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Just saw it, finally. Took my breath away. I am so glad the movie is good, and hopefully doing very well at the box office. If fantasy can make it's mark with the American public, we might see some other quality stories made into movies...Like George Martin, or Robert Jordan, or Eddings. Wouldn't that be something? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, David Eddings is my favorite. I have read almost all of his books, and I re-read the Elenium and Tamuli series every year! Terry Brooks is good, too, but I like Eddings' style the best. That WOULD be something! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: The Two Tower.
 

spoiley below:

i have not seen it yet, but plan to in the next couple of days. some things i hear sort of distress me, so i am going to keep my expectations low, and try to view it as its own movie unrelated to the books.

the hobbits had to beg the trees for help? in the story, the trees were pretty ready to go, they just needed to take some time to talk to each other about it. it probably just took a couple days for treebeard to explain the whole thing to the rest of the ents..

aragorn fell off a cliff? what?

faramir (spelling?) tried to steal the ring? what?

they ended it before breaking sauramans staff, and retrieveing the seeing stone?

they ended it before getting sam and frodo past the spider (and frodo appearing to be dead? that was the fricking cliff hanger!)

a winged nazgul attacked someone? huh?

there was bickering between arawyn (spelling?) and agent smith? eh?

aragorn was tempted by elowyn (spelling?)? the first thing he said to her in the book, was 'sorry, im taken.'

so, it sounds like a lot of sillyness was put in. and it sounds like they ended it VERY early. whats going to be left for the return of the king? are they going to cut out everything after the battle at the gates of morodor? they have to show everyone but Arawyn leaving on the ships.. they have to show sam settling down. they cant cut that stuff out. are they going to leave out aragorn leading the army of the dead?

its going to take at least an hour of the thrid film to catch up to where they should have been at the end of the second film, and that is leaving me with alot of doubts about how the third movie is going to be. especially with what i hear has been butchered in the second movie.

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Yeah... they left out at least half of the events in TTT, and changed the other half.

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Warning: Spoiler spoiler everywhere and not a bit of Think http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I'd imagine that a lot of the TTT book was left out because The Return of the King (RoK?) is such a short book - when you remove the appendix that is http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I'm guessing that they wanted to split the total content of the Last two books evenly to get two movies of 3 hours, instead of TTT being 4.5 hours and RoK being only 1.5 hours long. I'm fairly certain that Shelob will have her day.

As to Frodo's little jaunt to ??? packed under Theodin's arm... I think it would be pretty anticlimatic to have the ringbearer just muck about a swamp for 30-40 minutes. And while the book can convey much more of Gollums' inner workings, to give the viewer a taste for his bitterness at the betrayal by "master" it was probably better to have Gollum tied up and carried about like cord wood for a long time. In the book, it seemed like Gollum was tied up and detained by Theodin and friends for less time than it takes to get through Canadian customs! As much as I loved the book, the sympathetic portrayal of Gollum spoke much more to me in the movie.

As to the arrows fired over the wall - English Longbowmen did not fire at a target per se when firing en mass. Rather they would fire at a likely target location and hope that someone was in that place when the arrow landed. This was necessary because the distances covered were simply to far for the type of accuracy that we can get out of a gun. From the looks of the movie, the orcs were pretty well shoulder to shoulder, so the arrows were IMHO very likely to find a target.

...er, a little edit here. the "not a bit of Think" was a bit of self-mockery. I didn't intend to imply that anyone else had posted any poorly thought out Messages or anything http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif . Yeah, anyways...

Merry Gandalfmas and a happy New Year everyone.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
-jimbob

[ December 24, 2002, 02:02: Message edited by: jimbob ]