March 4, 2004 -- O.K., I admit it. I'm hooked on these extended editions of the Lord of the Rings films. They are real improvements over the original theatrical releases. “The Two Towers” extended edition DVD four-disk set includes numerous additional scenes (43 minutes worth), the most significant of which is a flashback which explores the relationship between Boromir, Faramir and their father, Denethor. This is a very significant change from the theatrical cut because neither Boromir nor Denethor appears in that cut at all. This scene goes a long way toward explaining the actions of both Boromir and Faramir in the series. Something like this was needed for the first film, too. When viewed as a whole in the entire miniseries of films, this crucial scene helps explain Boromir's curious actions near the end of the first film. Faramir's motive for releasing Frodo and the One Ring, however, remain mysterious, even with the extra scenes. (Note: This is a DVD review only. For a review of the movie itself click on this link for my review of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

“The Two Towers” is a story which really has no beginning or end. Originally, the book was supposed to have been one book, rather than three. Originally, the movie version of “The Lord of the Rings” was supposed to have been two films rather than three, so the second book and second movie are kind of an afterthought. It is a tribute to Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson and the other screenwriters that this second film in the trilogy works as well as it does. The editing is also superb. The action is scattered among three story lines, the Hobbits, Sam and Frodo, who are trying to reach Mordor to destroy the One Ring of power, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, who are trying to rescue the Hobbits Merry and Pippin, and the climactic battles at Helm's Deep and Isengard. The story constantly switches between these various narratives. There is also a continuation of the romance between Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and the elf, Arwen (Liv Tyler), as well as a new romance between Aragorn and Eowyn (Miranda Otto).

There are some good additional scenes in the battles of Helms Deep and Isengard, the best being the revenge of Fangorn Forest. I also liked the extended scenes of Merry and Pippin in the forest and their extra scenes with Treebeard. I also liked the extra scenes of Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) at Isengard after the battle. There is also a funny extra scene between Aragorn and Eowyn. As in the first film's extended version, the extra scenes tend to flesh out the story and smooth the narrative, or they are simply entertaining in their own right. They do not seem at all like unneeded extra scenes.

The extra features in the two additional disks in the four-disk set are very interesting. Prior to buying this set, I was not sure if these extra features were going to be any different than the extra features in the extended version of the first film, or if they were going to add much more useful information. It turns out most of the material on the two bonus disks is new and it is of very high quality. I learned a lot more about how the films were made. Among the hours of commentaries and documentaries on the film, I'll single out just a few of note, the sword fighting documentary is quite good, with some funny stories about the training and rehearsals. The post-production documentary details the incredibly hectic last days prior to the deadline when the film had to be completed. The film was being re-edited right up to the last possible second. The “Cameras in Middle Earth” feature has lots of behind-the-scenes stories, including the high-tech satellite communications equipment used to allow Jackson to keep track of the various film crews. The “Bigatures” feature shows how the Helm's deep extra-large miniature set was designed and built in a gravel quarry. There is a nice Weta workshop documentary on the creation of the weapons, armor, creatures, and miniatures for the film. The digital effects documentary is also interesting since it details the Gollum motion-capture process.

I'm writing this after “The Return of the King” won a record-tying 11 Academy awards. I think the four bonus disks in the first two Lord of the Rings DVD sets probably had an impact on the Academy voters. The documentaries and other features gave some of the voters an idea of how vast this project was, if they did not already know it. The fact that all three films were shot at once meant that the documentaries reflected not only on the first two films of the trilogy, but the third as well. Note, for instance, that “Return of the King” was not nominated for best cinematography. That could be because many of the voters knew, from watching the DVDs, that 70 percent of the film used in the movie was digitally manipulated after it had been developed the first time, using a process called digital grading. This was needed because many scenes were shot months apart, under different lighting conditions, etc. Digital grading allows those different prints to be matched by color, brightness, contrast, etc. Many scenes were made up of numerous layers of blue screen shots in the background. Digital grading allows all the layers in a single shot to be matched. It looks great, and allows for seamless editing, but it is not pure cinematography by any means. The process allows a lot of detail to be resurrected from underexposed areas of the film, for instance. It also allows the entire color palette to be shifted for artistic purposes, and this was done often in the three films.

This collection of DVDs gives the viewer a kind of mini-course in film making. It also shows us a lot about the Kiwi pride factor that had a lot to do with the quality of all three films. This is perhaps detailed most clearly in the documentary on the battle scenes. This documentary reveals that many of the extras in the giant Helm's Deep battle were from New Zealand. It is remarkable how they kept their spirits up during the long, grueling filming schedule, under very nasty conditions. These guys went many extra miles to make the battle scenes work. Their ideas also contributed to the success of those scenes. In a very real way, a substantial portion of New Zealand contributed much to the success of all three films. New Zealanders seem to have a “can do” attitude. They seem undaunted by the magnitude of the task.

About the only thing I did not like about the set was a problematic aspect of the packaging, specifically, the plastic used to keep the DVDs in place. The press-down release bar in the center of the DVDs is so stiff and unworkable one almost has to break the DVDs to get them out. The same was true of the “Fellowship of the Rings” five-disk set. In fact, I ended up having to break the plastic release bars to make it easier to get the DVDs out of their holders, and even then, it was ridiculously hard to get them loose. The movie industry should standardize these holders and settle on one design. There are designs out there that work far better than the ones used by New Line for the Lord of the Rings series. The best ones release the DVD with a simple press of a finger. Of course, you don't want packaging which fails to hold the DVD securely, otherwise, the DVD will come loose in shipment and be damaged. I've had that happen, too.

The version of the film I bought was, of course, the widescreen anamorphic one with an aspect ratio 2.35:1. I suppose you could by a full-screen version, but why bother buying a version made for TV sets with narrow screens which soon will be obsolete? You're just throwing your money away on a version which will look horrible in the future on a wide screen TV. The disks have Dolby Digital 5.1 EX, which is a six-channel format, as well as the higher bit-rate 6.1 DTS ES soundtrack, for even better surround sound. I heard this disk on a Sony surround sound system, and saw it on a great high-definition, large-screen TV. The sound and picture were theater-quality. The disks also come with English and Spanish subtitles, but no foreign language soundtracks.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2004 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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