Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5526 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-11-18
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 207 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
With significant extra footage and a multitude of worthwhile bonus features this extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is as colossal an achievement as its predecessor, The Fellowship of the Ring. There are valuable additions to the story, including two new scenes which might appease those who feel that the characterisation of Faramir was the film's most egregious departure from the book; fans will also appreciate an appearance of the Huorns at Helm's Deep plus a nod to the absence of Tom Bombadil. Seeing a little more interplay between the gorgeous Eowyn and Aragorn is welcome, as is a grim introduction to Eomer and Theoden's son. And among the many other additions, there's an extended epilogue that might not have worked in cinemas, but is more effective here in setting up The Return of the King. While the 30 minutes added to The Fellowship of the Ring felt just right in enriching the film, the extra footage in The Two Towers at times seems a bit extraneous--we see moments that in the theatrical version we had been told about, and some fleshed-out conversations and incidents are rather minor. But director Peter Jackson's vision of JRR Tolkien's world is so marvellous that it's hard to complain about any extra time we can spend there.

While it may seem that there would be nothing left to say after the bevy of features on the extended Fellowship, the four commentary tracks and two discs of supplements on The Two Towers remain informative, fascinating, and funny, far surpassing the recycled materials on the two-disc theatrical version. Highlights of the 6.5 hours' worth of documentaries offer insight on the stunts, the design work, the locations and the creation of Gollum and--most intriguing for avid fans--the film's writers (including Jackson) discuss why they created events that weren't in the book. Providing variety are animatics, rough footage, countless sketches and a sound-mixing demonstration. Again, the most interesting commentary tracks are by Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and by 16 members of the cast (eight of whom didn't appear in the first film, and even including John Noble, whose Denethor character only appears in this extended cut). The first two instalments of Peter Jackson's trilogy have established themselves as the best fantasy films of all time, and among the best film trilogies of all time, and their extended-edition DVD sets have set a new standard for expanding on the already epic films and providing comprehensive bonus features. --David Horiuchi

DVD Description
DVD Special Features and Technical Information:

Discs 1 & 2 (The Feature)

• Feature (approx. 206 minutes PAL) - A new version of the second installment in the epic trilogy! The film includes over 32 minutes PAL of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film, made especially for this 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-visualisation
    
  • 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!

  Synopsis
  Picking up where the first film left off, Peter Jackson's THE TWO TOWERS throws the remaining members of the Fellowship into the scattered chaos of Middle-earth, now fully under siege by the forces of Sauron. While Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) journey to the dreaded Mordor, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are held captive by orcs, and Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) search for their abducted companions. Soon Frodo and Sam are joined by the sulking and duplicitous Gollum (portrayed by the voice and motion-captured acting of Andy Serkis), who becomes their guide through the barren lands leading to Mount Doom. Meanwhile Merry and Pippin encounter the looming Treebeard (voiced by Rhys-Davies) and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli find themselves in the land of Rohan, accompanied by an old friend. As the tale continues, each scenario becomes more perilous, and fierce battles erupt at both Isengard, home of the treacherous Saruman (Christopher Lee), and the massive Helm's Deep.
  After masterfully setting up the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien in THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, Jackson continues the trilogy with the increasingly dark and battle-filled TWO TOWERS without skipping a beat. Although the director takes a few more liberties in adapting the second installment, he skillfully cuts from one scenario to the next, creating a tightly woven tapestry with the various storylines. Joining the impressive cast this time around are Miranda Otto as Eowyn; Bernard Hill as her father, King Theoden; Brad Dourif as the aptly named Grima Wormtongue; Karl Urban as Eomer; David Wenham as Faramir; and Serkis under the remarkable CGI facade of Gollum. An intense epic that features one jaw-dropping sequence after another, THE TWO TOWERS more than carries its weight as the crucial centerpiece of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

Customer Reviews

Epic
As those of you who've read my review of the first movie, you'll know that The Lord Of The Rings isn't a great movie. It's a very promising part of a potentially excellent whole. And The Two Towers is but the second slice of the trilogy. Sadly, like the first, the McGuffin of a plot is still flimsy, despite the effort and hard work of the team who made the film, and the whole epic experience -and make no mistake it is unapologetically epic - is frankly overdone.

Sometimes less is more. And what we see is more, a hell of a lot more of New Zealand in the opening sequence than in the other film. Long, ponderous panning shots of mountains and snow that seem to last as long as the film itself.

It's not what you show - but what you don't show that`s important. The problem with The Two Towers is that it, like bad television, shows you everything, and tells you nothing. It's trying too hard to be something epic, something meaningful, when all it is is a big overblown nine-hour cinematic romp of good and evil. It's a two-hour classic trapped inside the body of a three-hour epic.

Where some people think an epic is three hours, Pete Jackson rewrites the book. Three hours is just an ad break. A quick, fast, meaningless bit of fun. For something to be an epic, it has to last half a day (including the inevitable `extended' editions of each film to follow on DVD) to watch in all. Whereas other people trim scenes in order to add speed, excitement, and clarity, Jackson adds. And adds. And adds. Everything. There's probably a kitchen sink in there somewhere.

Just like the first film, there's huge sequences of irrelevant exposition, dialogue, and improbable, insulting co-incidences. Even the smallest moments are played in such a manner as to try and add weight to what is essentially, padding dialogue.

Anyone watching Gandalf's appearance near the end of the film anyone watching the improbable sequence where two of the nameless dwarves just happen to climb onto the one talking tree of the thousands in the forest, or where Treebeard jests that his character only thinks that something is worth saying if it takes a very long time, will be aware that Jackson squanders time as if were limitless. Anyone watching this film will be aware that more than anything else, whilst The Two Towers runs at 24 frames per second, for vast portions of its duration it runs at one thrill an hour. It mistakes length for gravitas.

Besides, The Two Towers are hardly ever seen, and never explained. Why are there "Two Towers"? What is the relationship between them?

The film does has its moments. The implication that runs through this film - through every frame - is that a war isn't about sides. The enemy, what mankind should be fighting, is war itself. The parallels between Bush and Saddam and Osama have never, in my mind, been portrayed in a clearer fashion than the opening sequence that pans over the entirety of Sauraman's domain, composed, as it is entirely of the machines of war. The message is clear. Those who want war will wage war, irrespective of how it may destroy the very fabric of the world we inhabit. These people believe that their pride and their beliefs and their ambition are more important than our very existence.

Where there's an army, there's an apocalypse.

It doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to see a man called Bush avenging the fall of his very own Two Towers whilst he prepares his armies for a war.

And the flipside of this comes the perhaps unsung tragedy of the film. Bernard Hill, who throughout the film acts as the King with dignity and forethought on a level I've not yet seen on screen, who realises that despite his best intentions, and the decisions of many, he has led his people into a trap that can only result in the extinction of his people - a man who, despite a will stronger than a horde of Orcs and a purity that outshines the darkness, realises that in a war it is only physical might that will prevail. And those who fight dirty, those who attack the undefended, those who have no concern for ethics, tend to win in a war. Which is why the Bad Guys are the winners.

And this brings us onto the finale of the film. The Battle Of Helms Deep, fought on many fronts and with many characters is handled as well as it could be, suffering - as it does - from trying to handle several disparate plot lines and unrelated characters who never meet. In effect, The Two Towers is three one hour films weaved together and not always successfully.

As far as epics go, only Star Wars : Send In The Clones comes near to The Two Towers in gravitas or scale. The problem is that The Two Towers is a film that aspires to far far more than it can deliver, and whilst it certainly deliver everything on an epic scale, the only thing it lacks is meaning.

I only hope that the upcoming Return Of The King can answer those questions.

Amazing
For the second time, Peter Jackson, works wonders in bringing JRR Tolkien's `Lord of the Rings' to life, and the Part II: The Two Towers is even more stunning than the first.
As a long-time fan of the books, I was very skeptical that the big screen could really do these works justice, but Peter Jackson, and everyone else who worked on this amazing project, has proved that it certainly can!
The hideous and destructive evil of the Orcs, Wargs and Black Riders is made even more frighteningly stark, and it is with a sense of wonder that we are introduced to the people of Rohan; the Ents and the horrible, crawling, scheming Gollum.

For me the highlight of the film is the Battle of Helms Deep, where a 10 000 strong horde of Orcs, Uruk-Hai and Hillmen from Isengard besiege the people of at this ancient fortress, and the ensuing battle shows the great courage and determination to survive of the besieged and their allies.

Seeing the innocent, beautiful faces of the children of Rohan, hiding with the women in the fortress, and then being flashed to the cruel terror of Saruman's forces is a contrast I will never forget, as Aragorn reminds us that the forces of Saruman are determined to destroy the people of Rohan, down to the last child.

In a clear analogy of propaganda for terrorism., Saruman works the Hillmen into a bloodlust, telling them that the Rohirrim took away their land and drove them into the hills, and now they must burn, destroy, and kill all in their path.

And it is with a sense of grand triumph, that we see Gandalf and the cavalry of Rohan charging down the hill to break the siege; and the army of angry Ents destroying Isengard

The message in the film is what makes it so remarkable and encouraging at this difficult time in human history.
Here is placed a monumental battle between good and evil, without any of the relativism or moral blur that blight our age.
The free world is under threat by dark and evil forces that have a demonic drive to destroy all that is good, just and beautiful.

And the question that faces us all today is asked King Theoden of Rohan: `How do we deal with such reckless hatred'.
Aragorn, the only answer that points the way to the truth, gives the clear answer: `Ride out and meet it, head-on'.

better
more enjoyable and much better than the first this much better effort.it still drags in places and very boring in others but overall its entertaining enough