[HCIsland]

I was thumbing through reviews at <A HREF="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheLordoftheRingsTheTwoTowers-1118285/reviews.php" TARGET=_blank>Rotten Tomatoes</A> when I came across this comment which to me sums up the main issue I had with TTT.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> It can't be easy starting a movie in the middle, staying in the middle, and then ending it in the middle. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>I think the changes that PJ introduced were mostly to address this problem and try to give more of a structure to this story by making the central plot the saving of Rohan. In the end though, I don't think he completely succeeded, mostly because the parallel story with Sam and Frodo kind of clunked under it's own weight in Osgiliath.<P>Don't get me wrong, I really liked this movie and I think Jackson did as good a job as could be expected (I think I gave it 8.5 or 9 on some thread or another), but in the end I don't think it was as strong as FoTR but should likely stand up very well when the three films can be watched together as a single work. <P>As a stand alone movie though, I think a movie goer that is not familiar with the material would get the impression that the LoTR story line pretty much ends up where it started at the beginning of the film. There's a lot going on up on the screen, but not a lot happens.<P>In the end, PJ likely made the right decision going more for the razzle-dazzle slam-bang battle sequences then the emotional impact we saw in Fellowship and we are almost sure to see in RoTK.<P>H.C.