[Sir Kohran]

We continue the battle with “Counting Fun with Gimli the Dwarf.” But even the one chopped, one killed dwarven slain are but a few leaves in this virulent forest.

I like how we go from a closeup shot of Gimli hacking the Uruk Hai down to a wide shot of the main assault, with Gimli's voice still carrying to us. It makes a good way of connecting the closeups with the CGI.

A ‘turtle’ approaches the main gate, bringing the rams with which the attackers, hidden beneath their shields, hope to smash in the gate. The Uruks approach, and Aragorn notices. He tells the elves to shoot the invaders of the causeway (were the elves idle, or are they robots?), and you see the Uruks take casualties.

The Elves weren't idle - you can see a few dead Uruk Hai fall from the wall as they turn to shoot at the causeway. They were just dealing with the immediate threat coming towards them, before they could afford to face another way to attack.

We see that the Uruks not trying to scale the walls nor playing turtle are not just waving tall sticks in the air. They are moving those bomb things under the wall, in the culvert (iisn’t it a bit dry in there?), and so the ladders and attack on the gate are just a feint – look over here while the blade in my left hand finds your back.

It's refreshing to see that the Uruk Hai are making tactical ploys and screening theirreal plans, instead of just being the usual movie horde of dumb enemies that mindlessly throw themselves onto the good guys until they win.

As there are torches right next to the wall, this has to be some special kind of torch that will aid in the coming destruction, or is it that we just have to have some buildup to increase the tension of this moment? That’s the only reason I can figure why we have this marathon-looking event.

I imagine it was just for safety purposes - if the bombs could be lit by any old torch, then they might have accidentally gone off beforehand, which would have been disastrous for Isengard. This way, if only a select torch can light the bombs, then the bombs will only go off if the Uruk Hai want them to.

Wasn’t our princeling previously infallible? First arrow goes into the right shoulder. Second shot, other shoulder. No chance for a third try, which would have been charmed, to be sure.

It does seem rather odd from a casual pint of view, yes. But remember that this Uruk is a Berserker - the strongest, toughest soldiers in the battle (aside from The Three ), and I can imagine that he'd be able to take two arrows, especially considering that his only reason to live was to reach the bombs, so he'd be completely focused on this goal without thinking of himself. And besides, we don't see Legolas fighting any other Berserkers, so we don't know how effective his arrows would be on them normally anyway.

You've got to love the buildup here. The Uruks chanting, the pounding music, then the Berserker charging through the 'tunnel', then the arrows hitting but not killing him, then the final grunt of the Berserker as he jumps, then the bombs being set off, and then...

BOOM!

It’s hard not to be impressed with the explosion of the wall. Though the defenders take casualties, the Uruks actually fare much worse.

Yes - the music suddenly snaps out, and then the wall is literally torn in half - no flashy fireballs, just a massive avalanche of boulders and debris and soldiers launched into the air, which gradually crash into the surrounding army, crushing more than a few Uruks. I guess the larger Uruk losses are a subtle reminder of the crude nature of evil - it damages all sides eventually.
Interesting how rough the bombs actually are - they end up taking out more Uruks than Elves. The technology's in its early stages; it hasn't been refined yet.

Did you see the person flying from the wall all the way into the group of orcs?

Yep - I saw that when I was watching TTT just yesterday. And what about the rock that goes so far, it even strikes a few of the Uruks on the causeway?
What makesthe CGI in LOTR great is that they add realistic touches - like the person flying into the Uruks, or the individual crashes of the rocks. Or in ROTK, where you see a Mumakil tusk clashing a sword away during the stampede into the Riders.

And does Legolas get credit for killing the torch-orc AND all of the subsequent casualties, or does that only count as one?

...wow!

Oil, boiling or otherwise, would have been a good idea here. Just how slick would that rail-less ramp have been? And how many orcs would have fallen? Where’s the creative warrior here?

All the oil is being used down at the wall for all the water that suddenly appears.

The orcs, now unhindered, gain the area behind the wall. Aragorn lays on the ground, and Uruks approach from behind. Gimli dives into a pile of them,

Nice to see Gimli showing a loyal, brave side, jumping to his friends' aid - no burps here.

and shortly thereafter needs some rescuing of his own, If only those archer elves sitting pretty atop the hill were a little more proactive.

Actually, I can explain the lack of Elvish action - when the wall explodes, you see a quick shot of the Elves behind it getting knocked to the ground by the resulting quake and debris. They take a few mintues to get reorganized, whilst Aragorn and Gimli get caught up with the Uruks. By the time Gimli's being attacked, they are able to send a proper volley into the mob.

By the by, is there continental shift going on, or does the breach suddenly get bigger? When seen in overview, it appears that the hole is about wide enough for three orcs to swim abreast. When Aragorn and Gimli enter the fray, the gap is suddenly six wide. Does the wall now have parapets? Must be more of Saruman’s illusions.

Seeing as all of this action was filmed on a real life set with a real, constructed wall (with a real gap), I think it's just down to alternating camera angles.

Now, leader Aragorn, you hold the high ground. The enemy is below you and has large pointy sticks. They must climb a hill to attack you, and sometimes this hill is even wet. Or damp. So what would you do?
(a) Fill the breach in the wall with Uruk dead – make them have to move their own slain under fire to gain access to the place or,
(b) Draw swords (noticeably shorter than those pointy sticks) and run pell-mell into the group who now need only await you to run into the pointy sticks.

Interestingly, our world has an example where a few bowmen were able to defend against and defeat a numerically superior force. But where’s the tension in that? Didn’t Melkor endeavor to draw someone’s forces off of the high ground? Seems that these elves never sang those songs, and Saruman knows his history. And PJ ignored ours.

Yes - this is just a ridiculous tactical move. Still, I suppose we had to have a good reason for Legoals to do his cheap skater move.

However - it does serve one role, in that it's the last time that the Elves will charge into battle, swords drawn. This the final hour of Elvish pride - a final blaze of glory for these fading people, as they try to recapture their golden age of fighting and heroism, but are merely cut down by the stronger, more modern Uruk Hai instead. It's a good way of depicting the Elves' situation in the Third Age with on-screen action.

We leave the scene with the second wave of elves engaging the Uruks, who are now pouring, streaming through the hole in the wall.

Interesting how the mood changes - when the bomb goes off, desperation sets in. When Aragorn and the Elves charge, the feeling becomes more optimistic. When the retreat is called, the mood becomes depressing.

Back in the Ent world, not much has happened this Age. The Ents seemingly have elected to sit this one out – again? – and Merry is none too happy. Where is the Ent wrath like when the Hobbits first encountered this stick in the mud? An orc is killed and Mr. Hastypants was ready to squish the hobbits too. Now that Saruman has unleashed Isengard, Treebeard wants to hide from the storm, hoping that it passes him by. One could make the argument that Treebeard may have a point, as Uruks don’t eat cellulose but horse and man flesh, and so “what me worry” and all that. But, as we know, Treebeard’s herd has also been attacked. Some shepherd. Part of his flock is destroyed, he loses his mates (the Entwives) and their last mailing address is the Brownlands. Did these Ents sit that one out too?

Anyway, so PJ has us watch these obviously CG creatures for seemingly hours just so we can learn that they are going to exit the stage. Oops! Wait a moment. There’s that PJism again. Did Fangorn just say that this wasn’t his war?

Whilst this is annoying, it does avoid the movie cliche of having 'tension' and then having the predictable ending of the Ents doing the good thing. This way, we are both surprised and disappointed that the Ents aren't doing what we thought they would. So when the Ents do get round to doing the right thing, we are more happy as it's turning out right after all.

Merry admonishes them, and, for lack of a better word, the Ents look dorky. Treebeard tells the hobbit to go home. Must have missed this part in the books, but I can just ‘feel’ that tension brewing, and so it’s worth the divergence…Pip adds his two cents, and states that at least they have the Shire, but Merry makes Pip think a bit more about that. This war won’t stay in the South. And aren’t some friends involved anyway, so at least one should go and help them? Oh Pip.

Very touching moment here - Merry puts down Pippin's vain little hopes with a flat, depressing reminder of how all the world will fall if action isn't taken. Their home will not remain safe for long if they flee. They can stick their heads in the sand, but then be stabbed in the back.

Haldir watches as his soldiers make for the Keep, and gets wounded. As he staggers, he gets whacked right in the back of the head, and that looks like it hurt. We start slow-mo, and Aragorn comes to Haldir’s rescue…well, aid. Haldir sees the many dead, and maybe he knows that soon he will join their number. Aragorn comforts him in that last long moment, and either salutes him or checks for his wallet.

It's a fantastically sombre death scene - Haldir doesn't scream or whimper; he just accepts that his time in Middle-Earth is over.