LotR2-TTT-Seq01

[Lathriel]

If PJ had done a prologue I think it would have taken longer for me to get back into ME. However, with his opening I was pulled back in immediatly which I really liked.
Since there are some slower parts in this movie (Called breathers) you can explain everything to a confused fellow viewer.

[Essex]

I remember the consternation Gandalf's fall had amongst posters on an old lotr forum site I used to frequent (before this one). In other words, how on earth did Gandalf catch up with his sword and the Balrog? they had quite a few seconds on him and he seemed to catch up to them pretty fast...... can he fly al la Superman?

Anyway, I love the shot of the balrog and gandalf falling (at terminal velocity) through the 'hole' in the roof of the Lake. It shows what a massive cavern it must of been, and then going back to the shot directly behind them as they hit worked superbly.

Now we come to the point where surround sound (esp DTS) is required. I love the delicate use of effects PJ's sound team uses. With the volume pumped up high when Frodo and Sam are eating their lembas bread, you can hear the thunderstorm in the background getting louder until sam mentions the rain clouds. it's little things like this that keep you emmersed in the world of ME.

I love the way gollum crawls down the wall like a spider. A foreshadowing of shelob in the next film perhaps? And we see how dangerous an advesary he is in his fight with the hobbits. but did you notice gollum actually TOUCHES the ring during the fight? he just gets his fingertips to it.....

great delivery of the lines 'release him or I'll cut your throat' and 'lead us to the black gate' by EW.

I also like the EE new scene with the first viewing of gollum's split personality.

[alatar]

Listening to the Director's commentary this morning I learned that New Line wanted to start the second installment of LotR with a prologue - with Cate Blanchett voice over - but PJ and crew resisted. I can see his point as these three films are actually one movie, and to break every three hours or so for a summation is a bit silly. On the other hand, some newbies who hadn't read the books nor gleaned anything from all of the hullabaloo pre-TTT may have been a bit lost as the movie started.

The Balrog-Gandalf falling into the lake scene, I think, is taken from a John Howe sketch, though I cannot find the source. PJ stated that the Bridge fight scene is the same FotR footage - a surprise to me - with just some different Frodo shots. And though the Balrog as 'Slimerog' was storyboarded, as was a fight scene on Durin's Stair, these were cut due to budget constraints.

"Hmm, more Balrog or more Dwarf drinking...hmm.""

[Tuor in Gondolin]

Listening to the Director's commentary this morning I learned that New Line wanted to start the second installment of LotR with a prologue - with Cate Blanchett voice over - but PJ and crew resisted. I can see his point as these three films are actually one movie, and to break every three hours or so for a summation is a bit silly. On the other hand, some newbies who hadn't read the books nor gleaned anything from all of the hullabaloo pre-TTT may have been a bit lost as the movie started.

This actually happened. My brother (a non-reader of LOTR)
took my 10-year-old sister-in-law's nephew ( a fan) to
see TTT without havng seen FOTR and confessed to a
good bit of confusion as to what was going on.

[Macalaure]

On the other hand, TTT and RotK (the books, I mean ) both start with a short summary as well. I wouldn't have minded if the two movies started with something alike, too. Especially if they took some of the lines from the book synopsis.

[Boromir88]

The beginning of TTT is extremely well done. The coolest part is it being a dream of Frodo, yet what ACTUALLY happened between Gandalf and the Balrog after the fall.

they had quite a few seconds on him and he seemed to catch up to them pretty fast...... can he fly al la Superman?~Essex

Well at one point Gandalf does point his sword down and put his arm on his hip kind of like a Captain Morgan look...

Gollum was great and I adore Andy Serkis, very talented actor and what he had to go through was incredible. I know this is later, but I mean wearing a spandex suit going down a freezing creek several times...amazing.

I love it when they capture him and he's being dragged along screaming, I get a chuckle, and then you do pity him as he sits their wreathing and screaming. And I think Gollum only gets better as the movie progresses and we reach the ROTK. Truly one of the best performances of the movies.

[doug*platypus]

TTT has two of my favourite things in almost any movie. Number one is Gandalf's fight with the Balrog. Intense, man. I love the way he catches up to and clutches Glamdring. Physics be d@mned! Very original way to start the movie as well, with a flashback to FOTR which turns out to be a dream of Frodo's. Nice nod to his prophetic night visions of Gandalf in Bombadil's house.

Gollum's introduction is excellent; almost exactly how I pictured it from reading the book (which is quite a compliment, IMHO). "The thieves, the thieves, the filthy little thieves!" Oh man, so good!

Although this will anger many a Gollum fanboy, I have to say that I'm not convinced the filmmakers got his look exactly right. For me, the definitive Gollum is the one represented in the Alan Lee illustrated centenary version of LOTR. Although not quite monstrous, he is quite an odd looking creature, with bulging yellow eyes, lank hair and sharp teeth. Gollum in the movies (well, in TTT and ROTK at least) looked a bit too much like an old man, and was not really scary to look at.

Is this the sequence where Sam pulls Gollum via the rope around his throat off some rocks? Too violent for me; I never would have imagined Sam capable of such action (although in the book he was frequently tempted to slay Gollum).