The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) Reaction PART 1! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- This film was flawless. Paced to perfection. The plot was so incredibly engaging, the performances were of the highest tier, the CGI and special & practical effects were unreal, the sets, costumes and especially the music were all Oscar-worthy. I am almost tempted to watch the third film right now but it has to wait, like all good things. The story is really unfolding now and I cannot wait to watch the final act. Peter Jackson is a genius. Lightning does strike twice. The question is does it strike for a third time?
Full Length Reactions to ALL the films I've watched and Early Access at Patreon: / shanwatchesmovies
0:00 Intro
2:14 The Film
20:54 Outro
Hey guys, I'm Shaneel (Shan). Welcome to the channel!
My reaction and review to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) for the first time. Hope you enjoy the video!
*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. All rights belong to their respective owners. - Zábava
Hey guys, I apologize for the muted audio in the first couple of minutes. It got copyright claimed for music even though I used it less than 10 seconds at a time. Weird.
thanks for this comment, I was starting to wonder if there was something with my computer haha
It's a damn shame YT doesn't have tools for separate audio channels.
Dispute the claim. Warner Bros is quite nice when it comes to fair use. Had only good experiences with my LotR videos.
Weird, most LOTR reaction vids I saw had no problems with this, they were still monetized. Eh, CZcams's rules are so arbitary.
I'd double like if I could, just for the kwirky ending music you played... keep up the good work :)
There is way more practical effects, minatures than you realised. Many things you refer as CGI are real props.
Jup, they used miniatures (well, they called them bigatures because of the scale) of a lot of the places (Isengard, Fangorn, etc.) for the grand-scale shots and they look amazing! I watch the movies twice a year and the disk set has the making of as well, which I have watched. Everyone who's interested in things like that would definetly enjoy the making of :)
Yeah! They even found actual Ents to help out with this movie! Still looking for their Ent wives though... (But yes so many great practical effects and miniatures).
Even a lot of the CGI was done more practically at the time. If you look at the Balrog, the demonic creature that Gandalf fought, technology hadn’t managed to get to the point where you could render flames to look right. So they filmed separate elements of real fire and then stitched them all onto the CGI model, which, if I remember correctly, was initially sculpted in intricate detail by hand from clay and scanned, again, by hand, into the rendering software.
All reactors in near future: "I'm going into this completely blind, the only thing I know about LOTR is that there is somebody named Aragorn who kicked helmet and broke his toe."
Btw: Why is nobody mentioning Sam who pierced his foot while going into water? #justiceforsamsfoot
Because Sam doesn't exist. Won't you think of poor Sean Astin?
Not in the shot that was used, though.
Also all reactors: Those "dragons" are actually called fell beasts.
So bad ass!!!!
@@CliffordLake Important to know since it continues a trend: the fell beasts were Sauron's lesser creations in imitation of Morgoth's greater works.
I think Shan is one of the few reactors who gets that the rope came loose because it is magical and not due to a badly tied knot from Sam.
Also the bog smell is not Gollum but the dead marshes.
Yes, I noticed that too. That rope held when it needed to, and released when it needed to. Sam didn't think it was a very special gift, yet it was.
The reason why they interact with Gollum so realistically is because Andy Serkis actually performed his movements on camera dressed in a motion capture suit. A Layer of CGI over him was added in post-production. It was truly a revolution in special FX.
The reason the CG holds up so well is because they used as many practical effects, sets and prop as possible.
also it was state of the art in when it came out.
Regarding Gollum "Not sure if you're a good guy or a bad guy right now..."
The answer is: "Yes."
Reason why Aragorn is in his late 80s but looks half his age. Basically Aragorn is descended from Elrond’s(Arwen’s dad) twin brother Elros, who chose to be human while Elrond chose to be an elf(both were half-elven). One of the side effects was that Elros’ descendants have longer life span. There are other reasons but it would take a little too long to explain.
He is Númenórean, basically a different race than the "modern" humans. They were far far powerful than the normal people of Middle-Earth with a lifespan of 300 to 500 years. Their powers were a reward from the Valar (gods).
It is true he is descendant of Elros, but the reason he has long life isn't just because he is related to Elros, but because Elros was the first king of the Númenóreans
@@Songfugel I know but I couldn’t explain all of this because I wrote this on my lunch break.
@@Songfugel for the sake of understanding the movies op's comment was good enough, no need to add unneccessary complexity
@@janekgaganek3871 Apparently you are new to the internet and LotR fandom...there is always need for more unnecessary complexity and trivia no one cares about
@@Songfugel ye but that means going down the rabbit hole of silmarillion, which should be left for later for those who wanna know more
4:19 They're not interacting with the CGI so much as they're interacting with Andy Serkis. He's doing the full mocap, and being rotoscoped out of most scenes. As for 'how do they achieve that in 2001?" Slowly and painstakingly.
And they had CGI engineers work with make up experts to perfect skin tones and other minute details.
You forgot "amazingly."
Fun fact: you'll get way more comments about Viggo's broken foot after kicking the helmet than you ever thought possible. Lol.
I'm so glad you're finally watching these movies!
Dammit Emily, I was just about to comment on that!😂😂😂
I'm surprised this gets mentioned a lot but no-one mentions how Sean Astin cut his foot on glass when wading into the river Or that Saruman has his finger bandaged when standing on top of Orthanc casting a spell to cause the avalanche in the fellowship of the ring.
Yup, obligatory comment for any TTT reaction video
Don’t forget all his head butts
The only person I know that recognised the rope was elvish and came undone on its own, as well as it hurting Gollum - nice one! :)
😄😄True, but I was kinda going off what the books insinuated because I'm a nerd :)
Gandalf isn’t human, rather an angelic being called a Maia. This is why he is a wizard in the first place, having magic inherently. His immortal spirit, upon being exhausted to death after his duel with the Balrog, went back to the realm of Valinor, which lies in the West across the seas. He was given new power by the Valar, the highest order of angels, beings comparable to Norse deities in power. I suppose you could say he had to wake up a bit more once he arrived back in Middle-Earth as Gandalf the White
That's why he can fight and defeat the Balrog, they're both on a similar level in the order of beings.
Gandolf also can fight the Balrog without getting burned because he wears Narya, the ring of fire: one of the three rings made for Elvin kind.
Andy Serkis did all the physical work and they cover his body in a pajama like suit with thousands of dots
no dots
He had to act his whole role again later with those dots. On sets - no dots, just "weird" white costume
You are in for a treat in part 2. The Battle of Helm's Deep is the de-facto example of how to film a medieval-style siege. Prepare yourself for cinematic perfection.
Ian McKellen. This is the movie I realized how good an actor he is. The smallest smile when he learns Samwise went with Frodo. You can tell that he hadn't foreseen that and it pleases him. So subtle. So inspiring.
Andy Serkis should have won an Oscar for this movie. Also love the Rohan trio of Theoden, Eomer and Eowyn, underrated performances from all three. Glad to see Eomer's actor went on to star in bigger things, he was easily one of the best things about the Trek reboot; his performance as the new Bones McCoy was so spot on, Leonard Nimoy admitted he had to blink back tears because the new McCoy sounded just like the old one!
Also so good as Lord Vaako in the Riddick franchise.
And Dredd!
When you complimented the music from the first film I just knew you would appreciate Howard Shore's mastery of themes in this film. The bittersweet nobility of the Rohan theme is stunning.
I love Eowyn’s theme even more. The loneliness, the nobility, the hope and despair, the desire...perfection. Possibly one of Shore’s best pieces
Fun fact,when Aragorn kicks the helmet where all the orks have been burned,he actually breaks is toe in that scene!! He is actually yelling out of real pain!!!
Darn, beat me to it! Gotta give him credit, that was an amazing scream he lets out after he kicks the helmet.
mandatory comment
Obligatory comment
With regards to Gollum it's more accurate to say motion capture than just CGI, Andy Serkis is giving an incredible performance under that CGI.
Back then, it's really more "motion reference". I don't think they had all the 3d tracking they do now.
@@BrianWenger if by motion reference do you mean the tennis ball on a stick? Serkis was on set in a suit giving the physical performance of Gollum as well as the voice performance.
@@johnfriday5169 Sort of. "Motion capture" is when you have trackers placed on someone that a computer can read and translate directly into 3d, which is then used to drive things. For these movies, if I remember correctly, they still had tracker dots, but no way of automatically bringing them into 3d. It's still good reference for animators to see which parts of the face move in which direction, but they couldn't actually use any 3d data from the trackers because the technology didn't exist yet.
For example, when you see the dots on someone like the Thanos actor or the ones in Avatar, there's a camera attached to their head that can read those and map them into 3d. Serkis didn't have a camera attached to his head.
That felt kinda rambly, but does it make sense?
@@BrianWenger since this exchange started I've been watching "Andy Serkis explains motion capture/ motion performance " videos on CZcams. It seems they could track his body movements in real time for Gollum but the facial tracking didn't exist until Kong. But, all I was trying to say from the get go is that Andy Serkis's performances tend to get criminally overlooked.
@@johnfriday5169 Right! You said it better than I could. And agreed on the performance. Even crazier to think an animator had to replicate all that subtlety manually in 3d back.
Kudos for talking about Howard Shore and the soundtrack. It really is something out of this fucking world.
Shore's range is mind-boggling. He got his start as the bandleader for SNL in the 70's, and then went on to soundtracks. Remember "Ed Wood", with its great 50's sci-fi score featuring the theremin? That was Shore, too. Most soundtrack composers have a very distinct signature, like John Williams, but Shore can work in any style of music, and always knocks it out of the park.
Haven't commented on your stream before, so just wanted to say I love your reviews and attitude. Easy and entertaining to watch.
Thanks for your kind words!
When the banner is blown off by the wind, that was not planned. Made a great visual.
You have to wonder when Sean Bean gets a script if he just checks if he is alive at the end of it before accepting...
Lol
"Oi... I'm in a horror movie, I'm going to die here for sure.
*readsreads*
What, the horror movie is the one movie where I survive?"
@@ianwestc Looks like his movie killed count is at 23...but now he is refusing roles where he does die.
It was weird for me when he started doing feature films because I always knew him from Shakespearean acting.
Dang it Shan! Every time I have a meeting....
😂
Your wife can wait!
@@Jayyy667 lol, as a single mom let me assure you: any spouse of mine had better be right beside me watching all things LotR! However, I am going to tease my boss now and say as my work wife, she has to wait 🤣
"The tree, it's alive!" Aren't most trees, Shan? "But that's not important."-- Airplane (1980). At that point, Treebeard was not CGI. He was a full size animatronic as he was in most shots where he interacts physically with the Hobbits. Best. Leo.
My best friend and I went to a showing of this film in 2003 where Sala Baker and Andy Serkis did a Q&A afterwards. (Sala is way shorter than you'd think, by the way.) My friend got to ask the very last question, "Did you really chew through that rabbit?" The audience laughed, Andy was delighted and answered with a big grin, "Yes, I did!" Great moment. :D
That Rohan theme.....so great
kinda broke my heart in the theaters when the audience took Gollum vs. Smeagol's "argument" as 100% comedic. I found it very sad and tragic, and see Gollum as something like an addict who has hit absolute rock bottom (the ring corrupting him so wholly he destroyed all that was good in his life), but there the theater audience was laughing the whole time.
I do think at the very end when he says "leave now and never come back!" and kinda has an unsure look on his face, then the happy dance, that is humorous. But the actual internal struggle and fractured personality is tragic and it bothered me the audience where I saw the film was so deaf to the story's points about even a wretched creature like Gollum/Smeagol having some worth, and none of us being fit to deal out death or judgment to a fallen character or person like that.
The evil of the ring and what it compelled Smeagol to do was so horrifying to Smeagol that his mind literally created another entity to cope with what a horrible, bestial husk of a thing he became. I won't go deeper here until you've seen Return of the King, but Gollum is more of a foil to Frodo (and Sam) than it appears. It isn't just the ring that connects them.
It wasn't comic relief but it was funny. I mean, the person is arguing with himself. There can be humor in tragedy.
people are very dim.
@@cheeseburger12 Well, it just strikes me personally about as funny as a schizophrenic homeless person on the street arguing with themselves. That's to say, not very funny at all.
Yes, it might evoke some uncomfortable laughter (because that is a natural response for people when they encounter something strange or unfamiliar), but something like a person in mental and emotional stress is not humorous to me.
@Maya Nightwolf you must live in an area with more sympathetic people than where I live. I saw all of these movies multiple times in theaters and the way audiences took these kinds of scenes got on my nerves. I grant there are definitely moments where Gollum's characters does and says funny, even cute, things. However, there are serious and ultimately sad moments where people were clearly taking it for a joke.
I guess since I had read the books and knew all the backstory, I saw Gollum/Smeagol very differently than the audiences who treated him like comic relief did.
@@cantecleer wait...that's a joke. Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor. But it is still humor. You just joked about a homeless person arguing with himself.
I mean, the way western civilization is doing everything it possibly can to committ suicide, its how I get through the day. Your milage may vary.
I love that you picked up the rope was magic.
Every other reactor just thinks they were really lucky it didn't come undone!!
Rohan's theme is my favorite. Glad you noticed how awesome it is.
The Ride of the Rohirim is the most beautiful display of the song as well. Such a beautiful time in the third film
I’m so glad you got why the elvish cloak worked on the first watch. It irks me when reactors just can’t put 2 and 2 together there lol.
4!
That and the rope. They're *elvish.* Of *course* they're magic!
The only bad thing about this upload is that it immediately makes me want to see your reaction to the rest. Maaaaaan. Keep up the awesome work though, Shan. Smartest and most observant reviewer on CZcams.
In the book, the towers were Barad-Dur (Sauron's fortress) and Minas Ithil the tower of the moon. Long ago taken over by Mordor, Minas Ithil was renamed Minas Morgul, the tower of sorcery, and became the lair of the Nazgul. They changed it for the movie I guess because unlike the book, in the movie Minas Morgul isn't shown until the third film. It made sense that they edited it the way they did, seeing as some climactic moments were saved for the last film.
There are a few interpretations of which towers are referenced; even Tolkien changed his mind.
@@rickardroach9075 True, but if you view Tolkien's original illustration for The Two Towers it had Minas Ithil with a moon sigil above it.
@@MikeHunt-uz1qw The original first edition dust cover has (as I understand it) the one ring in the centre with its ominous eye of Sauron surrounded by elvish runes and topped by an elven ring.
@@rickardroach9075 Okay I looked at the second edition cover that I was thinking of, and it is Minas Ithil (Morgul) and Orthanc. Barad-Dur isn't included at all. Whatever, adaptations and all that. Still, it is great material.
The title The Two Towers refers to [edit] Minas Morgul and Orthanc, the Witch-king of Angmar and Nazgul’s stronghold in Mordor and Saruman’s citadel in Isengard, respectively. These two towers can be seen as a physical embodiment of the two visions of evil that Tolkien explores throughout The Lord of the Rings. This is according to Tolkien, others may disagree. Best. Leo.
Thank you Leo! I kind of figured you gave more insight.
It's actually not Barad-dur according to Tolkien. The title itself was hastily put together on a deadline, and he went back and forth on what towers they were (many pairings were considered). However, according to both Tolkien's correspondence, and notes in some editions of Fellowship, as well as his own original artwork for the cover ( see here tolkiengateway.net/w/images/c/c5/J.R.R._Tolkien_-_The_Two_Towers.jpg ), it isn't in fact Barad-dur, but Minas Morgul, formerly Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Moon.
@@rabid_si Brain spasm! You are absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, you found the exact citation that I was misremembering. Are you free to be a fact checker? Best. Leo.
If you read the book, it is also firmly divided into two parts: one section following Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, Merry, Pippin, and the other Frodo, Sam, and Gollum (the events of each part are not shown concurrently like they are in the film) - so "Two Towers" may also be a metaphor for how the book is divided.
@@Tlevids Rabid was quite correct. When the publisher decided against printing the whole book in one volume, they, in collaboration with Tolkien, had to come up with titles for the three newly-separated volumes. That's an interesting story in itself, which may be found in the appendices of the boxed sets of the movie or the CZcams uploads. Jackson and Company maintained that there are actually three separate narrative tracks that they had to interweave into the films. Best. Leo.
I love how he remembers all the small details and makes all the connections on how it was used in later scenes
The music, right from the title card alone, is just so darn good.
The scene around 20:38 is one of my favorites: the look of horror on Grima's face. He had no idea what he was getting himself into!
Horror? I read it as awe and contentment. He thought Saruman couldn’t possibly defeat the human armies but finds out his master is far more powerful than he realized.
Ahh... just before the battle that all other movie battles try to come close to. I appreciate you actually paying attention and catching the small things. I also have to say again, these extended editions are better than any other movie's extended cuts. All of the extra scenes are all killer, no filler.
The lief motif of Rohan is my second favorite piece in the entire trilogy, just behind Concerning Hobbits (the Shire Lief Motif). That violin comes into play later, in the most epic of moments.
Now I have to wait...
The actor who plays Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) also played Billy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Doc Cochran in Deadwood, and numerous other iconic characters.
Piter DeVries the mentat/assassin in the Dune movie, too.
And Deputy Pell in Mississippi Burning
'Wow, it's enchanted!' Thank you! You got the point of the elvish rope. Most people think it's some kind of joke about how bad Sam's rope-tying skills are.
I LOVE during Sauroman’s speech, the subtle emotional hit from Grima as he silently weeps. At the end of the day he’s still a man of Rohan.
10:10 those aren't actually dragons, they're simply referred to as Fellbeasts.
The Dragons of Middle-Earth can FAR bigger than the Fellbeasts, and way more dangerous. And are intelligent creatures.
And are intelligent creatures like men or hobbits etc.
About the color-grading:
Each film had a specific color cast (or "underpainting") to give it a distinct tone separating each "book" from another:
Green (FELLOWSHIP) - Shire
Red (TTT) - Rohan
Blue (KING) - Gondor
The boxed sets for the extended editions are also painted in this color scheme.
However, the original FELLOWSHIP DVD (and theatrical print, IIRC) had a much more even-handed color-balance to it. It wasn't until the Blu-ray that they boosted the green to the point of being noticeable. It's been that way ever since. But the red and blue tints to the other films has always been noticeable in both theatrical and home video. They've likely made tweaks to it for the 4K versions, but I've held off on buying them as I'm waiting for the 20th Anniversary boxed set collections due out this summer.
Physical Media Forever!
Andy Serkis did such a wonderful job in presenting the Gollum/Smeagol split personality, I was very saddened that he did did not get an Academy Award for his performance. I had read the books several times before I saw this film and had never really perceived his split personality until this movie. The end credit "Gollen's Song" is also an excellent summation of his twisted character.
Me when I see people already telling him about Viggo's foot;
"HOLD YOUR FIRE."
The part when Treebeard speaks about the ent-wifes is very sad...
I'm so excited for this! I loved your reaction to the first movie, you were IN it watching that one, and this one is... I'm trying to be patient and not skipping your intro because your work is GOOD and deserves a full watch and my total attention.
And WHAT a reaction! I love your perspective on both the technical and story aspects of filmmaking. Thrilled to see part 2!
Hello Shan, this is my first comment (sorry if I don’t speak English very well). Your videos are great, I can’t wait to see your reactions at the rest of the Lord Of The Rings saga. I can recommend you to watch The Hobbit too after this trilogy, as the Creed saga because you just watched all the Rocky movies. You mentioned the quality of the picture in this video: the 4K version has a different color grading, much better than the bluray which had a very strange green tint (specially on The Fellowship) but not exactly the same than the theater version. This 4K version of The Lord Of The Rings matches the picture quality of The Hobbit. Thanks for reading and of course for your work.
Your English is better than most Americans. Probably better than most Englishmen as well.
I hope he doesn't watch the Hobbit trilogy, that thing is a hot mess.
@@Ceractucus oh thanks !
Your English is great!
"the two towers" refers to both Barad-Dur (saurons fortress in mordor that has the big Eye floating above it) and the Tower of Orthanc , aka Isengard , Saruman's home
I really enjoy watching your reactions. You're very emotive, so it's a lot of fun. Plus you're also very observant and catch onto a lot of stuff extremely quickly!
Glad you're watching the Extended Edition; while it can be very long (especially for people who haven't read the books or aren't huge fans already), the EEs provide a *lot* of extra stuff, mostly character moments, but a few have *major* implications to certain characters (to the point where I am confused as to why they were cut - probably because the theatrical cuts were already very long, but still).
2:27 The films were actually filmed simultaneously. So, one day they could be filming scenes from Fellowship, the next they could be doing Two Towers. If I recall correctly, one of the first scenes shot was almost the last scene from The Return of the King!
3:02 The identities of The Two Towers are a little bit ambiguous in the books, though Tolkien *apparently* intended them to be Orthanc (Saruman's tower in Isengard) and Minas Morgul (a place which doesn't come up until the next film because of the way Peter Jackson changed Frodo, Sam, and Gollum's story for the films). In the film, the "two towers" are explicitly called out as Orthanc and Barad-dûr (Sauron's fortress).
9:20 Peter Jackson's background is in horror, and it really shines through in scenes like this.
14:10 Howard Shore's score is brilliant and epic and beautiful. The themes just work so well and fit so seamlessly with the peoples, places, and characters associated with them.
14:27 I love the "Give me a break!" look the face of Háma (the door-warden). He knows perfectly well that Gandalf's staff is more than just a stick of wood but lets them in anyway. When things start going down, too, he stops Gamling from drawing his sword.
16:18 Rohan's theme is played on a Hardanger fiddle, to be specific, an instrument mainly associated with Norway. Given that Tolkien's writing of Rohan was heavily influenced by Anglo-Saxon culture (a culture that was itself influenced by the Norse), this feels fitting.
18:18 The Dúnedain (Aragorn's people) are descended from the Númenóreans, who were in ages past blessed with a greatly extended lifespan. Aragorn is specifically descended from the ruling line of Númenor, meaning he's directly related to their first king, Elros, the brother of Elrond (something like his 63rd descendant). So Aragorn and Arwen are (very, very, *very*) distant cousins (so distant that you'd be more likely closely related to a random person you meet on the street), but the family tree is traceable. Elros and Elrond are actually half-elves and were given the choice to follow the path of the Elves or the path of Men. Elrond chose the way of the Elves, while Elros chose the way of Men (and thus eventually died of old age). This is, in part, why Elrond is so upset about Arwen's intent to be with Aragorn - he lost his brother to mortality and doesn't want his beloved daughter to be thus parted from him forever, too.
Shan, so impressed with your memory and ease of pronunciation of all the names and places after only one film! Really enjoying your watch. 🤗
That violin. It just pierces my soul every time.
John Rhys Davies does the voice of the Ent. Not sure which version you're watching Shan but it has a lot of scenes I have never seen like Merry and Pippin drinking the pitcher of water. My back story. My wife and I had planned on going to the theatre on a Saturday, but it happened to be the same morning as the space shuttle columbia crash. As I'm watching Gandalf falling from the bridge into the dark abyss with the demon, sparks falling with them, it instantly shot my mind back to the shuttle falling from orbit. Just wanted to forget the tragedy for a couple hours, and now when ever I rewatch this i always think back to the Columbia disaster.
Your reactions have been great! I'm having lots of fun with you on this journey! 😁
Something people always miss is wormtongues reaction to seeing the army. he has a small tear almost as if he regrets not realizing the severity of what hes done.
Or just got a whiff of the BO from ten thousand orcs.
Yeah Go Shan Go! Really enjoy your reaction channel and I’m glad you are finding new love for lord of the rings and other great classics!
John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) also does the voice for Treebeard. Another tid-bit...When Viggo (Aragorn) kicked the helmet after thinking the Hobbits were dead, he broke his toe and his scream was genuine.
I like your videos man, I can tell you're pretty bright and you pick up on a lot of things others maybe miss.
Found your channel because of lotr and I'm loving it so far, but I also saw that you recently did a reaction for unforgiven and that was amazing. It's the only reaction for that movie I've actually seen on CZcams but that's one of my favourite movies so it was great to see. Looking forward to the rest of this!
It's like watching a kid on Christmas morning...😁
You're going to want to watch the special features for this to see how they made these effects work. Also check out dead alive/braindead for some vintage Jackson.
The 'violin' from the Rohan theme is actually a Norse fiddle known as a hardanger, I love the sound it produces. It's raw and harsh, but in a melodious way. It has extra strings that sit beneath the regular violin strings which pick up the vibrations and create an added layer of sound through the natural vibrations.
The Ent-draughts are made by Treebeard. There are different kinds and they provide his nourishment.
Treebeard is also voiced by John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli. Of course, his other iconic roles include Sallah from the Indiana Jones movies and Prof. Arturo from the TV show Sliders. He was also allergic to the makeup that he had to wear in these movies. Not allergic in the sense that it could kill him, but in that it made his skin break out and all rashy underneath. It wasn't very pleasant for him. He basically just grinned and beared it all through production. Very dedicated to his craft, that is for certain.
You're killing me Shan! We need part 2!
Hey Shan, if you do read the books, I think it would be cool if you made a follow-up video going over things like questions the films raised which the books answered and maybe looking at some of the changes and discussing whether they took away from the story or perhaps made sense from a cinematic perspective.
@Shan Watches Movies Agreed. I would also be interested in which changes made the presentation better vs which detracted.
I first read Lord of the Rings around 1975 and while I was not quite sure about some of the changes I still liked all 3 movies a lot
"He speaks in the third person, his mind is broken"
So THAT'S what happened to so many in Hollywood...
I saw some extended version bits in this reaction portion...good deal for you! Aragorn revealing his age was never done in the theatrical release. Just that little bit makes an enormous difference in my opinion.
Holy shit the score is so incredible. Seen these movies a couple dozen times and it will never get old
I'm looking forward for part 2, you're great!
in the books when saruman the white turned evil, he became saruman of many colors. hes robes would change constantly in colors of the rainbow because his purity was corrupted by his evil desire. they didnt put it in the live action movie or reference it, I suppose because its hard to do without it looking silly.
he was very jealous of gandalf. because while he was the first to volunteer to become a wizard to guide the people of the world, it was gandalf who was chosen as the leader. despite gandalf turning the offer down and saruman getting the reins, he had a grudge.
he was also searching the ring of power, I think in the book there is a notion of him even forging one of his own or something after consuming so much information about them and how they are made.
even the reason why he decided it was time to crump sauron in the forest during the time when hobbit took place, was because he was afraid he was getting too close to the ring and he wanted to prevent it so he has a change to get it for himself.
These are probably among the greatest trilogies ever made! Let's go....love your reactions
Thanks man! Hope you enjoy!
I've been waiting whole week for this!
It's impressive how they interact with Gollum because they were interacting with a real person in a mocap suit. ;) Andy Serkis. Who also was in Mocap in the new Planet of the Apes movies, playing as Ceaser. This movie was ground breaking with how well the mocap was done. Hence even the face feels real when he talks/moves.
And King Kong.
Viggo Mortensen’s scream when he kicked that helmet was genuine. He broke his toe when he kicked it
Fellbeasts, not dragons
I never noticed “It’s one of my own compositions” was in one of the hobbit movies _and_ this!
Yes, the two towers are Saruman’s tower of Orthanc and Sauron’s tower of Bara-Dur where his Eye is
I really enjoy your movie reviews.
Damn men, this is going sweet.
Love this one, i still remember go to this one at the cinema
Consider also that not only did Peter Jackson & Co. make these movies. But they made both the Theatrical Versions and the Extended Versions of those movies. Effectively putting together six differing film versions, and in a way that has each tie and work together to tell the individual and overaarcing stories.
10:05 "They fly now?" "They fly now!"
The Two Towers of the title of Book Two are the tower of Isengard, where Saruman lives and breeds an army of his special brand of orcs (the Uruk-Hai, the ones with the White Hand mark), and Barad-dûr, the enormous tower with the Eye of Sauron burning on top. It represents how the kingdoms of Rohan and Gondor are caught back against back between the two enemies.
You probably know this by now but the two towers refers to Isengard (In the books that's the name of the area and the actual tower is called Orthanc) and Barad Dur, the tower in Mordor atop which is the Eye.
Shan if you are wondering about Gandalf. He is a Maiar. Which in Tolkien lore is an angelic being. According to the canon he was sent down in human form to bring wisdom and guidance. That’s why he died and returned as a higher order. His real name is Mithandril ( Galadriel mentions him by name in other movies) Sauron is also a Maiar but is of a higher hierarchy and surmised more powerful because of his close association to Melkor (considered Tolkien’s version of Satan basically)
The 2 towers are Orthanc, the tower at Isengard, and Barad-dûr Sauron's fortress in Mordor atop which is Sauron's eye.
Eyyy ive been waiting for this!
the films were shot all at once one day they were filming a scene from the fellowship the next day the return of the king :D they signed up for more than a movie deal those actors were literally living in new zealand :D
YES!! Prepare to have your expectations totally fulfilled. Gollum was a make or break moment for me when they revealed him, and OMG...
In the Scene where Aragorn kicks the Helmet, The Actor Wigo Mortinson Broked his toe at the prop Helmet, and the scream was a scream of real pain.
Color grading wise the big difference between 4k and blu ray for all films was to try and make it look more "natural" but also more vibrant at times. The fellowship's blu ray had a green tint over the entire movie which was removed as well. There are some great videos comparing screen shots of the differences
Awesome reaction sir
Looking forward to watching this after school
Fun fact: Treebeard was voiced by the same actor who voiced Gimli. And he was helper to Indiana Jones in 2 of the filmed ( forget the character name ).
Salah
@@davidladjani108 "Bad dates." "Asps...very dangerous. YOU go first!" A great role.
John Rhys Davis
He was also the Kingpin in a TV movie Hulk/Daredevil crossover! Bill Bixby era.
Talking in third person is when you use your own name when talking about yourself, like the Hulk, for example ("Hulk smash little man!", "Hulk is strongest there is!"), Gollum only views himself as multiple entitys, turning 'I' and 'me' into 'us'.
The Two Towers refers to Orthanc, Saruman's tower in Isengard where he does all his scheming and Barad-Dur in Mordor where the Eye Of Sauron is located.
I like how you were able to fix the color issues from the first movie - im guessing it had to do with the Hdr. Great!
Awesome Shan!
In The Hobbit, Legolas' father catches Gimli's dad and all his friends "trespassing," throws them in prison and holds them for months until they are rescued by Bilbo. So there's definitely some angry feelings when they first meet.
In order to make the Hobbits look smaller than humans they used every trick in the book including false perspective, CGI and scale doubles (small actors with masks looking like the main actors)
You should watch the behind the scenes stuff. There are hours and hours, showing everything from writing the script to props & costumes to how they filmed it all. The best extra material of any franchise, IMHO.
They weren't interacting with a CGI character. Andy Serkis was wearing a full MoCap suit, so all the scenes with Gollum were done with all 3 actors, and Gollum was inserted in during post production.
“Idk if Gollum is a good guy or a bad guy rn.”
Simple answer to what he is. Yes
Hi Shan, the character of Snake is Brad Dourif, who played Billy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest...just FYI
Dourif played a truly terrifying character in Star Trek Voyager, he was their version of Hannibal Lecter.
And the voice of Chucky from the Child's Play franchise.
.. and Piter De Vries in Dune. BTW... Shan, you gotta do Dune
Who is "Snake"?
sorry, wrong movie: Wormtongue....my bad...