LotR2-TTT-Seq01
 

History does not start when we first become aware of time…

The second movie in PJ's trilogy begins, not with a whimper, but a bang.

We start with a sunrise over the Misty Mountains. PJ leads out with his strengths. Is this Alaska? New Zealand? In a moment or two we know that it’s Middle Earth, but you never think that it’s some CG world. We follow the ridgeline, like some Google Middle Earth tour, then it’s the X-ray vision tour as we see what is happening inside these backbones of stone. Frodo’s voice gives a clue, but is this new or déjà vu? Think that I remember Gandalf saying those words in FotR, but this is TTT.

Suddenly we’re back on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, and we see Gandalf battle the Balrog once again from a slightly different camera angle. But this time, instead of following the Eight, we follow the One. Gandalf once again falls after the smoking Balrog. He first catches up with Glamdring, and that’s when I started thinking that he didn’t fall so much as continue after his foe.

“Retreat, hell, we’re just fighting in a different direction!”**

Gandalf hews at the Balrog, who ever clutches at the Guided Grey Missile. The hole in which they fall is small, limiting the lateral movement of Balrog, which surely is a good thing for Gandalf. Still, the Balrog gets in a shot for the many sword strokes dealt by Gandalf.

Did you see the wings, by the by? Well, that should put that question to rest, as PJ is obviously the definitive source. ;)

Finally, the entangled foes enter a larger cavern, then find the bottom in the icy lake at the very foundations of the world. I liked the way the flames of the Balrog light the cavern briefly as they fall towards the lake. The distant point of view saddened the scene somewhat, like a guttering candle in the wind, and also gave perspective as to the size of the cavern within which they were falling.

Frodo wakes suddenly from his dream, crying, “Gandalf!” Was Frodo given a vision of Gandalf’s doom, or was it something he ate? And who shot JR ? Anyway, Sam and Frodo make their way through the Emyn Muil, which is where we left them in FotR. Unlike the Tellyland of the Shire, the opening present day scene of the FotR, in TTT we have a much harsher, less colored landscape to view.

Frodo and Sam descend one of the many obstacle cliffs that they’ve encountered, and luckily Sam acquired a bit of rope from the Galadhrim for the trip. We see the two hobbits clinging to the side of the cliff, aided only by their determination and Galadriel’s shiny rope. We see the the anchored knot, which will be important in a moment. Sam, not having much of his Grandfather’s blood in him, struggles in his downward climb. Frodo encourages him, and they continue. Sam starts to slip, and a small box drops from his pocket and he yells for Frodo to catch it.

Silly Frodo, you have the most important artifact of ME around your neck, and yet you put out a had to catch something of Sam’s. Note that holding onto such a thin rope, even with two hands and it being made of hithlain, would not be very easy and I *think* that Frodo and Sam aren’t really climbing ;). Frodo loses his grip and falls, finding the bottom.

Cute little joke, as it was delivered well.

Frodo is mostly amused when he finds what he risked his life for: salt for roast chicken. Also cute, and we get to see what thoughts run in Sam’s head. He’s not thinking of siege towers or the Eye or the affairs of wizards, but of his stomach. Sure, we have to destroy that Dark Lord’s Ring and all, but we also have to eat along the way.

And PJ’s little salt joke shows why this quest is special, and why Sam and Frodo are in such a forsaken place. Sam’s carrying a little bit of seasoning; Frodo sees a little piece of the Shire.

Note that I was a little disappointed that the box was not adorned with a G rune nor did it contain dirt.

Before continuing, the two hobbits contemplate what to do about the elvish ladder that they’re leaving tied to the cliff. What to do? Not only was the rope a Galadrielian gift, but it also allows them to be followed. Not that there’s any danger of that I presume.

Sam pulls at the thin line and, magically, the knot unties and the rope drops to their feet. Unlike in the book, where we get more of a clue that the rope is magic and Sam’s knot would hold, here we do not have time for Frodo’s derision and skepticism. He simply agrees that it must be the rope and not Sam’s knot.

More traveling brings them a sight of Mount Doom. After discussing Gandalf’s intentions, Frodo has an Eye attack. PJ is reminding us again who the real enemy is, just in case we forgot. If Frodo is wilting thus at this distance, surely by the time he reaches the Black Gate he will be a quivering mass of jelly. Or not.

Sam and Frodo share a bit of lembas, and again we see the camaraderie. Sam’s the optimist and the caretaker of Frodo. As they wait out the rain, Frodo is suddenly aware that something else is out there. They continue and we find that they are lost. Clever, as I think that PJ states that these various wandering scenes were shot on the same patches of rocks, and so, technically, Sam and Frodo have been there before.

Frodo tells Sam of the pursuit, and they lay a trap.

The first sight of Gollum (I saw the preMovie releases, still…) glowing in the slice of moonlight was great. Here’s thinking that PJ knew that he had to sell the creature right here right now so that we would continue to believe in Middle Earth. After watching the Appendices (assuming you’d been asleep otherwise) you know that that’s a CG representation of Andy Serkis, but if that’s not Gollum…I don’t know how much better he could be represented. The voice, the musculature, the movements, the hair and of course, the eyes.

Jar-Jar who?

Gollum bickers as he descends upon the sleeping hobbits, and he makes to grab for the Ring. But our hobbits are ready for him, or so they think. Sam and Frodo grab after Gollum but he is more than their match as they try to subdue the creature – it’s like bathing a cat.

The sight of the Ring causes Gollum to fight even harder, and Frodo can all but keep him from claiming the Ring. Watch Gollum’s cheeks puff as he struggles to place his finger within his golden goal. Sam tries to help, out muscling him but is not prepared for such a diabolical thing who has done murder before. Quickly the tables turn and Sam is at Gollum’s mercy, and only Sting at Gollum’s neck saves Sam’s life. I just love the detail that the CG people at Weta gave this creature. The forearm around Sam’s neck could be anyone’s.

The taming of poor Sméagol starts, and the elvish rope burns the wretched thing. Sam doesn’t make Gollum any more comfortable with the dragging, no matter how loose the loop around Gollum’s neck (wasn’t that supposed to be his ankle?). After a short while, Sam will have no more of it. He suggests that they tie Gollum up and leave him, and Gollum pleads for his life. Frodo had more pity – well, maybe he also knows that Gollum is to go with them – and so decides another fate for the creature.

Gollum begins to deal for his life, though his honesty in the bargaining is questioned. The Ring is called in to seal the deal, and seemingly Gollum and Frodo understand what this really means. Sam, not having born the Ring at this point, doesn’t, and so he doubts. Frodo decided to have Gollum as his guide to Mordor in exchange for his life.

Though Gollum accepts - what choice does he have? - he still have some details to work out, and that’s when we first see the schizophrenia /duality of the creature. The devil’s in the details, as it is always said, but in this case, who’s side is the devil on?

Gollum runs from Sam and Frodo, and we’ll have to wait until we return to this story line to see if the promise that he made, sworn by the Ring, holds yet a little while.


A note about the DVD itself. Did you notice, unlike the FotR DVD, that the scene cursor is a White Hand? Cool that.

**Attributed to Major General Oliver P. Smith.

Talk about a whiz-bang way to open up a film. I absolutely love it. The score is phenomenal, too.

Thanks to the extremely hard work of Andy Serkis and WETA, Gollum truly comes to life on the screen. Unbelievable how real he is. From this point, all CGI characters will be divided into two categories: the pre-Gollum era (Jar-Jar) and the post-Gollum era (Aslan and Kong). Gollum is a watershed in CGI.

I loved the extension with the elvish rope and the box of salt, since the scene is in the book and the box of salt is mentioned as one of Sam's stowed-away items as the Company leaves Rivendell. There will be many other small things from the book to watch for in this film as in the last one, such as the horsetail on Eomer's helm, and the orc-head on the stake (which I'm sure PJ would have put in even if it wasn't in the book).

I think TTT may be the "most improved" of the EE's. All the extensions are GREAT. Most of the ones in ROTK are good, but then there's the drinking contest, and Gandalf getting stomped by the Witch-king.

I think the opening of this movie was very well done. The sharp contrast between the close ups of the fall and the very wide shot of the two approaching the lake does a good job of showing the action while maintaing a sense of scale.

Also, I agree that Gollum really is a defining moment for CG animation.

I think the reason why Gollum is so succesfully as a CG character, is for maybe, the first time, the CG element was not intended to replace and actor's prescence, but was used to enhance the actor's prescence.

In most CG movies it seems the CG character to meant to be the actor and they get some voice actor so it makes the right sounds. However, what LotR did so succesfully, is it took Andy Cerkis (who will never receive the true credit he deserves for acting in that role) and let him be Gollum. In effect, the CG is being used as a very impressive make-up job, rather than a actor replacement.

As an aside let me say, I have no idea how much Andy Cerkis got for playing Gollum, but it couldn't be close to what he deserved. If you watched any of the behind the scenes features you know they tortured that poor guy!

The intro of TTT gave me goosbumps the first time I saw it in the theatre and it still does now. One thing I definitly like of all the beginnings of these movies is that there are no jingles with the logos of Aliance Atlantis and New Line Cinema. The silence just makes it feel special and heightens the anticipation when the title comes up on the screen.
So back to TTT, it is nice that the movie begins with a nature shot because that is what this movie deals with extensively, with the ents and all. Of all three of the movies Tolkien's concern of industrialization is most clearly present in this one.
My major concern about Gollum was that he would be too scary to look at. I find that they did make him scary but not too much and I like it that they could change Gollum from looking scary and evil to trusting to almost cute(in the stew scene). I really think Gollum is the best in TTT.
I also find that the farther we get into the trilogy the more Elijah Wood's acting improves. (Especially in ROTK)
I was hoping that the little box of seasoning would be the box with the seeds, but if they had done that it wouldn't have made much sense since there is no scouring of the shire.

I thought this scene one of PJ's best, with the jolt a viewer
(especially non-book) would receive when realizing the perspective
and sizes as Gandalf and the balrog fall to the bottom. This scene in general, and the next (until the Gimli jokes start) show PJ at his best.
The Gollum of TTT is especially excellent, making the decision to
go against the book in movie ROTK in the characterization of
Gollum (in the book he really starts to repent, but PJ says he
wanted to show TTT repentence was false.

There was much speculation regarding how PJ would start the second installment. Surely he some original ideas, yet the praise and monies that he received for FotR also may have influenced his decisions. I remember him saying that he wanted to start TTT with a bang, and I think that he did well. You're instantly back in ME (not much time to think), your heart is racing then suddenly WHAM! we slow a bit to walk with Frodo and Sam. After getting used to them again we get Gollum, who increases the tension. And think just how exciting Frodo and Sam's journey really is, and so PJ pumped it up a bit with the Balrog beginning.

On the other side of the coin, many complained that the film should have started with some kind of summation - a State of Middle Earth address, if you will. The summary does appear, but it's in the middle of the film, and I know that my illiterate sister was lost until that information was provided.

Yeah, as PJ put it, New Line insisted on a prologue, and so he included one, but in the middle of the film. I agree with his logic that it wasn't worth it to spend five or ten or however many minutes at the beginning of the film recapping the story of the first one, when you could use those minutes elsewhere.

Yeah, Frodo and Sam's journey isn't exactly the thrill of all thrills, but Gollum makes it more interesting than Merry and Pippin's journey. We'll get into this later, but I was really surprised (and somewhat pleased) at how much screen time PJ gave to Treebeard and Entmoot. Provides quite a contrast with Helm's Deep, which is going on at the same time.

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.

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? :p

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.

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.""

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.

On the other hand, TTT and RotK (the books, I mean :D ) 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.

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

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.

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).

Considering that Smeagol is hobbit-stock, just how far from the norm can we expect him to go? I think that PJ made him more hobbit-like, not only for simplicity, but also so that later Frodo can see himself in the fallen soul. "There but for the love of Sam go I..."


Now that you mention it, it seems that Sam with the rope is not only violent but much stronger than one would think. Even having Gollum being emaciated (not that, by this time, Sam would be well-fed), still, one would think that the creature could resist Sam somewhat, and not be like a doll on a leash.

Yes, you're probably right there. PJ it seems went for a more "realistic" and anthropomorphic Gollum. But I have always pictured him of something as a monster, and looking the part.
Maybe the whole rope jerking thing was done to engender sympathy for "poor Sméagol". Works for me.

BTW, alatar, your avatar is really spooky! It freaks me out!! :D

The eyes of Gollum had to have some 'humanity' for the plot to work - how else are we to feel for the creature, and so get set up for the betrayal? And Gollum's beating at the hands of Faramir, to me, also garnered a lot of sympathy for the wretch.


Touché! Monotremes always give me the heebee geebees. ;)

Loved Andy as Gollum. He makes us care about Gollum even though for the life of us we rather hate him! :cool: