LotR2-TTT-Seq08

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Sam and Frodo scale the blasted obsidian wall in the Dagorland on their way to the Black Gate. Sam’s exclamation was like my own, but with a different inflection. Guess I was expecting a bit more from Mordor than was poor Sam-wise. He presses forward as the creature Gollum shields his eyes. Frodo also goes for a closer look.

Now that they’re at the Black Gate, now what?

We see the vigilant guard atop the Morannon, ceaselessly awaiting an enemy that will never come. An army approaches to be swallowed into the mouth of Mordor, which seems to be gobbling up many bad things these days. Unlike in the books, there’s no doubt that this army is not there to assail the gate, but to go within, between the Teeth. The look of the soldiers is menacing as their armor and helms are all points.

The signal is made to open the Gate. Two ‘day’ trolls labor to open the door, and I am pressed to think of anything that is more silly and ill contrived. Now, I know that Sauron has improved the place since Mordor was last watched by the Gondorians, but either they really wanted to make the gate opening near impossible or the Black Hands’ knowledge is limited to Rings and towers. Sure, there’re wheels at the bottom of the gate, but those two trolls have to swing it open with a beam that is located/attached at the top of the door, like the tiller of a big dirt ship’s rudder. Plus, if you care to look even more closely, all of the weight (not the exact term, as I’m not talking about the actual weight of the gate, but the amount of force that it takes to move the thing) is on that piece of wood that’s about an orc belly (well-fed) in diameter.

Do you know how easy it would be to shut this gate against Mordor? Or, if the gate were opened, how easily one could prevent it from being closed?

Just what was PJ going for here, except to be showing us something different and what WETA could do given some time and money? Yes, it’s detailed, but designed poorly and it took me out of the movie for a moment as I just gaped.

All of that math must have gone to Sam’s head too, as he gets a little too close to the edge and falls over. Nice, Sam, I guess that your plan was to run down the hill while a thousand or two bad guys are tramping around out front. Another instance of a character going out of character for a thrill.

Frodo finds Sam at the bottom, up to his shoulders in gravel. He’s stuck, and soldiers are approaching. What to do? Having no other options, Frodo covers himself and Sam with the hithlain cloak given to him by Galadriel. My kids would approve, as they too believe that hiding under a blanket makes one invisible to monsters of all sorts.

The hobbits go unnoticed after a few tense moments.

Frodo throws the cloak open and it’s just too cool. No overt magic, but it just so happened that his cloak looked like a big rock. I like it, but will still add the grumble that if his cloak worked so well here in the land of the enemy that it should have helped the Three Hunters a bit in Rohan.

Or maybe Frodo got a real elvish cloak, and the others got cheap knock-offs made in Khand.

Quickly Frodo digs Sam out, and they prepare to make a run for the opening in the Morannon. It’s nice to hear that Sam is going with Frodo of his own free will. Ready, set…NO! Gollum, it seems, wants to talk a bit about the Precious before Master goes to certain death. I think that he might now realize at this point that Frodo was taking the Ring into Mordor for a reason that will not benefit Gollum.

And did anyone else notice, having watched RotK, that the searchlight is not working at this time and Frodo and Gollum seem none too affected by the Sauron-Eye proximity thing? With the One Ring on, of course Frodo would be stricken sick at this distance, but even with the Ring on a necklace, he should be feeling something.

In the end, Gollum makes the decision, having stopped Frodo from going until the Black Gate is closed. Frodo decides to try the other way, and of course Sam is against it but will go along to help his Master.

Wasn’t there some kind of row/quarrel between the actors during this scene due to the physicality of the interactions? As we leave, we notice that the cracks in Frodo’s and Sam’s relationship are beginning to show.

The other two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, awake in Fangorn forest. Pip sits imbibing the waters of a stream while Merry begins to explore the dell. Pippin tells of a pipe dream, which adds, to me, little to the story but sets up their flotsam triumph later in the film. Merry, like me, realizes that Pip’s really been drinking the Ent’s home brew, and Pip starts belching like a whale.

Am I supposed to laugh yet?

They discuss their relative heights, and as they do Pip seemingly grows even a bit more. Will these two stay ‘larger,’ or when they meet up again with Sam and Frodo (sorry to spoil that), will they be back to the same relative sizes?

The two somewhat larger clowns fight over the Ent draught, and this leads them into more trouble. And I was starting to think that these two were growing up (inwardly, that is), but I guess not. They are trapped in the roots of (presumably) Old Man Willow, or maybe a close cousin of his. Treebeard shows up and speaks the words of Bombadil (a few) to make the tree give up its prey. The old Ent then explains that the trees are waking up and are not in such good moods. The lack of shepherds allows the flock to go astray.

Too bad that some of the bad wild awake trees aren’t closer to Orthanc where they might actually do some good, or at least attack those that have aroused their anger. But I think that PJ just wanted to show that the trees are more animated, and so had Merry and Pippin provide a demonstration. The tree soldiers will of course be seen later attacking orcs as leader Treebeard leads them on to the home of the Treekiller.

Or not, as Ent moots are big assertiveness killers.

And now, at least, I know why there are too few Ents. Pip’s expression when he learns that Old Wheezy cannot remember what the Entwives looked like goes for me as well. Huh?

If Treebeard reacted to the loss of the Entwives as he does to the loss of his flock, it’s no wonder why he cannot find nor remember them. As with his flock, Treebeard starts off hot and talking about taking some action, but then he goes and talks it over with the boys awhile and after a long time, they decide that they shouldn’t bother going to look for the wives until sometime later when it becomes more critical. Treebeard then retreats back into his forest, clamoring about taking action someday to any creature unfortunate enough to stumble into his domain.

Oops, but that’s getting ahead of myself, and we’ll have to see what the Ents, the four hobbits and Gollum do later.