I LOVE THE MOVIE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS CHECK OUT THE TOTAL INFO...

DISC 1:
4 AUDIO COMMENTARIES
- Director/Writer/Producer Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh (Writer/Producer), Philippa Boyens (Writer)
- The Design Team
- The Production/Post-Production Team
- The Cast

SELECT A SCENE:
* New Scene! - ** Extended Scene

AUDIO SOUND:
- Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound
- DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound
- Stereo Surround Sound

LANGUAGE:
- English

SUBTITLES & CLOSED CAPTION:
- English
- Spanish

WIDESCREEN 2:35:1
- Movie Running Time (1Hrs 46Mins)

THE STORY CONTINUES ON DISC TWO...

DISC 2:
4 AUDIO COMMENTARIES
- Director/Writer/Producer Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh (Writer/Producer), Philippa Boyens (Writer)
- The Design Team
- The Production/Post-Production Team
- The Cast

SELECT A SCENE:
* New Scene! - ** Extended Scene

AUDIO SOUND:
- Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound
- DTS ES 6.1 Surround Sound
- Stereo Surround Sound

LANGUAGE:
- English

SUBTITLES & CLOSED CAPTION:
- English
- Spanish

WIDESCREEN 2:35:1
- Movie Running Time (1Hrs 48Mins)
- End Credits (20 Mins)

TOTAL RUNNING TIME (3Hrs 35Mins)

DISC 3:
The Appendices Part 3 - The Journey Continues...
TRT = Total Running Time

Introduction by Peter Jackson = (TRT - 1:49)

PLAY ALL: DOCUMENTARIES (UNINTERRUPTED 3 HRS. EXPERIENCE)
- J.R.R. Tolkien - Origins of Middle-earth = (TRT - 29:29)
- From Book to Script: Finding The Story = (TRT - 20:57)
- Designing Middle-earth = (TRT- 45:42)
- WETA Workshop = (TRT- 43:48)
- The Taming of Smeagol = (TRT- 39:34) + 10 Stars!
- Andy Serkis Animation Reference = (TRT- 1:47)
- Gollum's "Stand In" = (TRT- 3:19)
- Middle-earth Atlas - Inter the Map! (Video Clips)
- New Zealand as Middle-earth = (TRT - 14:26)

CHAPTERS:
* J.R.R. TOLKIEN: ORIGINS OF MIDDLE-EARTH
* FROM BOOK TO SCRIPT: FINING THE STORY
* DESIGNING AND BUILDING MIDDLE-EARTH
* GOLLUM
* MIDDLE-EARTH ATLAS
* NEW ZEALAND

ADDITIONAL FEATURES: GALLERIES
- Artwork Audio Commentary: Image with Red Stamp Symbol
- Slideshow Features: By Activating Feature Image & Audio Gallery will Auto-Advance
- The Peoples of Middle-earth = (999 Photo's)
- Realms of Middle-earth = (519 Photo's)

SUBTITLES:
- English
- Spanish
- Closed Caption

DISC 4:
The Appendices Part 4 - The Battle For Middle-earth Begins
TRT = Total Running Time

Introduction by Elijah Wood: = (TRT - 1:06)

PLAY ALL: DOCUMENTARIES (UNINTERRUPTED 3½ HRS. EXPERIENCE)
- Warriors of the Third Age = (TRT - 20:57)
- Cameras in Middle-earth = (TRT - 1:08:09)
- Big-atures: = (TRT - 21:49)
- WETA Digital = (TRT - 27:31)
- Editorial: Refining The Story = (TRT - 21:57)
- Music for Middle-earth = (TRT - 25:19)
- The Soundscapes of Middle-earth = (TRT - 21:26)
- The Battle for Helm's Deep is Over = (TRT - 9:27)

CHAPTERS:
* FILMING "THE TWO TOWERS"
* VISUAL EFFECTS
* EDITORIAL REFINING THE STORY
* MUSIC & SOUND
* THE BATTLE FOR HELM'S DEEP IS OVER...

ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
1) The Flooding of Isengard Animatic: Original Animatic = (TRT - 2:30) + Split Screen Comparison = (TRT - 2:30)
2) Sound Demonstration "Helm`s Deep" 1/8 - (1) On-Set Production Audio, (2) Foley, (3) Effects 1: Weather, Torches, Horns (4) Effects 2 Weapons, Ladders, Objects (5) Effects 3 Marching, Hits, Falls (6) Dialogue & Vocal Effects (7) Music (8) Final Mix

GALLERIES:
* Audio Commentary: Image with (Red Stamp) Symbol
* Slideshow Features: By Activating Feature Image with Audio Commentary
- Production Photos = (58)
- Abandoned Concepts: Slime Balrog = (27)
- Abandoned Concepts: Endless Stair = (4)

MINIATURES GALLERIES:
Barad-dur = (54) * The Black Gate = (34) * Fangorn Forest = (8) * Helm's Deep = (27) * Osgiliath = (22) * Ruined Isengard = (52) * Zirakzigil = (9)

COMING SOON!

Director Guillermo del Toro
The Hobbit (2011) (announced)
The Hobbit (2012) (announced)
Local Shire Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, relative of Frodo Baggins, is living a quiet, peaceful life until Gandalf the Grey walks into his home with a band of wandering dwarfs and drags poor Bilbo into a quest that entails defeating a dragon, a three way battle of men, dwarfs and monsters and, most importantly of all, lead Bilbo into contact with a peculiar ring that has had and will have a great impact on the future of their world. - More info at IMDb.com

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

"The Two Towers" is as close to a perfect movie as I've seen. It's epic in scope, both in the actual story as well as the task of adapting the book into a movie. While showing respect for the source material, Jackson wasn't afraid to tweak here and there in order to make the story work as a movie. Instead of having half the movie tackle the Aragorn/Rohan story and the latter half detail Frodo and Sam's quest towards Mordor like the book did, the movie blends these two story lines together and makes them flow together as one cohesive story.

If you liked and enjoyed The Fellowship of the Ring, things just get better from this point. The direction is ambitious in a way that elevates the beauty of the story and Midde-earth in general to a whole new level. The beautiful score is enough to bring tears to your eyes during the emotional moments and will make you hug your legs closer to your body during the battle scenes. And oh there are plenty of those. The battle at Helm's Deep is a cinematographic triumph , showing fighting that it better choreographed than any dance could hope to be.

"The Two Towers" is simply a masterpiece of epic proportions that should be as renowned as the source material. Whether you like the widescreen version, full screen, or the extended edition, this is something that everyone should see.

10/10 Classic.

First of all, if you're going to watch these films you may as well get the full story. These Extended Editions are the best for fans of the book as well as newbies who don't mind a more complicated storyline than the theatrical editions. They are chock-full of more action, more humor and (dare I say it) more plot. Even The Two Towers, in which Peter Jackson took one of the most significant deviations from the novel (deciding that it would be more dramatic as well as realistic for Faramir to be tempted by the Ring), includes scenes that give additional backstory to the multiple subplots. It's such a beautiful film that it made even me, who is normally a stickler for movies sticking to such important plot points, fall in love with it. Gollum is absolutely stunning - the amount of physical discomfort that Andy Serkis forced himself into is mind-boggling but obviously worth it, given the results.

I love the whole trilogy. This dvd is the 2nd one and has lots of action for the typical action lover. The acting is surperb. I've watched my over and over again.

just showing beautiful landscapes and having a powerful small item like a ring does not a trilogy make.

Having bought this item from one of those sellers who packs bent and crushed boxes, then blames the USPS for the damage, it was refreshing to buy a second from Amazon (the shipper) and have it arrive in acceptable condition. When my 4 year old Daughter is 18, I'm hoping these sets will have proven to be a good investmment for her. Being a fan, mine are open, and watched often. She will inherit those too, but, hopefully these unopened Special Editions, will be "Collectors Items" in 2022.

With the worldwide success of `The Fellowship of the Ring' the pressure was most definitely on Peter Jackson to try and match the first cinematic installment of the `Lord of the Rings' saga. I'm extremely happy to say that he accomplished his task with flying colors. The '02 release of `The Two Towers' met my every expectation and more. Like the books on which the films are based things only get better and better, every new situation more harrowing, every battle more immense and every word of dialogue more profound.

`The Two Towers' excels in every category; cast, production values, soundtrack and special effects as it flows perfectly from the material presented in the first film, adding depth and texture to the characters and plot while expertly laying the necessary groundwork to prepare for the finale `The Return of the King'. Who said sequels are always a letdown? Not me!

Great entertainment. Great performance. Great film. Includes the deleted scenes which makes better sense of things. Two thumbs up to Peter Jackson, and of course J.R.R. Tolkien for this great piece of work.

Once again, it is truly amazing how 43 extra footage can change your perception of a story. And, it is truly unfortunate that directors are inclined (read: forced) to edit films to appeal to a 'broader' audience. 'The Lord of The Rings : The Two Towers Extended Edition' is a much more complete and meaty version of the film and easily makes the theatrical version obsolete.

I've read the books (about 3 times), and I was one of those 'purists' who was a little frustrated with all of the edits and changes Peter Jackson and co. made to Tolkien's works. Eventually I came around and realized that its not easy translating a massive epic into three two and a half hour long films and I enjoyed the theatrical versions for what they were; an amazing epic fantasy drama of the highest order. Then the Extended Editions came out...

'The Two Towers' Extended Edition features 43 minutes of extra film footage, and once you have watched it you will never understand why these extra 43 minutes were shaved from the film. It may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things (especially when the theatrical cut was almost 3 hours long), but 43 minutes adds so much more to the film. Characters on both sides of this story are properly fleshed out and given more depth, and I cannot stress how important this 43 minutes of extra footage is to the overall story. I've always had an issue with the theatrical 'abridged' version, so the Extended Edition is a breath of fresh air.

For fans of the trilogy, fantasy buffs and movie lovers...

Everyone should have a copy of the LOTR movies in their collections. I have all of the movies and all of the books in my collection. I am looking forward to The Hobbit movie which is supposed to be released in 2010. Movies or books don't get any better than this. Every time I watch these movies, I discover something new that I had not noticed before. Someday, when the urge hits me just right I will buy the extended editions.

If you like The Two Towers, you can buy the itty bitty DVD...you know the one I'm talking about--the one with the sweet picture of Frodo and Gandalf (which gives away the fact that he lives) and the ominous two towers...hence the title. If you like EVERYTHING there is to the trilogy, you get this mother.
Back when I was considering a career in everything (and when I say everything, I mean everything from music performance on my violin to CG work to being a court justice to writing the great American novel, etc., etc., etc.) I checked out everything on this DVD. It showed how the actors acted, how the CG guys created Gollum, how the costume guys created, well, costumes, what Peter Jackson ate for breakfast, everything. It was like an odyssey outside the odyssey. These DVDs tend to be a little pricey (or at least they were when I bought them), because you're getting what you paid for. It's a must for diehards, but if you're just curious about the trilogy, I'd rent the itty bitty version first before tackling the meaty stuff.

Read my review for The Return of the King. If you are considering buying this movie for your collection, the extended version is well worth every penny and every additional minute in it. Do not think twice about it. Get the Platinum Series. The cut footage makes the movies even better and with wide screen TVs galore who needs to go to the movies anymore?

There are quite a few more scenes in the extended edition, but they are just extended parts of other scenes for the most part. A lot of focus on Eowyn, some on Aragorn, a bit on Frodo and Sam (and Sam's rope), and some on Merry and Pippin with the Ents.

When the first film in the epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy thrilled fans and topped the box office for weeks, expectations rose even higher for the sequel, "The Two Towers." Would the follow-up be as beautifully crafted as the first?

Fortunately moviegoers only had to wait a year for the answer, when "The Two Towers" debuted in December 2002. The second part of Peter Jackson's astounding adaptation lacks the surprise of the first movie, but it continues the strong storytelling, amazing acting, and one of the greatest battles of the silver screen.

The fellowship has been split, and two members are dead. Now Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) are pursuing a band of orcs who kidnapped Merry and Pippin (Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd). But soon Merry and Pippin are rescued by an ancient treelike creature, and the others encounter an old friend -- Gandalf (Ian McKellen), reborn as the White Wizard.

Meanwhile, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are making their way towards Mordor, and soon Frodo realizes that they are being followed by Gollum (Andy Serkis), who once possessed the One Ring and still lusts after it. But Frodo begins to pity the degenerate creature, and agrees to let Gollum lead them to Mount Doom -- but Sam suspects that Gollum cannot be trusted.

"The Two Towers" is not really a sequel. Instead, it's just a continuation of the story that left off at the end of "Fellowship of the Ring," and the focus spreads past our little band of heroes to include all of Middle-Earth. It's not all about Frodo and the hobbits anymore, but about whole kingdoms being crushed by the bad guys.

This film is much darker than the first movie, although we still get some funny moments from Gollum and the hobbits, but some creepy ones as well. Gollum/Smeagol's argument with himself is absolutely chilling. To top his previous work, Jackson creates three simultaneous climaxes, including the grimy, rain-soaked battle of Helm's Deep.

But as he tells the epic stories, Jackson doesn't neglect the smaller stories, like the hobbits befriending treelike ents and battling a wizard. The scripting is impeccable, mixing the funny moments ("Don't talk to it! Don't encourage it!" Pippin wails when a "tree" speaks to them) with the dramatic speeches, and ending with a simple, powerful speech by Sam.

And WETA Workshop's CGI effects don't disappoint. Not only do they manage whole armies and battles, but they brought the gruesome Gollum to life. He's probably the first convincing CGI character, to the point where you can actually forget that this Ring junkie is just a bunch of pixels.

Elijah Wood continues his magnificent performance as Frodo Baggins, with the deep friendship, compassion and weariness that he started to show before. But his performance deepens to include some serious Ring-lust, which is warping our dear hobbit out of his own mind. Sean Astin's performance grows as well, as he does whatever it takes to protect Frodo -- from soldiers, Gollum, ringwraiths, whatever.

But the supporting cast gets plenty of attention too, including a love triangle involving Aragorn and the warrior-maid Eowyn, and Legolas and Gimli becoming best buddies (even competing to see who kills the most orcs). McKellen gets to play "Gandalf 2.0," a less grumpy and wiser Gandalf, and movie veteran Christopher Lee gets more juicy scenes as the warped wizard Saruman.

The journey continues in "The Two Towers," crammed with so much action and pathos that it never has time to suffer from "middle chapter syndrome." An amazing continuation.

This story picks up where "Fellowship of the Ring", left off. The fellowship apparently divided in its direction and even thought the immediate purposes diverge and converge the urgency of getting the ring to Mordor is ever present. We are lucky in the fact that J. R. R. Tolkien will completely follow each participant's path from beginning to end. All the wars are covered in detail and the progress of the ring bearer is chronicled. New creatures and old vermin reveal themselves.

As with the Ramayana, we find that every creature has his/her function and that there is no black and white in this purpose. Frodo alludes to this when he thinks of Gandalf, Aragorn, and Gollum. Even Gandalf tells not to hurt Gollum as he may play a larger role in the story that one could imagine.

The package itself was not disappointing, the movie treatment of the book feel far short of my expectations.

This is an excellent movie. If you haven't watched it yet, you should be ashamed.

Great gift set with extended edition movie! If you like Lord of the Rings you have to get the extended edition of the movies. This gift set is great!

There really isn't anything that I can say that hasn't been said already. If you are a fan and haven't seen the EE yet, buy it. It is definitely worth it.

When the first film in the epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy thrilled fans and topped the box office for weeks, expectations rose even higher for the sequel, "The Two Towers." Would the follow-up be as beautifully crafted as the first?

Fortunately moviegoers only had to wait a year for the answer, when "The Two Towers" debuted in December 2002. The second part of Peter Jackson's astounding adaptation lacks the surprise of the first movie, but it continues the strong storytelling, amazing acting, and one of the greatest battles of the silver screen.

The fellowship has been split, and two members are dead. Now Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) are pursuing a band of orcs who kidnapped Merry and Pippin (Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd). But soon Merry and Pippin are rescued by an ancient treelike creature, and the others encounter an old friend -- Gandalf (Ian McKellen), reborn as the White Wizard.

Meanwhile, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are making their way towards Mordor, and soon Frodo realizes that they are being followed by Gollum (Andy Serkis), who once possessed the One Ring and still lusts after it. But Frodo begins to pity the degenerate creature, and agrees to let Gollum lead them to Mount Doom -- but Sam suspects that Gollum cannot be trusted.

"The Two Towers" is not really a sequel. Instead, it's just a continuation of the story that left off at the end of "Fellowship of the Ring," and the focus spreads past our little band of heroes to include all of Middle-Earth. It's not all about Frodo and the hobbits anymore, but about whole kingdoms being crushed by the bad guys.

This film is much darker than the first movie, although we still get some funny moments from Gollum and the hobbits, but some creepy ones as well. Gollum/Smeagol's argument with himself is absolutely chilling. To top his previous work, Jackson creates three simultaneous climaxes, including the grimy, rain-soaked battle of Helm's Deep.

But as he tells the epic stories, Jackson doesn't neglect the smaller stories, like the hobbits befriending treelike ents and battling a wizard. The scripting is impeccable, mixing the funny moments ("Don't talk to it! Don't encourage it!" Pippin wails when a "tree" speaks to them) with the dramatic speeches, and ending with a simple, powerful speech by Sam.

And WETA Workshop's CGI effects don't disappoint. Not only do they manage whole armies and battles, but they brought the gruesome Gollum to life. He's probably the first convincing CGI character, to the point where you can actually forget that this Ring junkie is just a bunch of pixels.

Elijah Wood continues his magnificent performance as Frodo Baggins, with the deep friendship, compassion and weariness that he started to show before. But his performance deepens to include some serious Ring-lust, which is warping our dear hobbit out of his own mind. Sean Astin's performance grows as well, as he does whatever it takes to protect Frodo -- from soldiers, Gollum, ringwraiths, whatever.

But the supporting cast gets plenty of attention too, including a love triangle involving Aragorn and the warrior-maid Eowyn, and Legolas and Gimli becoming best buddies (even competing to see who kills the most orcs). McKellen gets to play "Gandalf 2.0," a less grumpy and wiser Gandalf, and movie veteran Christopher Lee gets more juicy scenes as the warped wizard Saruman.

The journey continues in "The Two Towers," crammed with so much action and pathos that it never has time to suffer from "middle chapter syndrome." An amazing continuation.

This extended version is by far, the one extended version of the Lord of the Rings that made the most improvements to the original version. The theatrical Two Towers was not quite as good as the other two, but this version definitely brings it up too snuff with them. This version fleshes out the characters more, and makes the film itself more enjoyable. Now if you didn't like the film in the first place this probably won't make you like it anymore than before, but if you're a fan of "The Rings" then this is a must-see.

Beginning note: The reason I give this 4/5 stars is to put it in comparison too the other two.

Lord of the Rings is the greatest motion picture* of all time, no question about it. It's better than Alien, better than Star Wars, it's better than all of them. Though the movie I am currently reviewing is the weakest volume of the story. This by no means makes it a bad film, on the contrary it is among the best films I have ever seen, it's just not nearly as good as the other two. The reason for this is because this one edges into the realm of an action film, the ending is a 30 minute battle sequence, one of the best battle sequences ever filmed, but still a very long battle sequnce. Peter Jackson has done a magnificent job at molding a story in the middle of a battle, he proves that in this movie, but he does an even better job in the volume following this one, The Return of the King.

As I said before, the rating is just to put it in it's place with the rest of the series.

9/10 stars, two thumbs up, bravo.

*I put this in terms of one film because it's less like watching three films and more like watching 3 parts of one film

I honestly do not feel the need to review this product. As anyone who truly wishes to see the full feature as it was intended to be viewed knows, seeing the standard theatrical version is not at all rewarding in comparison with the extended edition. I wasn't so concerned with the extra features, as quite often, for myself, they tend to take away from the film in some light. I tend to enjoy the commentary, but beyond that I prefer not to know the technicalities of how it was filmed. Thus I have not previewed all the additional footage on the other 2 discs included in this 4 disc set.

I don't know how else to contact Amazon to correct a huge problem in regard to the LOTR films, but they BADLY need to separate the reviews on the various editions of these films (e.g., the widescreen, the full-screen, and the Special Extended Edition version).

The Special Extended Editions are BY FAR the superior choices for anyone wishing to watch these great films and they're well-worth the money, but a LOT of folks don't know about them. With the additional footage, the movies make infinitely more sense, especially to anyone who has never previously read the Trilogy. All three LOTRs films are available in this format, plus, each film is on two discs, due to the added footage. In addition to that, each one is presented in a nice cardboard case, has an informational booklet included, and offers two ADDITIONAL discs which are "special features" sort of information. This is essentially a "collectors' edition" but, as I have mentioned, the movie itself (for more casual viewers as well as for fans) greatly benefits from the additional film footage.

So, since once you've reviewed ANY version of LOTRs, one cannot review any other version (Amazon software sees this as a second review of the same product by the same person!), I am placing this information here to the prospective benefit of other Amazon customers (and victims!) *.*

Now, on to the story:

This is the second entry in the film-trilogy of The Lord of Rings. I'm rating each one separately to yield a more honest opinion of the entire series. I'm rating 'The Fellowship of the Ring' 4-stars, this one 5-stars, and, 'The Return of the King' 4-stars.

The film is a fantasy, fairy-tale sort of movie, to inform the uninitiated. The first of the three films tells of Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit of the Shire, and his quest, (along with a 'fellowship' of comrades), to save Middle Earth by destroying the ancient Ring of Power, which is in his possession. He can only do this by traveling to the Land of Mordor (a VERY nasty place) and tossing the ring into the fires of Mount Doom, whence the ring was originally forged by an evil wizard, Sauron, (who is still evil and still around, and who is seeking to locate his lost magical Ring of Power big-time).

In this entry, we find that Sauron (of Mordor) and another now-evil wizard, Saruman, (of Isengard) have teamed up to fight the remaining non-evil entities in an all-out power-grab for Middle Earth. Mordor and Isengard each boast a huge heavy-metal-type 'tower', hence the movie title. Of course, Frodo's difficult quest continues throughout the movie.

The fellowship, having gotten split at the end of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' now run into all manner of obstacles. Agendas also become mixed and there is much in-fighting amongst the various regional rulers which complicates defeating their common enemies, Sauron and Saruman. As a consequence of all this action, there is a LOT of jumping around in the film from place to place -- BUT, the director pulled off a coup: this story remains coherent, and pretty much stands on its own as a film. I would have thought this impossible and I wondered how they would ever do it successfully. But they did and I'm quite happy about it.

Now, the CINEMATOGRAPHY in all three of these films will knock you out -- superbly contrived, second to none. The COLOR SATURATION will bowl you over as well. The script and STORYLINE are not at all hokey and come off as quite coherent, which would have been a very difficult task as readers of the book(s) are well-aware.

I much appreciated the fact that the story remains close to the book(s), with few cuts and/or ommissions. Of course, this has made for a lengthy film, but one which will not bore you at all.

My final critique of the film is that the same primary theme composition is used for all three films -- man, I got REALLY tired of that filmscore, even though other facets of it are brilliant. It's the up-front french horn one that I'm speaking of.

In the end, this is a very fine film, not necessarily for smaller kids, but A-O-K for teens. A last comment, don't waste time or money watching the FULL-SCREEN edition -- I've watched it that way (all three films) and you lose 2-stars when you do! This one MUST be viewed in widescreen only!

WOW! Daughter needed to replace VHS she borrowed from friend and I was completly happy.

Once again, just brilliant!
My favourite is an extra scene at the end of Two Towers where the trees smash the Orcs that fled into Farngorn Forest after Isengard was destroyed by the Ents. A bit of their own medicine!
Really a good movie!

This edition is a must own. I loved the deleted and extended scenes, it just brought everything together perfectly and seamlessly. The soundtrack on this is probably my favorite from all 3 films. It is simply an exquisite movie and a sure classic. many people have complained about the lack of beginning or end to this but surely by now everyone must know that this is not a sequal, its a continuation, therefore, its SUPPOSED to be like that. And the length doesn't bother me either, I love longer movies, as long as they keep my interest.

This is the best edition of this indescribable movie they could have tried to produce. The commentary is super fun to listen to, over and over again. All the special features are just so enjoyable. GREAT BUY!

I am slowly but surely getting into the story, and yes, I'll eventually get through the trilogy.

Just as in the first one, there are excellent visual effects and great acting.

I do see many spiritual applications to this story.

I'm looking forward to watching "Return of The King."

One last comment: I loved the opening of this episode. Also, the ending has more suspense than the ending of "Fellowship Of The Ring".

Probably the funniest of the 3. Wonderful story full of drama, moral examples, and deep meaning. It's hard to add to 1,964 reviews. It's not for the faint of heart.

Follow in "The Lord of the Rings" creator's (J.R.R. Tolkien's) footsteps. Project a malevolent universe. Invent a world and animate it with creatures in conflict. Make the conflict a battle between good and evil, but don't identify clearly the moral value or purpose of either side. In fact, remove morality's essence altogether by eliminating the power of choice for your characters. Emphasize the corruptibility of men. Glamorize the supernatural. Dwell interminably on the preparations for and the wreaking of violence and destruction, on the fragility of hope and happiness. Name the scene of action: Middle-earth. Sound like an environment you'd care to envision? Would you "live" there? If so, fate alone will decide its survival and your own. You can visit this predetermined "paradise" by watching/enduring/suffering Peter Jackson's elaborately filmed adaptation of Tolkien's epic trilogy, which continues with "The Two Towers."

I hold it is true that what is not worth contemplating in life is not worth contemplating in art. For its dismaying lack of meaningful moral definition, its pervasive pictorial ugliness, the quantity of its scenes of mind-numbing graphic violence, and its minimizing of the value of happiness, "The Lord of the Rings" films--including this one--ought to be shunned and damned.

No new material? Just release a new box every now and then. That's basically what this "new" set seems like to me. I can't picture any serious collector not having the extended editions already on DVD, and/or waiting for the HD version.

**Warning this review contains many spoilers** For staters I personally love the Lord of the Rings. This includes the movies but more so the books. I thought The Fellowship of the Rings was as near perfect an adaptation a movie could have been and I feel the same way about The Return of the King. Both are among the best movies I have ever seen. The Two Towers, however, falls short of it's predecessor's and sequel's near perfection. When I first read the book I was captivated and fell in love with the powerful story and characters Tolkien had created but when I saw the movie I was very disappointed. I have thought long and hard about what I don't like in this film and in fact I just finished watching it again. I also want everyone to understand that I'm not some crazed fan who is upset that they didn't include everything in the movie that was in the book. I am somewhat of a film maker myself and I know all to well how important pacing is. So here is my review from a film student's perspective.

The movie starts out very strong. The opening flashback to the fight in Moria is a masterpiece and probably the films strongest moment. We then meet up with all the old characters from the first movie. These opening scenes are very well done with some amazing cinematography, music, and special effects. These scenes are also very well paced. Jackson keeps the movie moving and manages to introduce the new characters without ever getting off topic (something that plagues him later on). To be honest I have no complaints about these early scenes.

However, the film starts to go downhill about halfway through. To make The Lord of the Rings politically correct Jackson needed more female characters. So he expanded the role of Arwen. This worked great in the first one and I think her inclusion adds a lot to The Return of the King also. But in this she just seems tagged on. There is a flashback sequence where we see her and Aragorn in Rivendell. At first this seems to work but after a while it begins to drag and could have easily been cut down. To slow the story down even more we are next treated to one of the films most unnecessary scenes. We flash to present Rivendell where Elrond convinces Arwen to leave for Valinor, which was what Aragon was just revealed to have done in the flashback. I simply became bored with the scene's redundancy. To drag this vital middle section of the movie down even further Jackson cuts to some kind of awkward flash-forward of Aragorn's possible future death where he succumbs to nothing more exciting than old age. This is completely unnecessary and adds nothing to a scene that was unnecessary anyway. But this wasn't enough to get me to dislike the entire movie I was still looking forward to watching the rest...

However, my hopes were soon dashed for the movie's absolute most confusing and irritating scene came right after it. Instead of simply having some nice and much needed character development as they march to Helm's Deep Peter Jackson decided to throw in probably the dumbest plot twist he could have: Aragorn dies... well not really but you think he does. For some reason Jackson felt it was important to throw a battle in and for some reason (God knows why) he thought it would help the movie to make everyone think Aragorn was dead. So instead of a gradual and tense build toward the climax we get 15 minuets of slow-motion shots as everyone mourns Aragorn's death only to have him show up a little while later perfectly fine.

Luckily the pace starts to pick up but instead of getting excited in anticipation for the big battle I just found myself growing restless with the films length. All the very necessary character development before the battle could have easily taken the place of the unnecessary mess of aforementioned scenes that didn't even appear in the book itself. But at last the battle arrived and it was great... at first. The problem: it was just too long. It took away far too heavily from Fordo and Sam. To make things worse Jackson decided to trash Tolkein's wonderful ending with Frodo, Sam, and Gollum. Instead we get some poorly written scene that takes us way way off topic, farther off topic than any of the scenes Pater Jackson specifically wrote for the movie thus far. It is a scene that features a character no one cares about: Faramir. So what is this scene? Well, to sum it up: Faramir takes Frodo all the way back to Gondor! At this point I realized that Peter Jackson is quite possibly one of the worst writers in Hollywood (an opinion that King Kong supports). The only reason the other two movies were so great was because he stuck more closely to the source material. I can understand if they wanted to save Shelob's lair for the third film but they could have at least thought of a more relevant climax for Frodo and Sam.

My last bit of criticism is directed at the way Jackson decided to end the film. Despite the fact that there's a sequel Jackson decided to add grossly out of place closure to the film by having Frodo and Sam mend their relationship only to have them start fighting again at the start of the third film. This was a poor choice but since he completely excluded the cliffhanger ending I guess he needed some kind of closure. But once again his poor ability as a storyteller shows because now we find ourselves with a fade out almost exactly like the ending to The Fellowship of the Ring and it seems like Fordo and Sam have made no progress whatsoever on their journey. A poor ending to a disappointing follow-up to one of the best movies of our time. The only thing that saves this film from becoming analogous to The Matrix Reloaded is what little remains of Tolkien's masterpiece inside this shell of a movie.

In conclusion this film should have been cut to no longer than 130 or 140 min. I get the feeling that the only reason Jackson wrote all the unnecessary scenes he did was to augment the film to match Fellowship's length (which was actually necessary). A poor choice, which ruined the movie.

Great movie. The DVD video quality is great, the menus are nice, and is nicely compacted in 2 DVD's. You should have it!

A mi modo de ver fiel a la version escrita, aunque le hayan cortado la parte final para insertarla en el retorno del Rey. Como las otras dos pelicuals recomendable!.