Two Towers as the popular casual favorite

K

kzer_za

Lorien
In my experience talking with non-readers (also including people who maybe read the books once a long time ago) in person and to a lesser degree what I've seen online, The Two Towers is the most common favorite of the trilogy. I've had conversations where people were shocked when I said Two Towers wasn't the best! Among more serious book fans opinions differ, but TTT seems to overall be the least popular. FotR is the closest to the book (but also the simplest most linear story to adapt, to be fair) and the most consistent. RotK is the big payoff of the whole thing.

I like TTT a lot but it does have middle-chapter syndrome a bit and some of the highlights of the book get moved into RotK, though mostly out of cinematic necessity I think. As for book alterations, there are various things that bug me though no dealbreakers (Faramir's men beating Gollum comes closest though, maybe the worst scene in the trilogy). But I don't think the movie quite transcends them as a whole in the way RotK does for me, even though RotK arguably changes more. That said, I still rate The Two Towers highly both as a film and adaptation.

Does your perception of TTT's general popularity match mine, and why do you think it enjoys this status with the general public? Helms Deep does still hold up as one of the best cinematic battles ever. I guess the combination of that with Ents, Gollum, and a longer Gandalf vs. Balrog is a real crowd-pleaser. A lot of the general public also prefers that it ends quickly after Helms Deep unlike RotK I think.
 
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In fact I think non-book fans can have some of the most interesting perspectives on how much the movies succeed and the themes they get across. Knowledge of and attachment to the books can predispose us to evaluate parts of the films either more positively or more negatively.
 
This is common with trilogies. The first film or book is mostly setup, the last is wrap-up, so all the action and movement (from a story standpoint) occurs in the middle film.

Non-fans typically wouldn’t have been as enthralled with “Fellowship” as we fans were because they wouldn’t have recognized so much of it. The Mines of Moria provided some action sequences and of course the attempt at the Pass of Caradhras provided tension but most of the film was setup.
 
would generally agree with this.

I had family members genuinely expecting the Ring to be destroyed by the end of FOTR, while nearly everyone always comments on the *exaggerated number* of endings to ROTK (if only we got Scouring!). I'm not surprised if the causal favourite movie is TTT.
 
... and (I think as Philppa said) the sort of uncherished child.
I love it.
The opening alone betters any James Bond film.
As in the books it has my absolute favourite part, which is the 3 hunters across the plains.
And then my 2. best, the "unwelcome" at Edoras.

But what I like most about TT is that they managed to integrate some of the sloooow draaaging aaalooong across Mordor (which made sense for the book) without slowing down the storytelling. Chapeau.
 
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