Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Peter Jackson's 'The Two Towers'

They say Peter Jackson is taking liberties with the story as he films "The Lord of the Rings."

The most recent example" In the original book of "The Two Towers," there was only one elf at the battle of Helm's Deep, one dwarf, and many humans. I've heard that the upcoming movie is going to have more elves there than just Legolas. My understanding is that Jackson increased the presence of some of the minor characters, particularly Arwen, since she's going to marry Aragorn.

I'm really not too concerned. This is Jackson's "Lord of the Rings," not Tolkien's; and in any event, if he were to follow the book religiously there wouldn't be much room for innovation, interpretation or creativity.

The same principle applies to his portrayal of Aragorn in the first movie as a man who wasn't set on becoming king of Gondor from the first, or his decision to give Glorfindel's role of rescuing Frodo from the Nazgul in "The Fellowship of the Ring" to  Arwen.

It's his retelling and reinterpretation of the characters that add something to the movie.

(I'm so generous with his Matrix-style fight between Saruman and Gandalf. That was just stupid.)

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