LOTR immersion: The Two Towers

And now a recap of last weekend. On Friday night, I re-watched The Fellowship of the Ring on DVD, to get me all ready for the new movie. (By the way, a quick Netflix note: they do rent out multi-disc sets, but each disc counts as a separate selection. So if you want them together, you have to prioritize them consecutively in your queue.) Great movie. I was so wrapped up in it, that in the midst of watching, when I reached over to turn off my heater, whose inner workings were glowing red in the darkened room, I was all, “Ah, the very pit of Mount Doom! Cast the Ring into the fire! No!” Uh, then I snapped out of it.

The next day I went to the Uptown to see The Two Towers. I made the unfortunate miscalculation of arriving mere minutes before the matinee. The theater was packed. The lights dimmed and I scrambled up and down the aisle, once bumping into a rather tall man who seemed not to see me at all, making me feel like, yes, a hobbit. (But the urgency of the imminent screening did not permit us to exchange such witty banter.) Though I tried to get a seat in the balcony, all I could find was second row on the floor. Not only is the Uptown screen huge to begin with, but the second row, my god. It was excruciating. When the screen takes up my entire field of vision, I eventually get dizzy. But had I learned my lesson? No. It’ll be fine, I thought.

I sat down in the middle of the row, next to two people who had apparently just come from the anti-war protest that morning. They still had their signs with them. Nice to know that even protesters can make time in their day for popular entertainment. Heh. As for the movie: it was good, as far as I could tell from the segments when I didn’t have my eyes closed, fighting off nausea. This isn’t a reflection on the quality of the movie itself, of course. I’m going to see it again soon — from a reasonable viewing distance next time — and post a proper review then.

For now, I will say that I found the battle scene, or more aptly put, the climactic orgy of death and destruction, a bit much. But eh, I expect that. Also I would’ve liked to see more of the Merry and Pip storyline with the Ents. And on another front, I can safely say: yes, Sam loves Frodo.