A few cast members were added to the list of great
characters. The most memorable of them is Andy Serkis playing the villainous
Gollum/Smeagol. Like every character that Andy Serkis portrayed in his movies,
he really plays Gollum so nasty and driven to madness because of the ring. He
was the previous owner of the ring before Bilbo found it, which we don’t find
out until “The Hobbit,” which we will get to in a couple of days. Andy Serkis not
only did the voice, but would dress up and act with the other actors on screen.
Not only did the animators have on-set movement and on-set performances but
they also had an on-set model that they could capture the light from that was
really there in the scene. The guy that they got was a makeup guy who was
designing a puppet/costume for Gollum. They taught the guy how to animate him
into the scene because they thought he knew what texture to put into it. This
is a case of not only animators working, but everyone pitching in so that they
knew what to do in this sort of case.
Moving on, Bernard Hill plays King Théoden of Rohan,
who is under Saruman’s spell until Gandalf the White (yes, he’s been upgraded
in this movie) heals him so he can rule his kingdom again, and he does a great
job in this role. Miranda Otto plays Éowyn, Théoden’s niece who is really
strong-willed and knows how to defend herself in battle. Plus, she actually
falls in love with Aragorn. Her brother is Éomer, played by Karl Urban (later
to star in the “Dredd” remake and to play Dr. McCoy in the Star Trek remakes),
who is also a strong-willed person that knows how to lead an army. In fact, he
was the previous Chief Marshal of the Riddermark but was exiled by the man who
was brainwashing Théoden, Grima Wormtongue. Wouldn’t you know it, Grima is
played by Brad Dourif. Man does Dourif know how to play a villainous role
really well. Grima is played so nasty and slimy, that you are happy once you
see that man get beaten by Gandalf and see him away from the movie, never to be
seen for a while.
Not only is John Rhys-Davis playing Gimli, but he also
provides the voice of Treebeard, leader of the Ents, who are tree people. He
really does a great voice in this, playing an Ent who gets enraged when he sees
that a large part of Fangorn Forest was burnt to the ground, and the fight that
they have was great. Picture an army of Groots going up against the villains.
You know who will win. Also, we see Boromir’s younger brother in this movie,
Faramir, Prince of the Stewards of Gondor and captain of the Ithilien Rangers,
played by David Wenham. We get the feeling that once we see him how much he
loved his brother but also that he must have felt neglected by his father
because he favored Boromir over Faramir, thinking that Faramir wouldn’t amount
to anything.
In this movie, we have a few fights in here. Not only
do the Ents get together to fight Isengard’s forces and eventually win, but there
is the epic Battle of Helm’s Deep, which is the most epic fight ever. This
movie gets darker, scarier, and really makes you hoping that nothing jumps out
of the screen. The fight choreography, from the swords slashing through people,
arrows flying all over, axes stabbing into the villains, rocks being thrown,
shields protecting people, etc. Legolas had a great scene where he grabbed onto
a horse and flew on its back and went skateboarding on a shield during the epic
end fight. Gimli also has some of the funniest lines in this movie, which I will
not dare spoil.
Unlike in the book, where the first part talks about
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli reuniting with Gandalf, going to Théoden, fighting a
few battles, Merry and Pippin meeting Treebeard, the Isengard fight, before
being found by our four men, and the second part is all about Frodo and Sam
finding Gollum, meeting Faramir and their journeys, the movie mixes everything
in. There will be a scene of Frodo, Sam and Gollum, before going to Merry and
Pippin with the Ents, before going to the rest in Helm’s Deep.
Once again, the locations are just riveting. They are
so lively and fresh, that no green-screen was used, not many CGI was used,
unless the people dressed up in costumes and the animators were able to work it
in, the fight choreography was epic, the direction was done right, the casting
was again pitch perfect, the acting was top notch, and the lines were just some
of the most quotable ever.
If you have seen the first movie, definitely check
this one out. I cannot do it justice with my review, but you have to see this
in order to know how great of a movie it is. Now, I wouldn’t say this is better
than the first, because I think this is just as good as the first one. Even
though the first had great character development, this one was also up there
with the first movie. I also rate this one with a 10.
Now we will get to the epic conclusion to this
trilogy, “The Return of the King,” tomorrow. Stay tuned until then because it
will be a great review.
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