Cecilia gave me the special edition DVD of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for my birthday and I simply couldn't resist watching it this afternoon (don't worry, Cecilia, my parents lost the remote control to their DVD player so I can't listen to the commentaries, and I won't watch the special features). I very much enjoyed the extended verion after having just read the book a few weeks ago. There were a couple of scenes that obviously didn't add to the story (particularly the scene where Saruman realizes that Aragorn is Isildur's heir. He closes his scene with words to the effect of: "It doesn't matter." Indeed it doesn't, which is why it ended up on the cutting room floor.), but for the most part it was great.

Having just seen Return of the King I was even more interested in watching Gollum's extended role again in The Two Towers. He is simply a stunning achievement. As a conflicted character and as an incredible realization, Gollum's scenes are high points in the movie(s) for me. His face is so expressive, so magical. Of course the digital creation is perfectly executed, but his lines and Andy Serkis' movements and voice-over blur the line between movie "reality" and movie "fiction." The opening of Return of the King is a particular joy to watch because it's all about the "creation" of Gollum and that directorial decision makes it clear to me that Peter Jackson knows that for all the devotees' love of the story, of Sam, of the adventure, it's actually the rendition of Gollum/Smeagol that's going to bring in the new fans. That's the selling point for the movies, in my opinion. Gollum/Smeagol is how Jackson and New Line seem to have planned to bring people to the theaters who have never read the books. As one of those "late bloomers" I certainly was drawn in to the Tolkien mythology after seeing Gollum's character in The Two Towers, and Return of the King only made a great thing better.