Review Detail

With all the emasculation in the theatrical version, even women and inanimate objects were not spared. Geminigod rides like sunshine into orcish eyes to remove large elements of boolsheet, and it works in many places. [Spoiler alert] The nearly pointless warg battle, Frodo’s poltergeist-in-da-house moment, the ents needing hobbits to realize their purpose—these have been tossed quite deservedly into the garbage heap.

But several problems remain. Theoden still lacks resolve prior to his final ride against Saruman’s orcs and “needs” Aragorn to inject cement into his spine. Faramir’s interaction with Frodo @ Osgiliath is now mercifully abbreviated, but this now creates a gap in the story before Faramir declares his understanding of Frodo. And Gimli still retains his awful “nervous system” line, which seems to be out-of-place terminology in a medieval (albeit fantasy) setting.

The map menu is pretty cool, and the best part of the whole effort, in my opinion, is the amalgamated documentary with commentary by the faneditor himself. The documentary alone is worth the price of admission.

Although an excellent effort by Gemini, Sharkey’s Purist Edit of The Two Towers remains my definitive version of the movie.

8/10 overall; 9.5 for the documentary alone.