My father was the lucky winner of the Two Towers tickets as sponsored by Scoil Raifteiri and as he was otherwise engaged on the evening of the premier he passed them on to lucky me.

David Clarke receiving his prize from Beán Máire Treasa Uí Dhálaigh, Principal of Scoil Raifteirí

I'd like to say thanks to Castlebar.ie and Scoil Raifteiri for running the competition and sponsoring the prize.

So I guess I should at least provide a review of the movie . . . the thing is I don't want to spoil it for anyone else, especially the hard core fans of the series.

Oh well here goes . . with as little spoilage as I can possibly manage.

LOTR - The Two Towers will blow you away even if you have seen the first movie in the series.

Whilst this one contains all the cinematographic eye candy that you'd expect with sweeping vistas and massive structures and settings you should also enjoy the unique characters that fill this movie. I often find that if you don't care about the characters, then you won't care what happens to them during the film and in this film you want to see the baddies get punished and you want to see the goodies survive.

Some more Tolkein fans

I think the good v. evil formula is always a difficult one to breathe new life into because we all know that inevitably the goodies always win in the end. It's just a case of how many they lose along the way, so to keep you engaged they have to be interesting enough so that you don't think about the eventual outcome. With this film you really do get carried along by the characters in the story without thinking too far ahead.

And some more enjoying the fundraiser

I'm not going to mention the technical or special effects because I always think that if they're really good then you don't even notice them. No doubt this film is packed with them from start to finish but hey I was so wrapped up that I didn't notice, so they must be good.

I also think that the sign of a good movie is that you never feel bored at any stage. There are always going to be moments of transition between the BIG bits in a film and it's how the director fills these in that can make or break a movie and in LOTR they do this admirably.

Two young fellas from Scoil Raifteirí

Anyway what's the film about . . . a big fight . . . or scrap as we used to say in national school . . . but oh what a battle . . . I'm tellin' ya, if the battle between God and the Divil himself and the end of days ain't as big as this then I wouldn't be surprised. At one stage I thought I saw Kharn and his mates moshin' in the middle of the battle but that was just the mulled wine kickin' in that the sponsors had provided. Oh yeah, the wine . . . I was filled with a dinner and mulled wine and I never once felt like dozing off . . not bad for a movie that's three hours long.

Heading in for the main feature

I was intrigued by some of the Elvish or Elvin that was spoken by the characters (I know that's what the language was because there was a hardcore fan behind me that was naming out the characters and filling in the background for his partner . . . she loved him, so he musta used Avonmore Cream or something when he made the pasta or soup 'cos he was annoying me ! But I'm Irish and too polite to turn around and tell him to SHUT UP . . . I tell ya, I can see why home cinemas, DVDs and surround sound are getting so popular), maybe it's because I was surrounded by Scoil Raifteiri people but I couldn't help thinking that there were Gaelic tones to the language - on the official website one of the dialect and creative language coaches is a Roísin Carty - has to be one of our own !?

Talking of our own I was very surprised to see our very own Charlie Crainn making an appearance . . . many of ye may not remember him but he starred alongside Gregory Grainnoge and Shelia Shelidia on Bosco !!! If you go to see the film you'll see what I mean !

And another couple

I often think that when a cinematic experience such as LOTR comes along that the hype seriously detracts from what is an outstanding production and although I really enjoyed both the first (and this one too), I can't help thinking that I didn't enjoy it as much. But when I say that I'm talking fractions of enjoyment. A series like this stands out from the crowd and inevitable it will have its hardcore fanatics and detractors (by the tractor load I guess !). I remember that Gary Larson had a cartoon depicting a D.L.D.W.W.S. Meeting which only had about five or six people present (that was the Didn't Like Dances With Wolves Society). And I'm sure that LOTR will have people out there who just want to hate the thing for no rational reason (although I'm sure they'll give one anyway). People will knock this film but all I'll say is GO ! ENJOY ! MOVIES AND STORIES OF THIS QUALITY DON'T COME ALONG THAT OFTEN.

© Copyright 2006 by the author(s)/photographer(s) and www.castlebar.ie

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