How Geek are you?

Probably not as Geek as I am. Nor my wife.

What did you do yesterday? What did I do? Well, the wife and I took the day off to . . . no, not go Christmas shopping . . . to see The Two Towers.

And, it was awe-inspiring. Amazing. Simply amazing. We had an incredible time and couldn’t imagine a better way to spend an unseasonably warm, rainy as hell, December day.

We’re both very big Lord of the Rings fans. I’ve been one since I was 12 when my brother Marty handed me a copy of the Hobbit and said, “Read this.” I did and fell in love with the world of Middle-Earth. After devouring the entire series, I went back to Middle-Earth as often as I could. I dreamed about it, I thought about it. I considered it and I wondered if I would ever get to see it.

I even watched the incomplete Ralph Bashki versions and they bored me to tears.

I remember last year when I watched The Fellowship of the Ring and I was just amazed at the terrifying and beautiful images that I was being fed. For the first time in my life I felt as if I was in a world I had been imagining all my life. It had come alive. The wife and I have watched many, many times the new extended version of the Fellowship and have loved every single minute of it.

After a long, long year we finally got to see The Two Towers and we were amazed.

From beginning to end, the film is a feast, both visually and emotionally. Huge battles, internal conflict shown externally, humor, pathos and more. There’s not much character development here, but that was true of the books as well. We were in pursuit and battle mode.

At the end of the film, the official War of the Ring has not begun yet. We’re still dealing with Isengard posturing itself as a new land of darkness. But Sauron and his minions are moving toward an all out war and the time of Men could be coming to an end. There is a huge, desperate battle by a race of people who see this as possibly their final moment. There is a sadness here that is deeper than almost any that we have seen. This battle, the Battles of Helm’s Deep, is perhaps one of the most amazing cinematic battle ever filmed.

Once again, Legolas proves himself as the Elf with the Mostest. He kicks some major, major ass. He’s pristine, agile and amazing. If I were an otherworldly warrior, I would be Legolas.

The time is right for these stories to be told again. The world is constantly looking for a hero and Lord of the Rings offers us heroes of almost every type. There is the noble, the reluctant, the giving, the sacrifice. And, if anyone ever thought war of any sort was glorious, The Two Towers proves them wrong. No matter what the reason for war in The Lord of the Rings, the battle is always fought with a heavy heart. “Too much blood has already been shed this day.”

And now the wait for next year begins . . .