Name: Return to Middle Earth
Genre: Documentary
Duration: 43 min
Rating: 6.9
Cast: Michael Rosenbaum, Liv Tyler, Elijah Wood

At 43 minutes(or 42 and a half, sans credits), this is the longest single featurette on the special feature-heavy 2-Disc DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and is a making-of documentary about it. It consists of clips of the movie(without spoiling more than maybe one or two major plot points, mainly letting you know the basic setup of it), interviews with the actors(and to a lesser extent, the crew), behind the scenes footage and narration. While a little of it is promotional(selling it with promises of things being "exclusive", "exciting", etc.), it really does talk about specifics, going into differences between the first two entries in the trilogy(how the second takes what you became adjusted to, and subverts it, increasing the tension, promoting growth in the characters and the like), how they solved various production difficulties(such as building a set... in a remote, wind- and snow-ridden location! And its benefit over choosing CGI, something the picture avoids using more than necessary), and telling us personal, memorable stories of things that happened during the filming, where you end up with the main cast feeling like people you've met in real life(albeit McKellen is oddly absent), and you even meet stunt guys - one appropriately wearing an "I survived Helm's Deep" T-shirt, as one of the dozens of "Orcs", tirelessly fighting, "dying" and the like, in the rain, *for hours*. This is well-edited and keeps you interested throughout. I recommend this to any fan of LotR. 8/10

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

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Return to Middle Earth

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