Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) by Jacob M — 14 Dec 2013

"I have returned to you now... at the turn of the tide.".

The Fellowship of the Ring, the first film in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, was an impressive and revolutionary fantasy epic still regarded as one of the best fantasy epics ever. It's sequel, The Two Towers, takes what made the first epic, adds more depth, and creates a stellar sequel that outdoes Fellowship in every aspect.

When Fellowship left off, one member is killed by Urukai and the Fellowship has split. Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) continue their mission to Mordor to destroy the One Ring before it's master Sauron regains full power. They come across Gollum (Andy Serkis), who previously was corrupted by the Ring and knows the way to Mordor. Frodo gains his trust, but Sam is suspicious that Gollum might betray them. Elsewhere, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) escape from the Urukai that captured them and end up with the tree/Ent Treebeard, who leads the ultimate council deciding if the Ents will go to war. And last, Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and the resurrected Gandalf the White (Ian McKellen) prepares the land of Rohan for battle against Saruman's (Christopher Lee) forces, who intends to wipe out the world of men in Sauron's fight for domination.

The Two Towers also features Liv Tyler as Arwen, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Benny Hill as King Théoden of Rohan, Karl Urban as the kin's nephew Eomer, Miranda Otto as Lady Eowyn, Brad Dourif as Saruman's servant Wormtongue, and David Wenham as Boromir's brother Faramir.

If Fellowship was the beginning of the fight for freedom in Middle-earth, The Two Towers is the development of the ultimate battle. There's quite a bit of subplots in the preparations for war, such as the Ents and Rohan. While some might be annoyed at these subplots, I believed these subplots helped add a sense of development in preparing against Saruman's army. I also applaud Jackson for how he handled the transitions between stories from Frodo's journey to Aragorn's. For those who've read this book, you know the first part is Aragorn-centered and the second is Frodo-centered, which causes the book to not tell it in chronological order. Jackson fixed this and told these character's journeys in a better order that doesn't feel clunky.

As with Fellowship, the cinematography remains stunning, with New Zealand still looking beautiful as always and behold. Weta Workshop's visuals are simply outstanding and are a step-up from the already-impressive marks left in Fellowship. We get to see more Gollum in this one, and the motion-capture created here is stellar. You actually believe that Gollum is a real creature cause he's done so well. And no one can pull off the personality of this complex character as great as "Motion Capture King" Andy Serkis, who's extremely unforgettable in this role. Plus Jackson continues to combine CGI with practical effects in the best way possible, creating an unforgettable experience that we'll never forget. It also features likely the most incredible battle sequence ever put in modern film, The Battle of Helm's Deep. There will never be as epic a battle sequence today as this scene. Jackson clearly had influences from the Star Wars trilogy when creating this scene, cause it's filled with epic action and moments that Lucas could have filmed.

The casting is once again excellent. Elijah Wood is once again brilliant as Frodo, and Sean Astin is great again as Sam. Serkis is, as I said earlier, stellar as the creature Gollum, and brilliantly creates Gollum's complex split-personality. Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd are fun again as Merry and Pippin. Other noteworthy performances include Orlando Bloom as Legolas (who gets to slide down stairs with a shield during the Helms Deep battle; really awesome), Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Christopher Lee as Saruman, and Viggo Mortenson giving his all as Aragorn. John Rhys-Davies is funny again as Gimli. He also voices the tree Treebeard, and is fun in that role as well. The animatrolic designs for the trees are well-done. I also enjoyed Benny Hill as King Théoden and Karl Urban, before his scene-stealing role as Dr. Bones in the Abrams Star Trek films, as Eomer.

Howard Shore returns to provide the score and it's fantastic. Great themes from Fellowship return, plus new themes are introduced, the most stunning being from Rohan, an emotional violin-heavy theme that's really strong. Shore knows what he's doing here, and the score does not disappoint.

People might disagree here, but I found The Two Towers to be an improvement over Fellowship. Peter Jackson brilliantly took what made Fellowship great, added more depth in emotional storytelling and more character development, and creates a worthy middle chapter that's incredibly awesome, leaving us all excited for what happens next in the final chapter. As Gandalf says, "The Battle of Helm Deep is over. The Battle for Middle-earth... is about to begin.".