Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) by Harpreet S — 13 Feb 2013

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" was significantly better than the first installment which isn't saying much. My low opinion of it is partly influenced by my distaste for these kinds of films, I'll admit that.

I am not too fond of a film that is purposely drawn-out, has banal storytelling and characters, except for maybe one or two computer generated ones; Gollum is as fascinating a creature as Dobby was in the "Harry Potter" series.

It's well written contrary to "The Fellowship," also better acted. Orlando Bloom and Hugo Weaving just look awkward in their respective roles; two characters who do not feel natural in an artificial world.

It's only great attributes are everything related to visuals; the computer generated effects are awe-inspiring, especially when the film is coming to an end. I wonder how Peter Jackson and his staff imagined and choreographed all of the detail shown in the battle scenes, even if it was done with a computer.

To me, the actual fighting is not interesting at all; it's where these creatures are running to, where they are falling; the several objects used by them, and so on. Some of the shots of locations (castles, and what not) done by CGI are gorgeous to look at, too.

As I said earlier most of the characters were unappealing to me, only rarely did I care for a few. I've seen them countless times before and did not like the way they were presented, still I did not expect anything different.

The three storylines and what happens in them were mostly predictable, somewhat boring, and not really entertaining. It's style over substance, difficult to catch its pulse.