Review of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) by Stevenf — 01 Oct 2013

The battle for Middle Earth continues in this epic and vastly rich in detail sequel to the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers is often regarded as the best of the three, its name deriving from the tower in Mordor where the flaming eye of Sauron sits, and the tower of Isengard, where the corrupted Saruman build his army. It introduces new characters while still maintaining heavy focus on the ones we grew to admire from the first part, the stories intertwine yet happen worlds apart, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) have gone it alone to the fires of Mount Doom in the hope of destroying the ring of power, but they are my no means alone, as the shady creature known as Gollum (Andy Serkis) is on their every move, but he may soon prove his worth as the two hobbits seem to be going round in circles. Frodo is beginning to show signs of the ring overpowering him by now, he's grouchy, angry and taking it out on Sam. But another battle continues to rage as the evil Saruman (Christopher Lee) continues to raise an unbeatable army in the name of Sauron and the ring, an army that seeks domination of the lands, Rohan being the centre of it, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rys-Davies) are in search of Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) who have been taken by the dangerous breed of Uruk-hai believing them to be Frodo.

But there is more to it all that just needs to be watched, we have a reborn Gandalf (Ian McKellan) who helps steer the masses in the right direction, as each city must stand up and rise against the armies. We make way for one of the most memorable battle sequences in cinema history, the battle of Helms Deep, thousands of soldiers and even more orcs line the land to fight, it's raining, it's wonderful to watch and it's action packed, to the fullest. Wonderful to watch couldn't be used enough in this review, because the Two Towers is exciting from start to finish, whether its the epic battles, talking trees, continuing character-driven stories or vast landscapes of beauty, it takes everything from the first and doubles it, Aragorn seems to take centre stage in the film, as the Hobbits take a back seat for a while, the two hobbits on the way to Mordor are really just walking for most of the film, but Wood and Astin excellently play beaten travellers as we begin to realise the sway such a small object can hold, but Aragorn is the heir to the white city of Gondor, he therefore must salvage all the remaining hope in men, and deal with the many obstacles that stand in his path, but not without a few secrets to be revealed first, although he longs after Arwen (Liv Tyler), another woman, Eowyn (Miranda Otto) takes an interest in his peculiar being. Like before, it's the phenomenal acting and intriguing characters these actors portray that really bring the film to life, it's visually impressive as ever, yet these larger than life heroes are likeable, easy to root for and give a sense of happiness and despair rolled into one, we have love, loss, hatred and frightening elements of the supernatural to enjoy. McKellan's Gandalf speaks heavily in riddle, and the more I watch this trilogy the more I think he knew along what was going to happen, the reason for his participation was a bored pensioner with not long left until retirement. The element that drives Lord of the Rings head and shoulders above others is its own time and its own original world, everything about it breathes magic and fantasy, the Two Towers capitalises on success but doesn't settle to be just as good, it aims higher and opens up to a host of new characters and story lines that set up a massive and historic final chapter.