The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

12/23/02 - Review

The “Lord of the Rings” trilogy continues with the second installment, “The Two Towers.”  At the end of the last film, the fellowship has been divided as Frodo and Sam continue onward to their destiny of destroying the Ring in Mordor.  Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimly were chasing after the Urak-Hai who had captured the other two hobbits, Merry and Pippin.  Their destinies lie at the two towers: Orthanic Tower in Isengard, and Suaron’s fortress at Barad-dur.  Sam and Frodo develop an unseen ally with Gollum, even though the effects of the Ring haunt the creature for all eternity.  Gollum helps lead the two Hobbits into the land of Mordor.  Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimly run across King Theoden Raiders of Rohan as they chase after the captors of the two hobbits.  Eventually they meet the King himself only to see that he is being controlled by the poison of the evil wizard, Saruman.  Gandalf comes back to save the King from his former master, only to see that Saruman has created a grand army for wiping out the rest of Middle-Earth.  King Theoden knows that he is unmatched for the 10,000 plus Urak-Hai that are coming towards Rohan, so he sends all of his people to Helm’s Deep for one last stand.  There, the tall walls will help withstand any attack from the evil soldiers.  Meanwhile, Pippin and Merry escape from the Urak-Hai and run into some tree people who play a key role near the end of the movie.  As all of this is going on, the Dark Lord Sauron quietly waits in the fires of Mordor for his chance to regain the most powerful item in Middle-Earth, The Ring.

Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.  This one was just as good if not better than “The Fellowship,” especially if you like darker films.  This one has its own share of darkness as the fate of Middle-Earth hangs in the balance.  Peter Jackson had a genius way of telling us that Gandalf had indeed survived the mines of Moria.  That is where this movie starts as he is falling down the chasm with the Balrog.  After Gandalf defeats the creature he becomes Gandalf the White, the highest order of Wizards.  After that the movie picks up on the treks of the characters.  If you had read my review for the last film, then I will not repeat myself by saying the same stuff again, except for the fact that the acting, directing, special effects, and sound were just as good.  For me, I especially liked the character Gollum as he had a more prominent role in this movie.  Through him, you can see what the Ring had done to him over the years.  You feel sorry for the little guy even though it is inevitable that he will turn on our savior Hobbits at any given moment.  I heard people tell me that the first two hours were slow.  What movie were they watching?  From the start to the end, you are glued to your seat trying desperately not to piss your pants from an over stretched bladder.  I will say this: there are a lot of new characters being introduced which makes it hard to follow all of the action.  After a little bit though, it all comes together.  I must say that the final battle in this movie totally kicked ass.  It was the largest battle I have ever seen on the big screen.  It was really done quite well.  The heroes of Aragorn, Gimly, and Legolas work great together especially when the rough gets going.  The tree people that I mentioned earlier were awesome especially when they overran Saruman’s fortress of Isengard.  All in all, a great follow-up, and a great middle film for the grandest fantasies of all time.

Movie Grade