The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

I might not have enjoyed it as much as the first film, but 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' is still a terrific film no doubt. Visually it still looks superb, I really do love the look of these films so far. The main plot is engaging and very interesting, while things like the costumes et al. remain at a high level. There is also top action, including some noteworthy battle sequences. There are, though, a few bits I found less great - still very good in the grand overall scheme, but just comparably with the 2001 release. I found the pacing to be slightly off in moments, while a few of the new cast members didn't connect to me - e.g. Bernard Hill. The side story, meanwhile, with Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan didn't interest me at all... they spend too much of the run time just walking through a forest. Elijah Wood remains good though. I did enjoy seeing the journey of Frodo...

Still probably my favorite of the three, while it's pretty streamlined and far more action centric with little development compared with Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King, I always find this one really entertaining with the Helm's Deep battle. 4.5/5

That Damned Ring. RELEASED IN 2002 and directed by Peter Jackson, “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” adapts the second part of JRR Tolkien’s popular fantasy trilogy about adventures on Middle-Earth. The surviving ‘Fellowship’ of the first film has been divided into three small groups for this one: The Hobbits Frodo and Sam (Elijah Wood and Sean Astin) team-up with the mad Gollum (Andy Serkis) to make their way to Mordor, but are captured by Faramir (David Wenham), the brother of the deceased Boromir. Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas the Elf (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli the Dwarf (John Rhys-Davies) encounter the once-great King Theoden (Bernard Hill), who has fallen under the spell of Saruman (Christopher Lee) via his devious minion Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif). Meanwhile the Hobbits Pippin and Merry (Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan) try to enlist the help of huge tree creatures....

Peter Jackson has always maintained that The Two Towers is "the second act" of his epic undertaking, and perhaps the true greatness of the middle chapter will only be clear when viewed in context. As a stand-alone film, however, The Two Towers is not quite as good as Fellowship. (Nor, indeed, does it extend the universe or deepen the relationships in the manner of The Empire Strikes Back.) That it still merits the full five stars is merely an indication of how high the benchmark has been set. Picking up pretty much where Fellowship left off, this is a considerably darker film, with Frodo (Wood) falling further under the influence of the Ring (giving rise to some seriously spooky hallucinations), while Saruman (Christopher Lee) wreaks even more havoc. There's also the first appearance of Saruman's spy, the sinister Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), and the complex Gollum, a brilliant combination...