| THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
THE TWO TOWERS Rating:   Director: Peter Jackson Producers: Barrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson Writers: Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens & Stephen Sinclair & Peter Jackson Director of Photography: Andrew Lesnie Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Christopher Lee Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew |
 Click the photo to buy merchandise from The Lorf of the Rings: The Two Towers |
Review by: Ryan
Kugler
12/29/02
Near the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Gandalf the White (the always great Ian McKellan), sitting atop his horse looking down over the smoke-filled ruins of Middle Earth says, "The battle for Helm's Deep is over, the battle for Middle Earth begins." With this statement, director (and all around mastermind) Peter Jackson is setting us up for an excruciatingly long intermission (one year) that will lead into what should turn out to be the crowning achievement in his epic saga; a saga that will go down in film history as one of the greatest screen fantasies of all-time. Unfortunately, I'm not here to review the entire series (which will play out like a ten-and-a-half-hour film after all of the extended editions are released), but rather, the middle chapter. As middle chapters go, it's pretty damn impressive and easily the best action-adventure film since the first, but it doesn't work quite as well as The Fellowship of the Ring did as a stand-alone feature (simply because there's no real beginning and no real end). When viewed in the context of the series however, I'm sure that most of my issues with this installment will be remedied.
Before going to see The Two Towers do yourselves a favor and rent or watch your copy of Fellowship. I picked up and threw in the extended cut (which is superior to the theatrical version), and it helped get me up to speed for the new one. Jackson has said that New Line wanted him to open this one up with a recap of the first, but he didn't want to cheapen it and turn it into some kind of television miniseries. He, of course, won out in the end and Two Towers jumps right into where Fellowship left off.
As you may recall (and if you don't recall, you're not ready to see this one yet), at the end of the first, the fellowship (of Hobbits, Humans, a Wizard, an Elf and a Dwarf) were separated, so rather than following one group and one storyline, we now follow three different groups and three storylines.
The first group that we reunite with consists of Hobbits Frodo and Sam (Sean Astin), as they continue on their path to Mt. Doom. On their way, they come into contact with the pitiful Gollum (a wonderful CGI creation masterfully performed and voiced by Andy Serkis), a creature with a split personality who wants to both help and at the same time kill them, so he can get his hands on the ring (his precious).
Then there are Hobbits Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan), who have successfully escaped a band of Uruk-hai (modified and f-ed up versions of Orcs, the baddies of the story) and have wondered into a forest. In this vast woodland, the trees come to life (though not as cheesily as the ones in The Wizard of Oz did) and the two are scooped up by Treebeard (voiced by John Rhys Davies who also plays Gimli), a giant Ent (a tree herder) that carries them through his forest, while philosophizing in a painfully slow manner.
Finally, the bulk of the film concerns the further adventures of the human Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and the dwarf Gimli. It's these three characters and their exploits that give the film it's energy and excitement (since whenever these guys aren't on screen, it all becomes pretty tedious). Their mission is to lead the humans of Rohan to the safehaven of Helm's Deep (a supposed indestructible fortress), where the film culminates with one of the greatest battles (one that took three months to shoot) ever staged.
Throughout this epic adventure, old characters make appearances and new ones are introduced. Like the first, all of the characters spend a majority of the time walking, talking and occasionally fighting and while it gets sort of repetitive (like it did in the first film), there's always something wonderful to look at on screen, so my interest was held.
Once again, Jackson has shown that he's a true old-fashioned moviemaker. He has created another beautiful looking film with immaculate production design, astonishing cinematography, state-of-the-art effects, impressive acting (especially for this kind of film), rousing music and swashbuckling action. I'm really glad that he chose to shoot these three films back-to-back, as it gives them all a real consistency that might otherwise be lacking.
I honestly feel that when the entire saga
is finished and released, it will be a four-and-a-half or even
five star film, but as a stand-alone, this chapter just doesn't
rate as highly as the first did (which garnered four stars from
me), due to issues of pacing. Still, I await The Return of
the King as much as anything else scheduled for release next
year and I'm counting the hours (not really) until I have the
chance to sit down in a couple of years to watch the complete
adventure.
(A New Line Cinema release. Opened wide on December 18, 2002.)
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