The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
December 22, 2002

     Finally, after the wait of a year, fans across the globe rejoice at the coming of the second installment of The Lord of the Rings adventure, The Two Towers.  Almost a year ago, I finished reading The Two Towers, and of course, both the movie and the book had its share of similarities and differences.  So, expect a lot of spoilers as I go on reviewing and comparing the movie to the novel.

     The fellowship of the Ring is broken.  Frodo (Elijah Woods) and Sam (Sean Astin) must continue their treacherous journey towards Mordor, but something is following them.  Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rys Davies), continue to track the band of Uruk Hais that have taken both Merry and Pippin captive.  While doing so, they enter Rohan, land of the horse-lords.  And Merry and Pippin are on their own, as they struggle to escape.  New characters such as Gollum (Andy Serkis), Théoden (Bernard Hill), King of Rohan, Éomer (Karl Urban), nephew of the King, Éowyn (Miranda Otto) niece of the King, Faramir (David Wenham), Boromir’s brother, Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), the king’s advisor and several others are introduced. 

     Well, already I have seen this movie a total of three times.  Hey, before you call me crazy, insane, obsessive, whatever, I have my excuses!  One, I just had to see on opening day, no way that I could not have.  Two, it was a school field trip, who in the right mind would turn down such an opportunity?!?  Three, well three was just for the sake of going again.  I must say, every time I see The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers again, I can only like it better than the last time I’ve seen it.  But, everyone has to admit, three times in four days is fairly mild in comparison with those big Tolkien fanatics.

     Yeah, so what should I start with?  The acting.  Once again, the acting of The Lord of the Rings was amazing and not disappointing at all.  With the addition of new characters, the acting seemed even more amazing and seamless.  Wow, and I mean wow, they fit their roles so well, like a glove.  It was almost like what I imagined it when reading the book.

     The visual effects of The Two Towers were stunning.  The extraordinary battle sequences, action sequences, and just sequences in general were all incredible.  Even the CGI was not at all overwhelming.  Gollum, played by Andy Serkis was amazing.  Though he does seem to stick out of the environment, the interaction between the live actors was very believable and well done.  Treebeard, with the voice of John Rys Davies, was surprisingly good also.  At first I was astonished to see how he looked, but Peter Jackson was able to pull him and the other ents off extremely well.  Though I hear they had a rough time designing Treebeard.  The Helm’s Deep battle sequence was just remarkable; I can barely say a bad word of it.  Then there was the storming of Isengard.  This part of the story I did not expect to be put into the movie, but they did, and I’m very pleased at the result.  Just seeing the ents attack in the movie was just wonderful.  Tolkien does not exactly describe the attack to this extent, so it was a refreshing to see it.  Also, the cinematography does not let us down.  Last year, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring won at the Oscars for Best Cinematography and now I believe Andrew Lesnie once again deserves congratulations for a job well done.  I still can’t put a finger to why they had not won last year for Best Art Direction.  The Fellowship of the Ring had indeed shown us something that has never been seen before, so why in the world did they not win?  It still yet remains an enigma, but I can say the Academy is rigged.  The Two Towers does seem to have as many new sets as that of The Fellowship of the Ring, but nonetheless do have great ones.  I hope they win, but if they do, I think they deserved it more in The Fellowship of the Ring.  I mean, Edoras, Meduseld, Orthanc, Helm’s Deep, the Black Gates, Osgiliath they were all fantastic!

     Once more Howard Shore gives us a most amazing score to this amazing movie.  Old themes from the first movie and new themes from the second are now incorporated to the score, which produces a most amazing product.  I think I’ve said amazing one too many times.  Anyhow, since The Two Towers, without a doubt, is a darker movie than the Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers’ score does not seem as cheerful or merry as The Fellowship of the Ring’s score.  But it turns out to be more powerful and emotional.  Well, I am not disappointed at all with The Two Towers’ score, Howard Shore has once again created a score that is most worthy of Tolkien and Peter Jackson’s masterpiece and I eagerly look forward to The Return of the King’s score.

     Now we get into the meat of this review, the story.  As expected, there was an uncountable amount of changes, revisions and additions to the movie from the book.  Some were for the better, and some would get the most loyal of fans dismayed.  I, frankly, did not really care that they changed a whole lot from the story, and I was not surprised.  From seeing The Fellowship of the Ring, I expected there to be modifications in The Two Towers, and this did not upset me at all; except one part, but we’ll get to that a little later.  Peter Jackson is merely trying to interpret this colossal novel to the big screen, and nothing more.  He is not trying to recreate the book word by word.  He is not trying to please just the diehard fans, but rather create a movie that all, whether a fan or not, would enjoy.  And in my opinion, he has done a great job.  I believe I’ve already said enough of this, so I will get onto the real storyline. 

     Naturally there was no problem with the storyline, it was great.  Non-fans of this movie would probably like The Two Towers better than the first, partly because it was not as confusing to follow and had more of a straight-forward kind of story.  The characters were not all over the place like in the first.  It was a bit more, contained, you can say.  There were three main stories going on.  The ‘Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli’ story seem to be the focal one, while the ‘Frodo, Sam and Gollum’ and ‘Merry and Pippin’ stories were less significant.  Since The Two Towers is right smack in the middle of The Lord of the Rings, it had neither a beginning nor ending, making it a bit awkward.  With the three different stories going on, where neither of these characters meet each other, there was a jumping from one story to another.  Some transitions did seem to come out of the blue, but they were necessary to carry out one’s perspective to another, and I guess it could not have been done any other way.  

     When the preview of The Two Towers came out at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring, I noticed elves at Helm’s Deep, and of course my initial reaction was really shocking.  Now that I’ve actually seen them, it was not a bad addition on Peter Jackson’s part at all.  Fans were outraged when they heard of the expanded role of Arwen in the second movie, but then she only comes out in Aragorn’s dream, and a few other parts that were very minor.  Her name was only mentioned once in the books.  But that too was not a bad addition, and not too much of an inconvenience.  There was also the expansion of Éowyn’s role; yet again it was not bad.  There were several other changes, but now let’s get to the most disappointing one, Faramir.  Faramir was Boromir’s brother; however, he did not have the same views as his brother.  Although, in the movie, he appears to contemplate over stealing the One Ring, and this contemplation lasted was much too long in my opinion.  This defeated the whole concept of Faramir being more self-controlled and understanding than Boromir.  Yet, Peter Jackson does make it up by making Faramir willing to forfeit his life to release the two hobbits in Osgiliath, but I still was a bit saddened.  But there were also those little things that loyal fans would be much pleased to see.  Such as the little game Legolas and Gimli played at Helm’s Deep, the inclusion of Arod and Hasufel, and even Hama and Gamling.  The characters also had more of a solid development than the first.  It was nice to see the comic relief coming for Gimli, as Pippin is growing up in maturity, in some ways of course.  In the books, Frodo does a go a bit crazy, and Peter Jackson manages to accomplish this in a dignified manner, he really goes mad, which is cool to watch.

     All-in-all, the story of The Two Towers, flowed much better than The Fellowship of the Ring.  There seemed to be less locations visited, and more on the story.  Though, it would be nice if there were more character development, and few more ‘breathers’ or friendly moments, from the story.  The story just ends, a couple of chapters before it does in the books.  So, expect those scenes to be in the next movie!  Now, fans sit on the edge of their seats; eagerly anticipating to what is to come in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King!

     There was much expected of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.  Many were expecting a stunning sequel to its predecessor, The Fellowship of the Ring.  Does The Two Towers just do exactly that?  Well, The Fellowship amazed many, as it set new standards and new dimensions.  It took us to a place we’ve only journeyed to in our own minds.  But The Fellowship, it took us right there; tickling the senses of both sight and sound so vividly.  It was something no one had ever experienced before.  And what of The Two Towers?  The Two Towers let us revisit the place we have already journeyed to in The Fellowship of the Ring.  Hence, it was not as surprising as its predecessor.  Nonetheless, it was surprising in its own demeanor.  It had continued on from the journey of The Fellowship.  The Two Towers was probably better, in a sense that everyone was already familiar with the characters.  But in the Fellowship, Peter Jackson had to go on with the tedious task of introducing so many characters.  So many, that people became confused.  Hopefully, I was able to clearly express my points.

     Wow, I think this is one of my longest reviews I have ever written.  To conclude, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers lives up to its expectations.  It was not at all what I was expecting.  Actually, I was not exactly sure to what I was expecting, just something great.  And The Two Towers is just that, and more.  As I continually watch it, I become more and more confident that this movie is indeed great.  If you enjoyed the first one, and even if you didn’t, you will most certainly find much pleasure in watching this masterpiece for its superb acting, magnificent visuals, incredible score and a tour de force storyline.  Though, those who have not read the books may find that it stretches out too much, but that is due to the fact that Peter Jackson desperately tries to include those little moments that would please fans.  The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a definite must-see.

     Oh yeah, I'd like to mention that there are a few things I noticed that were not in The Two Towers movie but did happen to appear in the previews and trailers.  So, yes, they are already working on The Two Towers extended cut. :)

 - Bobo

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