aThe second part of Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy trilogy of the Lord of the Rings is the Two Towers. For some reason, I can’t get the thought of the terrorist attacks out of my mind that happened a year earlier.
Like its predecessor, which was undoubtedly one of the best films of 2001 and the best fantasy film in a long, long time, the Two Towers is played out in a brilliant, epic and sweeping motion. It still doesn’t surpass the Fellowship of the Ring in any particular way.
Frodo and Sam continue their journey to the land of Mordor to destroy the One Ring before its evil creator Sauron can use it for evil to conquer Middle-Earth. Meanwhile, the other Hobbits Merry and Pippin are taken care of by the Ents, the oldest beings on Middle-Earth who live in Fangorn Forest. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli ride to help King Theoden of Rohan defend his country against the traitorous wizard Saruman, who has built and unleashed an army of goblins to assist Sauron in conquering Middle-Earth.
Frodo and Sam meet up with the hobbit turned nasty little creature Gollum, who once had the Ring and hates it yet loves it at the same time. Gollum agrees to guide the Hobbits to Mordor.
The Two Towers, like the other two films, were filmed back-to-back from 1999-2000, and then released in respective years. The Fellowship of the Ring ended off with a cliffhanger. The Two Towers feels neither as a conclusion to its predecessor, nor as a build-up to the final part of the trilogy, the Return of the King. Instead, it makes up for this by being its own adventure in medias res, that tests the heroes for their upcoming battle with Sauron.
The Two Towers has it all, from bands of heroes struggling on to vast armies battling it out. But throughout it all, it’s the Ring that’s the main subject, and constantly toys with the mind of Frodo, making him weary and fatigued.
Aragorn again is struggling with himself, as he cannot feel he cannot become King of Gondor, but nevertheless leads Rohan alongside Theoden in battle.
The entire focus of the movie is on the story, the plot and the characters. It never deviates away from this aspect, and never gets lost in becoming a crazy and wild adventure.
We have the same actors as before, with a few additions. Bernard Hill is the aging Theoden who leads Rohan in yet another war. Miranda Otto is Eowyn, Theoden’s niece and Karl Urban is Eomer, Theoden’s nephew.
The film contains a lot of memorable characters and sequences. The Ents (walking tree people), the oldest beings on Middle Earth, are some of the most loveable characters in the entire trilogy. The character of Gollum, though a nasty villain, was created entirely from CGI effects, and the results are so realistic looking. The climactic Battle of Helm’s Deep is one of the best battle sequences ever put on screen.
The movie ends in another cliffhanger, similar to the first movie; the Return of the King wraps it all up.
Jackson started the Lord of the Rings from humble beginnings, and it has been expanded into a massive epic exploit.
**** ½ /5
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