When the first film of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy for “The Fellowship of the Ring” was released in late 2001, the film became a worldwide success with moviegoers and critics. Many fans that loved the book enjoyed the film thanks to the extravagant vision of director Peter Jackson as the film was nominated for several Oscars and won Best Film at the MTV Movie Awards. Though “The Fellowship of the Ring” was just the beginning, many fans were more eager for its 2002 sequel “The Two Towers” as the trilogy would now darken in its storyline and cinematic approach.

Directed by Jackson and the entire trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien that was adapted by Jackson and screenwriters Fran Walsh, Stephen Sinclair, and Philippa Boyens, “The Two Towers” continues the story of a young hobbit named Frodo (Elijah Wood) who is on a quest to the treacherous world of Mordor to destroy the ring of the evil force known as Sauron (voiced by Sala Baker), who plans to rule all again with help from evildoers. In the end of the first film, the Fellowship that began in “The Fellowship of the Ring” has broken up into three as Frodo and friend Sam (Sean Astin) is one part of a story while his fellow hobbit friends Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are in a second part while the remainder is part of another story as the broken Fellowship do all they can to stop the forces of Sauron and his evil henchmen Saruman (Christopher Lee). Along the way, Frodo learns about the ring’s dark power as his state of mind disintegrates and the peace of Middle Earth is in danger. Darker and chaotic than “The Fellowship of the Ring”, “The Two Towers” is a brilliant sequel that keeps on coming as Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s story is finally approaching its climax.

The film begins with the fate of the wizard in “The Fellowship of the Ring” known as Gandalf (Ian McKellan) who falls in the treacherous dwarf caves when fighting a fiery monster as he fell into oblivion making the entire Fellowship believing that he has died. Still reeling from his supposed death are Frodo and Sam who are in the mountains on their way to Mordor but are lost on their way. They find a creature on their path that turns out to be the previous owner of the ring, Gollum (a CGI-creation voiced and performed by Andy Serkis) who leads them the way. While Frodo feels sympathy for what happened to Gollum, since he was once a hobbit named Smeagol, but Sam however, doesn’t trust him.

Then there is the story of the remainder of the broken Fellowship led by human warrior and future king Aragorn (Viggio Mortensen), elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and dwarf leader Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) as they try to find an army of Orcs, who had already killed Aragorn’s friend Boromir (Sean Bean) in the previous story, who had taken their hobbit friends Merry and Pippin hostage. While Aragorn is trying to find Merry & Pippin, trouble arises in the land of Rohan where their king Theoden (Bernard Hill) has been gravely ill and corrupted while his henchmen Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) is doing everything to poison and even banish Theoden’s nephew Eothain (Sam Comery) from the country leaving his sister Eowyn (Miranda Otto) to care for Theoden.

While Merry and Pippin have been taken hostage, the Orc army got tired from running from Aragorn as they find themselves near a forest and in an attempt to kill the two, Eothain and his remaining army of loyalists arrive and kill the entire Orc army with Merry and Pippin running into the forest. Aragorn finds Eothain who had slaughtered everything in sight believing that Merry and Pippin are dead but Aragorn learns they have been in the forest. An Orc in the forest chases Merry and Pippin only to be killed by a giant tree-talking creature called an Ent named Treebeard (voiced by John Rhys-Davies). Merry and Pippin at first are afraid from Treebeard only to meet the one person they didn’t expect. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli enter the forest to find the man Merry & Pippin meet, which turned out to be Gandalf who had barely survived his battle with the fiery monster at the dwarf cave only to be healed and resurrected by a mysterious force to be known as Gandalf the White.

Gandalf rejoins the remaining Fellowship as he sent Merry, Pippin, and Treebeard on a mission to gather all the Ent army to go to war against Sauron and Saruman who have already have a large army at their two stationary towers. Saruman’s army is at the land of Isengard while Sauron’s army including humans is at the trenches near Mordor. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli meanwhile, accompany Gandalf into the land of Rohan where Gandalf learned that Saruman has controlled Theoden’s mind as he mind-battles Saruman with his new power as Theoden is freed and Wormtongue gets banished by Theoden.

In the swampy areas near Mordor, Frodo and Sam follow Gollum into a death swamp where Frodo nearly drowns in the swamp after seeing a body and they finally reach the fortress of Sauron which has a gate that opens the door the world of Mordor. Unfortunately, they have to hide from Sauron’s forces with help from cloaks the elves gave them in the previous film. Gollum leads them to another way as Frodo is feeling troubled from the ring’s power. On their way, they found an army of Orcs and dark men attacked by another army of men from Gondor led by Faramir (David Wenham), Boromir’s brother who suspects the trio as spies for Orcs.

Back in Rohan, Gandalf counsels Theoden about the upcoming troubles Sauron and Saruman are doing as Theoden wants his people to go to a fortress in Helm’s Deep but Gandalf doesn’t think it’s a good idea. He leaves Aragorn in charge as he tries to find Eothain and his army to help get ready for a war. Aragorn accompanies Theoden as he finds himself falling for Eowyn is still in love with elfish princess Arwen (Liv Tyler) in his dreams but knew they can’t fall in love because they’re different species and he’s a mortal. Arwen wants him to return but her father Elrond (Hugh Weaving) doesn’t want her to live in grief. Elrond has a mind meeting with elf queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) about the upcoming troubles for humans against Sauron as he is deciding whether to send the elf armies for war.

On their way to Helm’s Deep, Aragorn and members of Theoden’s army encounter Orcs as they fight while Theoden leads his people to the fortress at Helm’s Deep. Meanwhile, Wormtongue tells Saruman about the fortress’ weakness as he joins the Dark Order. Aragorn falls in battle making everyone presumed that he is dead but he survives and learns about the army Saruman and Sauron are bringing which is more than thousands of Orcs. Theoden finds himself in a troubling position until he finds help from the elves that makes Aragorn very happy as they have more to help in the fight.

Meanwhile on the land near Isengard, Merry, Pippin, and Treebeard finally meet up with the entire group of Ents about a meeting on whether there should be war as Merry insists they must go to war or there won’t be any homes as Treebeard is contemplating his decision. In Gondor, Frodo and Sam meet up with Faramir as Frodo learned that Boromir had died and Frodo begins to lose more of himself to the ring’s power while Gollum is feeling betrayed by Frodo as his split-personality starts to lose control. In Helm’s Deep, the war finally begins as the battle between good and evil gets very heavy as it starts of a taster of what is to come in the next story.

While the various subplots and back-and-forth approach to “The Two Towers” might seem inconsistent and uneven, Peter Jackson actually manages to give that idea but the story as a whole flows very well since the stores of Frodo/Sam/Gollum and the entire Fellowship each carry a unifying subject into finding peace. Jackson manages to bring in a script worthy of Tolkien’s epic vision while giving the film its powerful, cinematic look with its mountainous and earthy visions captured enigmatically by cinematographer Andrew Lesnie. Though there’s some parts of the book of “The Two Towers” that didn’t make it into the film, Jackson put a few of those parts for “The Return of the King” to ease up the tension as the trilogy will finally come to an end.

On the performance side, everyone played a great role; even the ones in the first film develop more as stronger characters. Elijah Wood, who captures the innocence of Frodo in “The Fellowship of the Ring” wonderfully, brings in a tortuous performance to Frodo whose mind begins to disintegrate with each passing minute. Sean Astin’s role is even bigger since he plays Frodo’s conscious and he’s the one who gets Frodo into a straight path as the film develops. Andy Serkis brings out the best performance as the psychotic Gollum with its split personality as the lovely Smeagol or Gollum’s corruptive tone that is captured perfectly although Serkis played an even darker role as legendary music producer Martin Hannett in the movie "24 Hour Party People”.

Viggio Mortensen continues to bring out his bad-*ss persona as Aragorn while being a caring, sympathetic fighter along with Orlando Bloom, who continues to shine as Legolas. John Rhys-Davies continues to bring some comic relief to the film as the dwarf Gimli and as the voice of Treebeard. Ian McKellan’s performance is also spellbinding since he returns from near death as an even powerful and wiser man than what Gandalf was in the first film. The roles of Merry & Pippin from Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd respectively, continue to put a few funny moments but their characters grow since they know what danger is coming and what they have to do as they continue to play importance to the story. The smaller elf roles of Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, and Cate Blanchett are also performed masterfully as they help out the humans into war while Liv Tyler’s performance becomes more melancholic driven as the story develops. Christopher Lee continues to rule as Saruman in the film while he finds a new foil in Brad Dourif as Wormtongue, who is just as reviled and loathed as Saruman is. The newer roles from Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, and Sam Comery each stand out as the film gets more and more into its darkness while each of those characters will develop more in the next film.

“The Two Towers” is a brilliant, powerful follow-up to “The Fellowship of the Rings” as Peter Jackson might actually pull off into bringing the best film trilogy of all-time. Though fans are still waiting for the extended version of “The Two Towers” that might satisfy the readers of Tolkien, it’s already making everyone hungry for “The Return of the King”. Still, it’s best to watch “The Fellowship of the Ring” first and then watch “The Two Towers” as “The Two Towers” is more superior for its dark tone. With “The Return of the King” approaching closer than ever, it’s likely that Peter Jackson will succeed in the end as he finally give J.R.R. Tolkien’s grand epic the vision it deserved.

Related Reviews:

Dead Alive (1992):

http://www.epinions.com/content_112995503748

LOTR-The Fellowship of the Ring (2001):

http://www.epinions.com/content_107586031236

LOTR-The Return of the King (2003):

http://www.epinions.com/content_122758205060


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older