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A New Line release. Written and directed by Peter Jackson; starring Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen. Released to DVD on August 26, 2003. 
The second installment of director Peter Jackson’s critically-hailed trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, picks up where the last film left off: Frodo (Elijah Wood) and his trusty sidekick Sam (Sean Astin) are traversing the treacherous path to Lord Sauron’s fortress of unspeakable evil, unaware that they are being followed by Gollum, the duplicitous former owner of the ring of power. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) is bracing for a monumental battle with Saruman’s (Christopher Lee) Orc forces at Helm’s Deep, while Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan) join forces with an ancient race of tree creatures. Gracefully alternating between the film’s three separate narratives, Jackson continues to infuse his magical saga with equal parts exhilarating action and grand drama. Once again Jackson shows an assured dexterity at elevating his sacred source material to suitably monumental cinematic heights. Whether orchestrating the awe-inspiring sprawling mêlée at Helm’s Deep or the small-scale psychological struggle of the untrustworthy, schizophrenic Gollum–the most captivating CGI creation ever committed to film–the director effortlessly manages his story with grace and ingenuity. What he can’t do, however, is change the fact that The Two Towers is the series’ middle chapter and, thus, prone to dramatic inconclusiveness. Such a quality isn’t in and of itself a negative attribute, but the film frequently feels like it’s in a holding pattern, offering us either impressive battles as a teaser for the all-out war of the forthcoming Return of the King or further setting up conflicts and dilemmas (like Gollum’s possible betrayal) that won’t be dealt with until the final film. More problematic, however, is simply the relative blandness of the film’s locales–confined, for the most part, to open plains and rocky cliffs–especially when compared to the myriad of colorful settings found in the trilogy’s first chapter, The Fellowship of the Ring. These shortcomings may eventually reveal The Two Towers to be the least engaging of the trilogy’s episodes, but they don’t prevent the film from being a satisfying adventure.
nicholas schager yes, it's true: The second ‘R’ in J.R.R. Tolkien stands for "Reuel". |
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