Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2pc) (Ws Dol) | Sean Astin, Sean Bean

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2pc) (Ws Dol) | Sean Astin, Sean Bean | A MUST HAVE

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Lord of the Rings:...

	Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2pc) (Ws Dol) Sean Astin, Sean Bean New Line Home Video, 2003 average customer review:based on 1988 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The battle begins

When the first film in the epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy thrilled fans and topped the box office for weeks, expectations rose even higher for the sequel, "The Two Towers." Would the follow-up be as beautifully crafted as the first?

Fortunately moviegoers only had to wait a year for the answer, when "The Two Towers" debuted in December 2002. The second part of Peter Jackson's astounding adaptation lacks the surprise of the first movie, but it continues the strong storytelling, amazing acting, and one of the greatest battles of the silver screen.

The fellowship has been split, and two members are dead. Now Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) are pursuing a band of orcs who kidnapped Merry and Pippin (Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd). But soon Merry and Pippin are rescued by an ancient treelike creature, and the others encounter an old friend -- Gandalf (Ian McKellen), reborn as the White Wizard.

Meanwhile, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are making their way towards Mordor, and soon Frodo realizes that they are being followed by Gollum (Andy Serkis), who once possessed the One Ring and still lusts after it. But Frodo begins to pity the degenerate creature, and agrees to let Gollum lead them to Mount Doom -- but Sam suspects that Gollum cannot be trusted.

"The Two Towers" is not really a sequel. Instead, it's just a continuation of the story that left off at the end of "Fellowship of the Ring," and the focus spreads past our little band of heroes to include all of Middle-Earth. It's not all about Frodo and the hobbits anymore, but about whole kingdoms being crushed by the bad guys.

This film is much darker than the first movie, although we still get some funny moments from Gollum and the hobbits, but some creepy ones as well. Gollum/Smeagol's argument with himself is absolutely chilling. To top his previous work, Jackson creates three simultaneous climaxes, including the grimy, rain-soaked battle of Helm's Deep.

But as he tells the epic stories, Jackson doesn't neglect the smaller stories, like the hobbits befriending treelike ents and battling a wizard. The scripting is impeccable, mixing the funny moments ("Don't talk to it! Don't encourage it!" Pippin wails when a "tree" speaks to them) with the dramatic speeches, and ending with a simple, powerful speech by Sam.

And WETA Workshop's CGI effects don't disappoint. Not only do they manage whole armies and battles, but they brought the gruesome Gollum to life. He's probably the first convincing CGI character, to the point where you can actually forget that this Ring junkie is just a bunch of pixels.

Elijah Wood continues his magnificent performance as Frodo Baggins, with the deep friendship, compassion and weariness that he started to show before. But his performance deepens to include some serious Ring-lust, which is warping our dear hobbit out of his own mind. Sean Astin's performance grows as well, as he does whatever it takes to protect Frodo -- from soldiers, Gollum, ringwraiths, whatever.

But the supporting cast gets plenty of attention too, including a love triangle involving Aragorn and the warrior-maid Eowyn, and Legolas and Gimli becoming best buddies (even competing to see who kills the most orcs). McKellen gets to play "Gandalf 2.0," a less grumpy and wiser Gandalf, and movie veteran Christopher Lee gets more juicy scenes as the warped wizard Saruman.

The journey continues in "The Two Towers," crammed with so much action and pathos that it never has time to suffer from "middle chapter syndrome." An amazing continuation.

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A MUST HAVE

Everyone should have a copy of the LOTR movies in their collections. I have all of the movies and all of the books in my collection. I am looking forward to The Hobbit movie which is supposed to be released in 2010. Movies or books don't get any better than this. Every time I watch these movies, I discover something new that I had not noticed before. Someday, when the urge hits me just right I will buy the extended editions.

Worth every additional minute of it

Read my review for The Return of the King. If you are considering buying this movie for your collection, the extended version is well worth every penny and every additional minute in it. Do not think twice about it. Get the Platinum Series. The cut footage makes the movies even better and with wide screen TVs galore who needs to go to the movies anymore?

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the TEN pound DVD...or close to it.

If you like The Two Towers, you can buy the itty bitty DVD...you know the one I'm talking about--the one with the sweet picture of Frodo and Gandalf (which gives away the fact that he lives) and the ominous two towers...hence the title. If you like EVERYTHING there is to the trilogy, you get this mother.
Back when I was considering a career in everything (and when I say everything, I mean everything from music performance on my violin to CG work to being a court justice to writing the great American novel, etc., etc., etc.) I checked out everything on this DVD. It showed how the actors acted, how the CG guys created Gollum, how the costume guys created, well, costumes, what Peter Jackson ate for breakfast, everything. It was like an odyssey outside the odyssey. These DVDs tend to be a little pricey (or at least they were when I bought them), because you're getting what you paid for. It's a must for diehards, but if you're just curious about the trilogy, I'd rent the itty bitty version first before tackling the meaty stuff.

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Good but may not be necessary

There are quite a few more scenes in the extended edition, but they are just extended parts of other scenes for the most part. A lot of focus on Eowyn, some on Aragorn, a bit on Frodo and Sam (and Sam's rope), and some on Merry and Pippin with the Ents.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

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