Customer Reviews

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Widescreen)

5 star:		(246)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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. 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 scene where he sees the ents attacking is outstanding.

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.

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. 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 scene where he sees the ents attacking is outstanding.

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.

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.

As with the first film, it's worth spending a little extra to see the extended version -- loads of behind-the-scenes material, and lots of scenes seamlessly pasted back in. Yeah, some of them are battle scenes, but we also have more exposition on Eowyn, backstory on the troubled Faramir and his late brother, and Merry and Pippin spending time with the Ents... and experiencing some personal growth. Literally.

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.

On this, Peter Jackson's interpretation of "The Two Towers", by J.R.R. Tolkein the overall quality of the cinematography is excellent. The incredible cast and affects truly light up Middle Earth, and the magical splendor of Tolkein's world is done justice by filming it in the natural pristine beauty of New Zealand.

Being something of a 'purist' in regards to this trilogy, having read and reread it several times, I did find a few of the changes frustrating. . . namely the role that the elven army plays at Helms Deep. The fact that mankind is on its own in this war is an essential point, and I still feel that it was an unnecessary change. That, and during some of the exceptional battle scenes I felt the "comic relief" actions of Gimli the dwarf to be rather absurd. It's a serious adult movie, and I found his silliness to fit poorly with the dire events occuring in the plot, as well as the nature of his character.

That being said though, it is clear that Jackson and the cast spared nothing in the pursuit of excellence for this film, and I am not so fanatical that I cannot accept the fact that the director may have his own vision of how to fulfill the story. All verdicts are temporary, of course, until the final chapter is released in December, but "The Two Towers" can stand on its own as one of the rare and very REAL achievements of cinema in the new millennium.

A most enjoyable adaptation of Tolkien's books. I liked the first film after I initially viewed it at the theater, but after watching it again on DVD I grew to love this film. The Two Towers made me feel the same after viewing it at the theater. I thought it was good, and was just slightly annoyed at a change or two from the original book. I'm not a purist, and after seeing it on DVD for the second time I believe I will come to love this film too. Jackson does such a wonderful job telling this mid-part of the story that I can forgive his deviation from the letter of the book (except maybe Aragorn fall). I still feel that the extended version of this film will be, like the first, a better film. If it is, it will pace itself much better, and flesh out the story to enhance the viewer's movie experience.
I gave the extended edition of Fellowship to a non Tolkien fan friend, and he said he felt a bit cheated that the theater version wasn't as good as what was on the version I had given him.
If you enjoy watching a great film again and again, you'll not be disappointed in this film.

I loved this film, as well as the book. They're different experiences, it doesn't do a whole lot of good to compare the two detail for detail. That said, director Peter Jackson made some choices I probably wouldn't have - The Elven archers, for instance - but I don't necessarly think those choices were wrong, because those differences make the film experience distinctly different from reading the book.

I highly recommend the film, as well as the book.

I've read several of the reviews, and the one thing noone has mentioned is the way Sam and Frodo's relationship is portrayed. In the book (and I know now you are calling me a purist), Frodo and Sam love each other dearly. Sam is like a father or big brother to Frodo. This is an intense love and desire to protect that I think the movie misses entirely. Frodo is at times portrayed as downright mean to Sam, I admit at times he was firm in the book when he rebuked Sam for his treatment of Gollum but in the movie you don't see that "everything I am doing I am doing exclusively for you" attitude that is so obvious in the original writing. Sam was by Frodo's side, not because Galdalf said so, but because he was worried about his friend. While I agree with the "purist" reviews and wish that so much of the storyline had not been changed to "more interesting" fighting scenes, I will happily view this film again and again and be happy with what Tolkien I can get. I still appreciated Fellowship much more due to the close adherence to the original storyline. I have to thank Peter Jackson for bringing to the screen the personification of what I had for so many years been viewing in my imagination and doing it so well that I could honestly say it could have been my imagination I was seeing (this is especially true of Aragorn, ooohh baby!) I went to the midnight showings of Fellowship (which I left with a tear in my eye) and Two Towers (which I left wondering if maybe I should have just gotten a good night's sleep) and I will be present for the midnight of Return of the King, but this time I will be much more guarded in my expectations.

Good action, Its hard to put the books to movie but they are giving it a try. A little hurried / If you have read the books You would be disppointed But give it a try its worth watching. Only problem and complaint I have is with the music on both dvd's that drowns out the dialog!!!

This movie was SOOOOOOO Not worth buying, seeing, or renting!!!
The only reason I gave it one star was for the special effects. They were very well done! But the movie itself is so far off from the books that I am in doubt as to whether I will even see the third one even at a $1.00 theater! I know that film makers can't follow the book exactly but they could have at least gotten a few things right. In the book when Frodo and Sam were caught by the men from Gondor they were released from there. They never went with them anywhere else. What is this malarkey about going to see Boromir's father? And what's this about having to trick the Ents into going to war? Yes they debated for several days in the book, but never had to be tricked.
All in all a complete waste of time. If you really have to see this movie, go rent it from your local grocery store where you can get it for $1.00 for 5 days. I wouldn't spend any more than that.

I know the film can't follow the book but it changed too much, even the animated version was able to follow the book alot closer than this one. This film changed the characters a bit much also especially Faramir. Yes I agree films can't follow the books too closely but this one went further than the rest. Yes it was a good film if you hadn't read the book especially the effects. I don't care how Pippin removed his broach, teeth or hands but changing whole battles as at Helms Deep, where they did have warriors not just old men, women and children. Elves didn't need to be there to make the battle. I will not be going to see the next film until it comes out on pay-per-view and I'm feeling curious.