The Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers DVD > Reviews > The Lesser of Three Evils

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Gollom
Disadvantages:	Frodo

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

If you read my review of the previous LOTR movie, you might recall that I was generally quite unimpressed with things. I felt that the movie was drawn out, dull in places, and generally a bit of an anticlimax. Like it or not, these movies are a phenomenon that just can’t be ignored though, and despite my reservations about the first one, I still found myself drawn to the sequel. I did wonder whether my enjoyment of the original movie was limited by the fact that I saw the original on DVD, so I was actually quite looking forward to seeing The Two Towers.

As far as the basic plot goes, The Two Towers commences exactly where The Fellowship of the Ring ended. Frodo and his mate Sam are crossing rocky terrain in their quest to get to Mordor, where they intend to destroy the ring of power once and for all. We find out what happened to Gandalf – you may recall that he appeared to plunge to his death in the first movie – and we see where the elf Legolas, human Aragorn and dwarf Gimli have got to. They were separated from the other two hobbits at the end of the last movie and when we join The Two Towers, the trio is in hot pursuit of a squad of orcs, who have the pair held captive. Meanwhile, the evil wizard Count Dooku .... sorry, I mean Saruman is still weaving his wicked web, enrolling a huge army of recruits to attack the various townships across Middle Earth in his quest to bring the evil entity Sauron to power.

The first thing that struck me about The Two Towers was the fact that things got going right from the outset. I found The Fellowship of the Ring difficult to get into, because the early scenes in the Shire were too fluffy and more closely resembled an episode of the Teletubbies. The Two Towers really does feel like the second part in a story, and as such it is therefore quite important that you have seen the one before. Although this is generally a positive thing, the only thing I would say is that the whole film does feel rather transitional. It is essentially another tale about the adventures of the same characters from the first movie on their way to undertake the task they set themselves in the first film. You know that there will be no ultimate conclusion to the story at the end of this film.

One thing that really lifts this film above its predecessor is the addition of the strange creature, Gollom. We only briefly saw Gollom in the first film, where we were told that he had previously owned the ring, and every now and again we would see a glimpse of him quietly stalking the hobbits during their journey. In The Two Towers, Gollom appears properly within the first fifteen minutes or so and quickly becomes an integral part of the story. The special effects used to recreate the little fellow are absolutely extraordinary. The attention to detail on his movements and facial expressions is extremely impressive, and I would probably concede that The Two Towers demonstrated the best special effects I have yet to see in a film. When you compare the movements of Gollom to those of the lead character in the Spiderman movie, the webbed wonder looks positively amateur in comparison. Gollom is also an extremely engaging character, because you never really know whether he is going to be friend or foe. Indeed, he is regularly portrayed as battling with his almost schizophrenic nature. As a character, he is an addition that would have been sorely missed and contributed greatly to my enjoyment of the movie. Despite his ugliness, there was something endearing about the wretched creature – well, for a little while anyhow.

The human lead Aragorn seems to take on a greater lead role in The Two Towers and seemed to be on screen more than anyone else. I warmed to him much more in this movie than the last one, as he showed far greater qualities of leadership and direction and was a very strong lead. However, the dream-like sequences featuring his elfin lover were largely unnecessary and slowed things down far too much for my liking. Aragorn was most certainly at his best when he was swinging his sword and kicking the hell out of everyone in sight. His two companions seemed to flourish much more in this movie also, with the dwarf king Gimli providing some welcome moments of merriment without being too comical. The balance between funny and silly was set almost perfectly and I found myself liking the characters more and more.

I hold to my observation from the first movie that Gandalf is a bit of a waste of space. Initially, I was quite surprised to see the revelation that he was still alive at the start of the movie – I would have normally expected to discover something like this much further into the movie. As a character, he continues to swing from being all-powerful to just being a skilled fighter. Even worse, he just disappears from the proceedings for about an hour without any real explanation and I can’t really see the point of having a wizard in the story that doesn’t seem very powerful. As our heroes were being attacked by a horde of 10,000 orc soldiers, I kept thinking that Gandalf would come along and save the day with some magic, but was ultimately disappointed. This seems an even greater shame because Ian McKellen is absolutely superb in the role and has such screen presence that he seems almost wasted in this movie, as he did in the first.

I would say that both this and the previous film thrive on the action sequences and there are plenty of them in The Two Towers. The monsters and foes used in The Two Towers seemed generally superior to me. For starters, there were lots of different orc soldiers, each with different grotesque features and unsavoury habits – I’m sure one of them was based on old man Steptoe. When the orcs actually had things to say and do, they were horrendous and entertaining, but when they simply attacked in droves, they weren’t quite so interesting. There are also vicious cat-like monster, upon which the orcs race into battle and enormous elephant-like creatures for transporting them around. The cave trolls that we saw in the first movie sadly only had a cameo appearance, with the orcs generally getting all the attention. However, my favourite creatures were by far the tree keepers, whom I liked immensely. I’d read in other reviews that many people thought that the tree keepers were rather silly, but I thought they added something quite fresh and interesting to the story. As creatures, they had a history and a purpose, and it made sense that they should be part of the overall story. From a technical perspective, they looked great too, with lots of individual characteristics for the beech, oak and so on. You could argue that the tree keepers would have been more at home in a Harry Potter film, but once again, they contributed greatly to my enjoyment of the movie.

These good things aside, I still have several criticisms of the movie. For a start, the three-hour running time is excessive and largely unnecessary. There were a number of scenes in the film that could easily have been shortened – or dispensed with altogether – and The Two Towers would have made a much better two-hour film. I also found Frodo Baggins increasingly irritating throughout the film, as we were shown the ring gradually starting to exert its control over him. This usually meant him stumbling around, or convulsing violently and after a while, he really started to get on my nerves. He didn’t seem to have anywhere near such an important role in this film as he did in the last one and just as he and his companions seemed to reach their destination I couldn’t believe it when they changed their minds and went a different way.

Just as some of the characters enjoyed much more action, others seemed to fall by the wayside. Gandalf seemed to come and go like a yo-yo and his evil counterpart had hardly any time on screen at all. I don’t care what anyone says, a lot of the dialogue in this movie is complete flannel, and I often found myself muttering, “Oh get on with it!” under my breath. It has to be said that if you’re not a fan of fantasy/action films, I doubt The Two Towers would do anything to convert you. There is only so much material that can be injected into a good versus evil story line, after all.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy The Two Towers, and would recommend that you see it at the cinema if at all possible. Only the big screen and surround sound could really do the special effects justice and during the battle sequences towards the end, the atmosphere within the cinema lifted noticeably. The Two Towers is (generally) loud, exciting and full of visual and aural treats, but without Gollom, I don’t think I’d have enjoyed this anywhere near as much – he should have his own show!

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