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Following the critical and commercial success of 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is an intimidating prospect for any filmmaker, even with existing source material to guide the narrative. Fortunately, 2002's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers lives up to and even surpasses expectations, representing another magnificent epic with tremendous visual splendour and overwhelming emotional power, immaculately bringing J.R.R. Tolkien's novel to life. Once again helmed by Peter Jackson, who co-wrote the script with Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Stephen Sinclair, The Two Towers equals The Fellowship of the Ring from a writing and technical aspect, as this follow-up retains its predecessor's boundless positives while increasing the stakes and expanding the scope of Middle-earth. Naturally, with The Two Towers representing the trilogy's middle chapter, viewers must be familiar with The Fellowship of the Ring before viewing, as the first instalment establishes the overarching story and the mythology surrounding Sauron's One Ring.
After the Skirmish at Amon Hen, the Fellowship is fragmented, with Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) continuing their journey to Mordor to destroy the treacherous One Ring. Without a guide, the two hobbits struggle to make progress through the labyrinthine hills of Emyn Muil, seemingly going in circles. With the obsessive former ring bearer, Gollum (Andy Serkis), tracking their movements, Frodo and Sam capture the emaciated creature and allow him to serve as their guide into Mordor. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) set out to save their hobbit companions, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), from a band of Uruk-hai. After Merry and Pippin manage to escape their captors, they flee into Fangorn Forest where they encounter Treebeard (voiced by John Rhys-Davies), an Ent who acts as a shepherd of the forest. Learning that Merry and Pippin are safe, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli encounter Gandalf (Ian McKellen), who is reborn as Gandalf the White, returning to help save Middle-earth from the threat of Sauron. The four travel to Rohan's capital, Edoras, where Gandalf frees King Théoden (Bernard Hill) from Saruman's (Christopher Lee) control. With the armies of Mordor closing in on Rohan, Théoden chooses to evacuate the city, leading his people to the fortress stronghold of Helm's Deep.
Tolkien's novel concentrates on a single narrative strand at a time, but such an approach would not work in a cinematic setting. Accordingly, this film adaptation consistently crosses between locations and characters, building to the climactic third act involving the Battle of Helm's Deep, the attack on Isengard, and the siege of Osgiliath. Although the novel continues beyond these events, they represent a perfect closure point for this film, with Jackson saving the remainder of the book's events for The Return of the King. Thanks to the astute editing by Michael J. Horton (Once Were Warriors), the cross-cutting is astonishingly effective instead of frustrating, with ample momentum as the movie builds to its dramatic crescendo. As with The Fellowship of the Ring, the screenplay takes liberties with the source material to streamline the story's events, but The Two Towers remains true to the spirit and tone of Tolkien's works, retaining the broad strokes while changing some of the fine details to ensure a coherent, engaging and dramatically satisfying motion picture. It is crucial to perceive Jackson's trilogy as an adaptation instead of a page-by-page regurgitation.
Like its predecessor, The Two Towers is an emotionally resonant story about people, with themes of friendship and heroism, while the fantasy elements seem almost incidental. The film's poignancy is impossible to overstate; it is difficult to hold back tears as Théoden mourns the loss of his son or Sam reminds a disillusioned Frodo of the remaining good in Middle-earth that is worth fighting for. Strong, well-developed characters make it possible to feel empathy for the ensemble and care during each action sequence, adding a layer of intensity that most blockbusters fail to match. The crowd-pleasing moments are exhilarating, from Gandalf the White emerging to the shock of his friends to the climactic moments at Helm's Deep as the devastating battle reaches its rousing conclusion. The extended edition of The Two Towers restores 45 minutes of excised footage, adding more dramatic scenes, intimate character moments (including a flashback featuring Sean Bean as Boromir), and action beats, including a few additional dismemberments at Helm's Deep. The extended edition is the definitive way to experience The Two Towers, as the experience feels more complete, but Jackson's theatrical cut nevertheless remains a masterpiece and does not lose anything truly essential to the narrative.
Returning cinematographer Andrew Lesnie beautifully captures the breathtaking New Zealand vistas and intricate sets, with intermittent aerial shots augmenting the movie's impressive scope. From the first frame, Jackson convincingly transports us to Middle-earth, a place that feels lived-in and authentically real instead of a generic fantasyland. With Jackson and his team filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy back-to-back, there's palpable visual continuity to the locations, production design and special effects. The Two Towers thankfully relies on extensive location filming, vast sets, miniatures, forced perspective, intricate prosthetics, and many other old-school techniques to create Middle-earth, while digital effects further enhance the visuals. The height difference between the hobbits, dwarves and humans seems effortless, as the crew used scale doubles, trick photography, and compositing to convincingly sell the illusion. But the most notable special effects accomplishment is the character of Gollum. The notion of a fully digital character seems quaint in the 2020s, but the technology was still in its infancy in 2002. The computer-generated Gollum represents a landmark in special effects, helping to earn the movie a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Especially with the 35mm photography giving the film a tangible aesthetic, Gollum looks thoroughly convincing, and the illusion still stands over twenty years later. In addition to Gollum, The Two Towers features other digital creations. Treebeard is another special effects miracle, though parts of the character were achieved practically, especially during close-ups when Jackson's crew only used CGI to animate the face. The Wargs are slightly less convincing, but this is a minor imperfection.
Whereas The Fellowship of the Ring involves smaller, more intimate conflicts between the Fellowship and the armies of Mordor, The Two Towers expands the scope of Middle-earth, portraying larger battles with higher stakes. Jackson continues to demonstrate a superb flair for action, staging intense and violent set pieces that are visually distinct. Tolkien's prose does not outline the battles in great detail, leaving Jackson and his team to creatively interpret the material, devising battle sequences that make narrative and visual sense. Among the highlights is a sensational skirmish between Rohan's soldiers and a group of Warg-riding Orcs, but the movie's centrepiece is the Battle of Helm's Deep, which is one of the most magnificent battle sequences in cinema history, a masterclass in fight choreography, immaculate special effects, nail-biting tension, and affecting heartbreak. The battle lasts for the best part of an hour, yet it progresses coherently while maintaining interest, never devolving into a numbing, soulless, or nihilistic collection of drab combat beats. With the battle featuring thousands of combatants in singular shots, the special effects team designed a groundbreaking software program called Massive, which generates thousands of artificially intelligent characters. Instead of individually animating every digital soldier, Massive dramatically simplified the process, and the technology is still in use over twenty years later. The digitally-created long shots showing hundreds of Uruk-hai and men look borderline photorealistic and seamlessly cut in with the live-action photography, allowing Jackson to spatially establish critical parts of the battle before putting us in the thick of the visceral combat alongside the characters. Additionally, composer Howard Shore continues to demonstrate his unmatched talents here, making it hard to imagine The Lord of the Rings being the same without his truly impeccable music. Shore builds upon the motifs established in The Fellowship of the Ring, developing more cues and distinct themes for locations and characters. This is most deeply felt in the distinctive Rohan theme, which gives the city and its people a strong aural personality. Shore's original score enhances the film's emotionality and sense of exhilaration, delivering far more than mere background noise.
A pitch-perfect selection of new and returning actors fill out the enormous ensemble. It is genuinely impossible to imagine any other performers playing these roles, to the extent that the actors have become synonymous with their respective characters. With the One Ring starting to take its toll on Frodo and impact his mental state, Elijah Wood demonstrates more dimension and emotion here, while Sean Astin remains thoroughly likeable and human as the noble, heroic Samwise, who refuses to let anything happen to his companion, and brings Frodo back from the brink in several scenes. Meanwhile, although Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies showed ample personality in The Fellowship of the Ring, the pair truly come into their own throughout The Two Towers, trading banter and showing their competitive sides, adding humour and levity to augment the story's humanity. Alongside them, Viggo Mortensen remains an impeccable Aragorn, fully embodying the character and appearing fearless during combat. Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan once again provide worthwhile comedic relief as Pippin and Merry, but they also handle weightier material here, with Monaghan, in particular, showing more dramatic range.
Liv Tyler also deserves a mention as Arwen Evenstar, an elf in love with Aragorn. After her introduction in The Fellowship of the Ring, Tyler has more to do here, submitting a nuanced performance with profound emotion. Miraculously, Tyler's Arwen is strong and brave but also beautiful and innately feminine, and she convincingly plays a world-weary elf who is thousands of years old despite being in her early 20s here. Out of the newcomers, Andy Serkis makes the biggest impression as Gollum. Using groundbreaking motion-capture technology, Serkis's facial performance wholly translates to the digital creature, and the results are breathtaking. Thanks to Serkis, we feel pity for this tragic and conflicted figure who is fundamentally a villain but receives more dimension and depth than expected. Through clever editing and Serkis's nuanced performance, Jackson brilliantly sells the duality between Gollum and Sméagol. Also joining the ensemble is Bernard Hill, who plays an authoritative and engaging King Théoden, while Miranda Otto is strong and regal as Théoden's niece, Eowyn. Like Arwen, Eowyn is endearingly feminine but also wants to fight for her loved ones, coming across as courageous and determined. Additionally, Otto shares several wonderful moments with Mortensen, and the two share wonderful chemistry. Meanwhile, Karl Urban appears as Éomer, a steely and ruthless warrior who leads a band of Rohirrim cavalry. Despite his limited screen time, Urban makes a terrific impression. In the villainous role of the slimy Grima Wormtongue, Brad Dourif (the voice of Chucky) superbly plays alongside Christopher Lee, who remains an ideal Saruman.
Inevitably, since The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the trilogy's middle instalment, it only continues the story instead of starting or finishing it, but it is still a distinctive motion picture that builds to a satisfying conclusion, finding a logical closure point as opposed to a frustrating cliffhanger. In other words, it still feels like a proper film. Complaints that the movie does not contribute anything worthwhile are frankly puzzling, as each narrative thread in The Two Towers receives a resolution, from Théoden successfully defending his people against the thousands of Uruk-hai sent to destroy Rohan, to Merry and Pippin managing to take an active role in the war against Sauron, setting the stage for the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Under Jackson's careful directorial eye, The Two Towers is full of astonishing spectacle and tremendous action set pieces, but he never lets the special effects overwhelm the story's humanity or emotional core. Like its predecessor, this is another award-worthy production that does not feel like tepid homework.
10/10
