The Two Towers Review

The Two Towers is the middle chapter of the LOTR trilogy and whilst this may make it the least best as it isn't the beginning or climax, 'Towers' is still a staggeringly monumental picture. Once again directed by Peter Jackson, 'Towers' increases the ensemble cast with great additions such as Bernard Hill, Mirando Otto, David Wenham and a motion captured Andy Serkis. The film is a direct follow on to 'Fellowship'; the second part of this eleven hour film (as it appears to a lot of people, myself included). In it, Frodo (Elijah Wood) continues his mission to Mordor with his loyal friend Sam (Sean Astin) but are joined by the creature Gollum (Andy Serkis), who acts as their guide. Meanwhile, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are in the hands of the Uruk-hai whilst Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys Davis) are in hot pursuit, a pursuit which leads them to Rohan, a land led by King Théoden (Bernard Hill). These three principle story lines could be seen by some as too much but each character gets their own focus amongst the impressive runtime. Primary characters continue their developments; Aragorn takes a more leader like position, Merry and Pippin shows signs of maturing and Frodo's inner conflict with the One Ring is affecting his being as his behaviour moves outside of the ordinary. New characters are well established such as Faramir (David Wenham), Boromir's brother and a man who's main objective in life is trying to please his constantly ungrateful father, whilst Théoden is strongly portrayed as an elderly king whose leadership abilities have lessened over the years. But the scene stealer is Gollum. A film is lucky to have one great, memorable character that will be long remembered. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has three: Gandalf, Aragorn and Gollum. Beautifully designed by the motion-capture technique (of which 'Towers' was a breakthrough in), Gollum is an insanely watchable character. He may be a cruel, mentally deranged creature, but he is a beloved character. Andy Serkis delivers an exceptional performance, with his best scene coming from a moment where Gollum is arguing with his other half of his personality, Smeagol, about killing. It is funny, dark and well shot and Serkis' change in tone and movement is sublime. 'Towers' has probably the least amount of action throughout the run time but this is because it is building up to one of cinema's greatest climaxes: The Battle of Helm's Deep. 'Fellowship' teased us with a short but large scale battle scene but the jaw dropping finale between ten thousand bloodthirsty Uruk-hai and several hundred men and elves is above any expectations. In the book, the battle (the first of many in The War of the Ring) is merely glimpsed at and lasts half of a chapter. But with film comes the opportunity to up the stakes and add emotional heft and gritty action to an otherwise bland portrayal. Peter Jackson helmed this scene with decisive decisions to use practical effects over CGI and excessive amounts of extras as soldiers. As Aragorn and Théoden lead their respective troops in a last stand, an utterly epic cavalry charge occurs to finish the battle and it is so well filmed and scored it sends goosebumps down your body. Whilst this battle rages, two other battles are occurring. One is led by Merry, Pippin and an army of Ents (moving trees), and the other a combination of combat and an inner battle within Frodo who is brought back to sanity by a heartwarming monologue from Sam who reminds his friend what they are fighting for. It is so touching even Gollum looks sad and remorseful. Once again it is scenes like this that give the trilogy an emotional weight to the narrative. If there is a slight negative about this film is that the Ent storyline is integrated often at the wrong time- tense action scenes cut to slow scenes of trees talking. Whilst the scenes don't lack quality they are just edited in at wrong moments and a viewer may wish to be back in the danger rather than the less engaging scenes. However that is the only gripe in this perfect continuation that channels The Empire Strikes Back as it darkens both mood and character, upping the stakes and content (although Empire is better than A New Hope whilst 'Fellowship' is slightly better than 'Towers') and also having its own beginning-middle-end way of story telling instead of just being the middle chapter. Another achievement for the industry.