Although I slightly preferred The Fellowship of the Ring to this movie, it is still an epic and stirring film.

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2003)

This is the film adaptation of the second novel in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It follows the surviving characters from `The Fellowship of the Ring' as they continue their dangerous quest. The visual style, storyline, cinematography, acting and special effects all combine to create another milestone in filmmaking. I visited New Zealand shortly before the filming started there for the trilogy, and I actually read the novel `The Two Towers' while I was there. I could not help but project the landscapes I saw while I was there into to the book I was reading. Seeing these same landscapes now immortalized in the film version is just amazing. Some of the changes between the film and the book are quite drastic, but they should be accepted as they are two entirely different art forms that sometimes cannot be directly translated. The acting is very good, although there are many actors who have to share the three hour run time, so we only get a brief taste of many of them. The main characters are still engrossing, and the computer generated character `Gollum' is utterly convincing and realistic, almost heartbreaking at times. This film contains some of the most advanced special effects in any film, and part of their appeal is in the way they are used. Instead of blatantly using flashy effects in every scene like other directors, Jackson instead tries to use them discretely. During most of the battle scenes it seems entirely possible that we are witnessing thousands of extras, not computer generated effects, acting out the battle. Although I slightly preferred The Fellowship of the Ring to this movie, it is still an epic and stirring film.