A great continuation of a great story, and a wonderful, heroic epic.

Rating: 10/10 (25 July 2003)

CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS
The second film in Peter Jackson's epic adaptation of JRR Tolkien's classic trilogy The Lord of the Rings is every bit as much a triumph as the first. Wisely eschewing the `previously-on-The Lord of the Rings' type nonsense that so often wastes valuable screen time in such works, Jackson literally hurls you straight back into the plot, as Gandalf battles the Balrog in a stunning opening duel. Some have criticised this lack of a re-cap as being insensitive to those who haven't read the book or seen the first film. However, I've no sympathy for anyone who's not done at least one of those two. Anyone coming to The Two Towers with no previous knowledge would soon get hopelessly lost in any case.
The plot follows threes strands. First and foremost, it concerns Frodo and Sam's journey to Mordor as they attempt to put and end to the Ring. They are guided by the Ring's previous owner Gollum, a twisted, demented creature coming across like a schizophrenic drug addict. In the second plotline, Human Aragorn, Elf Legolas, and Dwarf Gimli search for the other Hobbits captured by Uruk-Hai in the previous installment. Along the way they enter the land of Rohan and help its beleaguered King Theoden fight Saruman's evil army of Uruk-Hai. The third plot strand follows the plight of Hobbits Pippin and Merry (whom Aragorn and his companions seek) as they escape the Uruk-Hai and befriend the mysterious Ent Treebeard, a walking talking tree.
Given the extreme difficulty in adapting The Two Towers as a film, Peter Jackson has done an incredible job creating a coherent film. He wisely opted to end the film short of where the book ends (the latter chapters of the book will take place in the third film). Certain elements of the book he has tweaked (most notably the character of Faramir, Boromir's brother) to, in my opinion, good effect.
Performance wise, the high standard set by the first film continues. All the characters from the first film are just as good, if not better here. New characters Theoden (the splendid Bernard Hill), Eowyn (Mirando Otto) and Faramir (David Wenham) are all brilliantly brought to live. Worthy of special mention is the fantastic rendering of Gollum, without doubt the best CGI character ever created.
The special effects continue to stun. I always thought the army of Ents storming Isengard would be impossible to put on film - I was wrong. Also, the battle of Helms Deep is a triumph - a stunning battle which more than lives up to its counterpart in the book. The production design, editing, sound and cinematography are as impressive as ever.
Howard Shore's score is nothing less than a work of genius in its own right. From the heroic Rohan theme to the melancholic and haunting Gollum's song, this is an unparalleled work. Less immediately showy than Fellowship's themes (some of which are briefly reprised here) this ultimately gets under one's skin more than the music of the first film (no mean feat).
All in all, this is another triumph. Darker and more action packed than its predecessor, The Two Towers is a great continuation of a great story, and a wonderful, heroic epic. It's weighty themes of immortality, betrayal, genocide, temptation and sacrifice and nicely balanced by a great sense of humour that runs throughout. Gimli provides a lot of laughs, and one line by Treebeard (surprisingly not in Tolkien's book) offers a wonderfully bizarre but true observation - `I always like going south. Somehow it feels like going downhill.' Quite.