The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin...

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2005)

Peter Jackson himself has admitted The Two Towers was the hardest part of the trilogy to achieve, at least in terms of narrative structure since, unlike The Fellowship of the Ring, it has no proper beginning and no emotionally packed climax (Boromir's death in Fellowship was one of that film's most moving moments). It picks up exactly from where its predecessor ended: the Fellowship is split in three separate groups, all with their own problems to take care of:
Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) continue their journey to Mordor in order to destroy the One Ring, and find an unexpected guide in that item's previous owner, vicious creature Gollum (Andy Serkis); Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) reunite with the reborn Gandalf (Ian Mckellen) to save the dying kingdom of Rohan from Saruman's (Christopher Lee) evil clutch; Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) have a close encounter with the Ents, ancient creatures which have unfinished business with a certain bad wizard...
This second opus is less talking and more fighting: key characters are reduced to cameos (most notably Galadriel) and new people are quickly introduced so that we can be dragged into some huge battles, culminating in the 40-minute long combat at Helm's Deep, quite simply the movie's highlight. If, however, you want more insight on the characters and their motivations, get the extended cut, whose additional sequences are essential to understand pivotal moments of the third film.
Helm's Deep aside, the movie's most remarkable element is the mad, schizophrenic Gollum. He's got "ambiguity" and "unreliability" written all over him, as we see him struggle with his two personas, one the good fella he once was, the other a filthy, treacherous freak who wants nothing more than his "preccciousssss" back (the conversation between the two personalities is one of the most beautiful scenes ever made). He makes us suspicious about his most insignificant gesture, and has us thinking the worst may happen in The Return of the King.
Not as good as the previous part (at least the theatrical version, which I rate 9/10), but still a really good fantasy movie, and one of the best pictures of 2002.