The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Rating: 10/10 (27 May 2016)

"The Two Towers" has just the same amount of heart as "Fellowship", but on a much bigger scale. In this film, the fellowship from the first film is now split up into small groups of two or three, but in a way they are closer than ever. The last film showed how the characters care for each other inspired courage in them, and how without each other they were nothing. This film shows this on a bigger scale, not just uniting the characters even closer, but the races of humans, elves, and ents, showing that in the end they are all fighting for the same cause, for some good in the world. This film introduces one of the most tortured and iconic characters of the series, Golemn... or, Smeagle. At first glance he seems like a monster, but really he is just torn into 2 halves, one loyal and scared, the other dominating and deceitful, and everyday is a struggle fir him. Sam dislikes him and distrusts him, but no one understands his struggle more than Frodo. Frodo has seen it almost happen to Bilbo, and its happening to him. The ring is beginning to overtake him. Frodo needs to know that Smeagle/Golem can get better, because then he can believe that there is still hope for him that he can go back to the way he was.
There is a large war in this film with great action, but the action also highlights the way in which the characters have developed. They work with each and help each other not to survive, but because they care for each other, and they know that they must unite against the bad that there is in the world. There are great character moments such as the moment where Gimli asks Aragorn to throw him, showing his trust for him while in the previous movie he states, "No one throws a dwarf".
Mary and Pippin are almost killed, but they run into a forest and are taken away by ents, who turn out to be rather friendly. But when they meet to discuss what they should do about this war that is happening, they choose not to intervene. Mary is upset because he knows the long term effect of what will happen if the orcs win the war ("There will be no shire"). But when the ent sees fields of his fallen friends, he knows that he must fight with those that are still alive with him, because you can use apathy to hide from the dangers of the world as much as you'd like, but eventually they will catch up with you, so the only thing you can do is fight for what you have left.
At many times it seems there is no hope for the characters, specifically Aragorn and Frodo, but Aragorn continues on because he knows that Arwen will be waiting for him on the other side. Frodo continues because, as we find out through an incredibly heartfelt speech by Sam, they believe that there is still good in the world, and it's worth fighting for. That is just one line from his fantastic speech, but it embodies what I love about the Lord of the Rings movies. There may be hobbits and elves and orcs and magic and dwarfs and wizards and even talking trees, but it is a deeply human story. Just like our world, there is also lots of hate and temptation and evil, but eventually it all passes, because we have people like Frodo and Sam, who are not super heroes, but normal human beings who are scared and absolutely need each other to regain courageous, but they know that there is good in the world that is worth fighting for.