Gutted

Rating: 10/10 (21 December 2002)

While the first film stuck closely to the book for its plot and direction, The Two Towers is purely Hollywood. Bubblegum chewers will lap this up and proclaim it the best thing since sliced bread but if I wanted to watch a big budget no brainer I would have watched Independence Day.
True, Gollum is superb and the Battle of Helms Deep is not without its charm, but fans of the book will be disappointed at the "artistic license" that has been taken with the plot. The Ents are particularly misrepresented with Treebeard positively hasty in his decision to attack Isengard. Faramir is seen as nothing more than a clone of his brother and the character is totally sold out by the fact that he considers sending the ring to Minas Tirith to be used as a weapon against Sauron.
Simply put, this is not the Lord of the Rings. This is a Knights Tale set in Middle Earth.
Fanboys beware. This film is not what we wanted.