Peter Jackson... 'The Two Towers'... need I say more?

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2003)

Oh my God, I have waited a whole rather painful year for this. Not that that was a bad thing - it just gave me another excuse to watch the first film over and over. And thank you God, praise you Peter Jackson, you failed to disappoint me. Again. From the opening scene with Gandalf and the Balrog where I sat with my mouth open for a good five minutes, to the second most painful cliff hanger of all time (the first being FOTR), I was in movie heaven, thanks to a little something known as Peter Jackson, Tolkien and Orlando Bloom. After spending at least three hours downloading the trailer on my (slow as hell) computer, I have been waiting and waiting for the second installment of the brilliant Lord of the Rings trilogy. And then the time finally came, and once again I was swept to Middle Earth. The film was everything I expected and much, much more. Not only was every new member of the cast as brilliant as I had expected, the special effects even more spectacular, the music even more beautiful, but this film actually broke the sound barrier and topped 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. We weren't just given some new characters who waltzed in and had one thing to say and then we never saw them again, these characters played a big part in the story. Gollum was probably my favourite - the tortured little soul yearning for the ring provided some wonderful little moments and also tickled my funny bone at times. He was also very freaky in some ways too - as my brother said after we first saw it "He looked so damn real!" I also found it more funnier than the first film too - Gimli mostly providing the comic relief. And as for the battle of Hemls Deep - oh my God, how can ANYONE top that? Well, I have no doubt that P J can in 'Return of the King'. I thought that after seeing the first film, nothing could top all the surprises and effects in this one. I was wrong. Of course, the Gandalf and Balrong opening sequence was probably one of my favourites, but also the completely unexpected unveiling of the Ringwraith on the dragon! HOW cool??? I think my second most favourite thing about this movie other than the movie itself was the music. Once again Howard Shore delivers a superbly written and beautifully scored soundtrack. I have a thing for choir singing and dramatic sounding music - tracks "Evenstar", "Isengard Unleashed", and "Foundations of Stone" so you get my drift... Anyway, before I get disconnected off the internet, I will round it up. If you LOVED, or even liked FOTR, then get your arse down to the cinema and see this film. The only disappointment is that it doesn't last six hours like it really should...