Now They Fight a Big Battle

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2003)

Not as complex as "The Fellowship of the Rings", the middle film of the Rings trilogy should be known as the 'battle' film. At least that's how it seemed to me. "The Fellowship" laid the groundwork; introduced the main characters, the different species, and how they all interact, and now in "The Two Towers" they get down to some serious fighting. I swear the major battle at the conclusion of the movie takes up its final hour. Not that I'm complaining, but I missed the social interactions and sub-plots of "Fellowship". The highlight of "The Two Towers" is the arrival of Gollum, seen only for a brief second in "Fellowship". This CGI guy steals the movie. And I have to feel some sympathy for the hapless Orcs, whose only purpose seems to be to die horrible deaths at the hands of anything that can fog a mirror. All in all though, for medieval-style fighting (with dragons, elves, dwarfs and the like) this movie can't be beat.