A Towering Achievement

Rating: Null/10 (25 December 2002)

Unlike last year, I am reviewing the new installment of the `Lord of the Rings' trilogy. Not that I failed to enjoy `Fellowship of the Ring'-I found it to be an excellent example of the re-emergence of the epic and it was just plain fun. I had similar hopes heading into `Two Towers' and you know what, I was pretty much dead-on.
`Two Towers' opens with proof that the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan), my favorite character from the first installment, has not died a fiery death in the mines of Moriah, which certainly gladdened my heart. But that is just one of the four separate storylines that exists to enhance the plot (and make my summarization a much more difficult task).
In plotline number two, a pair of our plucky Hobbit protagonists, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and his companion, Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin) are traveling closer to the ultimate destination-Mt. Doom, the only place where the frighteningly powerful Ring of Power can be destroyed. But in a deal that falls as close to a deal with the devil, Frodo and Sam enlist the aid of the schizophrenic Gollum (Andy Serkis) to guide them to the fiery mount.
The third plotline involves the other two Hobbits of the story-Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan). After being kidnapped by vicious Uruk-Hai, the intrepid Halflings escape into the foreboding Fangorn Forest, where they are taken for a ride (literally) by an Ent-a tree-shepherd of the forest.
The fourth and most dwelled upon plotline focuses on the three remaining heroes-the human uber-warrior, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the waggish dwarf, Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and the talented elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom). To make what could be a long story short, this band of heroes comes to the aid of the embattled nation of Rohan, ruled by the wise (though sometimes misguided) Theoden (Bernard Hill). The quest of these heroes culminates in the spectacular battle of Helm's Deep.
The thing that struck me the most about the movie was the jaw-dropping visuals. Combining amazing camera work and amazingly realistic special effects, the film was an absolute feast for the eyes. The only flaw that I readily noticed was in the shots of the two Hobbits riding atop the Ent-it seemed to be shot out of the 1950s, not the 21st Century, but one flaw out of three hours of film is a pretty good success rate.
I may sound masochistic to say this (especially after consuming a cup of soda), but I think that the film could have been easily stretched another half-hour. Too much seems to be crammed into a relatively short three hours-not that I'm being nit-picky here. The plot already is excellent, but if it could possibly be stretched out to allow more development to each character, I'd be ecstatic. Well, maybe I'll just have to wait and see an unedited version on DVD.
The acting was magnificent and I really had nothing against any of the performances, although if I were to pick out one weak point in the acting is in Sean Astin's character's speech to Frodo towards the end-a bit schmaltzy if you ask me.
Overall, I was breathless after the splendor of `The Two Towers.' This, despite the myriad of special effects (which actually WORK here-as opposed to other films), is what a movie is supposed to be. If a few flaws were corrected and the movie stretched out a little bit, it would be a 10; as is, I'll give it a 9.5 out of 10.