A great and grand epic of incomparable perfection

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2002)

I purposely held off reading anything on IMDB (except for a NYT review) on this film by wanting to experience this film-as its predecessor-as `clean' as one can view a film without any preconceptions. I have not even read the novels the film is based on as half the world has. So, I come to this epic unadorned but enthralled.
Without a doubt, this second installment is a powerful-perhaps even more so-than the first. This story itself is not burdened with set up and character development, as the first was, and opens where the last stops-with the band of brothers separated and scattered to the four winds. Jackson very quickly establishes the scene and moves the film forward, culminating in the battle at Helms Deep. There are few wasted moments as the film continues at a frantic but never rushed pace throughout. When Merry and Pip end up with then Ents, only then does the film slow a bit but not to its detriment. The film crosscuts between the separated principles but the viewer is never confused. The actors all seem to be defined by their characters (as opposed to the other way around) and a very comfortable in the company of others. Truly amazing considering all three films were shot concurrently and out of sequence.
There are many, many outstanding moments in this three-hour film starting from the first, where we see what happens to Gandolf after his fight at the bridge and as he falls into the abyss. The second is the visualization of Gollum. The third would have to be the Ents. And the four-oh boy-the battle at Helms Deep is quite simply a stunning, excessively violent exercise in cinematic genius. And it is only genius that can make a complicated battle and all its confusion accessible. And it is nothing short of genius to be able to deal with seven years of pain and deliberation, passion and art, actors and actresses, crew and extras, artists and artisans. I wish my father were alive to see this epic. LoTR was a favorite of his as a novel. Alas, he died just a CGI effects where really starting to make a tremendous impact in the world of cinema and missed many-a fine film-from Twister's kitsch to Titanic's operatic doom. But LoTRs would have particularly pleased him.
Peter Jackson has left an indelible mark and permanent mark on cinema, making what was regarded as impossible possible. But look how he achieved this-this was no mere achievement by a single studio but by a whole country. To the Kiwis, LoTR became akin to a national obsession by marshalling casts and crew of thousands for years and years, using the entire country as a backlot. Imagine most of Hollywood working on a single film for five years! Mind boggling and now legendary. We will never see anything like it again. The Harry Potter films could have approached this (in that there are seven novels with four give green light) but are laughably inferior and infantile to a fault. Perhaps, now, the green light could be given to some other long series such as Asimov's Foundation saga or CS Lewis's Narnia series.