A worthy film, though not the best of the three

Rating: 7/10 (9 June 2004)

"The Two Towers" is certainly a good film, though, for me, it was not the best of "The Lord of the Rings" Trilogy. I preferred "The Fellowship of the Ring", and "The Return of the King" blew them both out of the water. But TTT is still a good film, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Being as there are fewer characters introduced, and less exposition for the story, the characters are not bogged down by starting a new story. My favorite plot line is the one that involves Frodo, Sam, and Gollum. Gollum is amazingly animated. He is so realistic, and far outdoes Dobby from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I also enjoy the relationship between Sam and Frodo. Jackson greatly portrays Frodo's descent as he begins to become consumed by the ring.
The other plotline, involving Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Theoden, Eowyn, and Eomer is still well done, though at times, I feel that some of it could have been left out. The flashbacks to Arwen seemed like they were only included to keep her in the memory of the audience.
I appreciate Jackson's willingness to make this a good film, even if it means making sacrifices to the book. Tolkien purists will be even more disappointed with this film than the previous one (though you all probably know that already).
A worthy film, one that I would recommend. 7 Stars.