A 'Tower'ing Achievement But Has A Cracked Foundation. * * * (Out Of Four)

Rating: 8/10 (31 January 2004)

"The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" started a craze within Hollywood over the buzz the series created. The follow-up, "The Two Towers" builds up on it, but in the end leaves us wanting a real ending. The film improves on it's action content, mostly within it's last third act, which we are shown an army of minions battling those against them in Helm's Deep, a last resort for poor villagers surrounding it from the evil of Sarumon. The film takes us on varied journeys of the now broken up fellowship and what each of the fellowship endure to fight for what they believe in: a little hobbit by the name of Frodo, who now we see is being taken down slowly by the ring and those who were taken down as well by it, in the form of a little creature known as Gollum, a computer generated creation so lifelike and realistic, you take it as just another actor within the film. The film has stunning cinematography and takes the best of New Zealand (The location of the filming) for it's depiction of Middle-Earth. The film, however, may wow audiences with the added action but may leave them lost in a haze from the hard, fast-paced plot setting as new characters, locations, and moments are thrown in left and right. But it's not too much to worry about if you stay focused on the story and don't get overwhelmed from the action. The coordination with the film is put nicely and smoothly, except towards the end of the action where areas and scenes are disoriented and confusing, but it shouldn't matter too much. If there was one problem with the film it'd be for the ending. The film leaves you wanting more, which is a classic film gimmick, but by "wanting more" it's meant as wanting a more understandable ending. We're left seeing the Hobbits on their way to Mount Doom through a forest with no reasoning on the others (That is too plausible). But aside from the lackluster ending, the film leads gracefully onto act three of the series and gets you wanting more so bad it'll eat you inside...like a little ring we might know of... My Ratings:
* * * (Out Of Four)
B
8 (On IMDB's Scale Out Of 10)