A continuation of a beautifully told story

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2003)

The second part of the epic The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers is simply the most spectacular film I have EVER seen. I won't say that this movie surpasses its previous part The Fellowship of the Ring because both films are simply the most brilliant piece of cinema to ever hit the big screen. FOTR established the characters and story and TTT engulfs the story and develops the characters further, as well as introducing new ones and reinforcing the threat of evil. The three titles The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King are one continuous story. These films are meant to be represented the same way as Star Wars are. In TTT, from the landscape to the characters, this movie is simply stunning in its own time.
The characters fit right into the story through their emotional and physical features. Frodo and Sam are joined by Gollum, the most amazing CGI creation to be put on screen. He is so real and blends into the environment so seamlessly that after a while the audience forgets that he is animation and accept him as a real, physical character that shows no signs of falsity. Andy Serkis needs some Oscar attention there. The audience feels a real fear of the Uruk-Hai that have captured Merry and Pippin. The Ents are also quite impressive. These beings are believable and very true to what I visualized in Tolkien's words. The Wargs, the winged Nazgûl, the oliphaunts and the Balrog, now viewed more in detail, are extremely breathtaking. The new characters add to the story and progress it faster than before.
The music of the film is also perfect. From the opening of the Misty Mountains to the Battle of Helm?s Deep and the storming of Isengard, Howard Shore unquestionably deserves another Oscar for his spectacular work. The music of any film is vital to its feel and images portrayed in screen. It simply blew me away. The tone was just right and the volume as well. I couldn't find any faults in the score, which has never happened to me except when I watched the Fellowship of the Ring.
The storming of Isengard and the Battle of Helm's Deep is what really took my breath away. These had got to be the biggest and best executed battles I have EVER seen! I would rather go see the movie again for this!
Yes the story deviated a bit from the book, but this is CINEMA - not related to literature. Faramir's changes were done so as people would believe him to be real. In the book, he just denies even looking at the ring - which seems pretty hollow for a character to evolve from in ROTK. The last five chapters of Book III were left out for ROTK. Otherwise, there wouldn't have really been a solid climax. So I am not distracted from the changes, unlike other people who take it all too seriously. PJ didn't have any contract or obligation that told him to follow the book. It's his interpretation and he has every right to do what he wants with this movie, that is telling a massive story through the world of cinema and still representing Tolkien, which is a hard thing to do with a story this complex. It took four decades to bring this trilogy to the screen and after five years of difficult work it's finally been done. A toast to you Mr. Jackson!
To sum it all up, don't miss this movie at any cost! Except, maybe if you haven't seen the first one, then see it NOW and then see TTT. Otherwise the plot and/or characters might be a bit confusing for you. Other than that, it's perfect cinema work.
I wish I could give this movie more than 10 stars, but that's as high as it goes! Well done Peter Jackson! I just CANNOT wait for The Return of the King...11 WHOLE MONTHS! It will, no doubt, be the biggest movie to hit the silver screen. Argue as much as you want but it's inevitable. The Return of the King is the most emotional of the three and will surely affect us all...
10/10 for TTT