Very good but could have been exceptional

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2002)

*** SOME SPOILERS *** Unlike some reviewers before me I do NOT think The Two Towers is as good as or even better then The Fellowship. The good for me included Gollum (who offered the best CGI ever but really came to life through the superb acting performance by Andy Serkins), the suffering of Frodo, the preparations for the battle of Helms Deep (the sheer desperation of the people of Rohan sending their children to war is spine-chilling), Grima Wormtongue (deliciously evil but still very human) and Aragorn (the role of a lifetime for Viggo Mortensen). The bad (as far as I'm concerned) lies mainly in some of the changes that have been made to the original text. The presence of Arwen(Elrond and Galadriel) is far too big, I can understand the need to remind viewers of the presence of Arwen but this is simply too much. The "death" of Aragorn (what is the point of letting the audience think he is dead when half of his scenes from the trailer are yet to come?) The depiction of Faramir (for 99% of the time he seems to be a evil version of Boromir while in the book he is actually a better version). Theoden's "exorcism" (you have GOT to be joking !!!). Don't get me wrong, I loved the film but I cannot help but feel that with a few changes this film would have been the match or even the better of FOTR.