No, not quite

Rating: 5/10 (4 August 2004)

In my comment on 'The Fellowship of the Ring' I made the mistake of stating I had not written any of the Tolkien books. Although not untrue, obviously what I meant to say was that I hadn't read any of them. And with this I again like to begin my commentary, as to make clear I value 'The Two Towers' as a movie, not as the filming of a book.
The fellowship of 9 from part 1 are reduced to 7... uhm 8 and split up: Sam and Frodo keep on carrying the ring to Mordor, Pip and Merry are captured by some mean looking orks and the man, midget and elf trio are following these orks to rescue the two hobbits. Gandalf meanwhile takes a part as well, as he's 'reborn' even stronger and mightier than before. Talk about your deus ex machina...
If 'Fellowship' was rather boring and one-directed (with events just happening over and over again until the three hours were full), 'Two Towers' is more intense but also more unclear and messy than that. It is darker than part one, but is introducing way to many characters that doesn't really matter for the continuing of the story. If part one had that problem, part two is taking it to new heights. Worst part are the dream sequences with Liv Tyler... what was that all about? Too long, boring and unimportant. Bad film-making.
One of the main treats of Two Towers should be Gollum, or Smeagol (why not give every character 2 names so nobody understands it anymore). Gollum wants the ring Frodo carries, but finds himself loyal to his master as well. Now this could be interesting. Too bad nothing is really happening with this conflict, except the endless and countless monologues of Gollum... a missed chance.
The end battle should cover up for everything, but it's more silly and slapstick kinda funny than intense (dwarf-tossing...). And of course it had to end with the second deus ex machina scene by Gandalf. On the other side of middle earth though things get even wackier, with silly looking trees (did they run out of budget?) attacking the Tower of Saruman. Watch out for the flooding scene... it has B-movie written all over it.
Although I can understand why these movies are appealing to some (in particular the ones who love the Tolkien books), there is no way you can say The Two Towers is one of the best movies ever. There are so many moments the tension drops, so many silly hold-ups, a cast (although trying) undermined by the CGI. In a way, Two Towers is more compelling than Fellowship, but on the whole it doesn't even live up to it's very mediocre prequel. Let's just hope for the best for Return of the King. 5/10.