Excellent work, but not quite as good as the first movie

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2003)

For a start, ignore the fanboys who decry Peter Jackson's efforts as "Not Tolkien's story" or other such comments. Of course it isn't. It's Peter Jackson's version of it. That's why, apparently missed by the rabid Tolkien-ites, all such films, somewhere in their credits, have the comment "Based on the novel xxx by xxxx.....". So, given that it isn't intended to be a word-for-word rehash of the book, why shout it down for that?
What the Two Towers is, however, is solid action-fantasy cinema that picks up right where the first movie finished and runs with the ball. Personally, I didn't think it was quite as good as the first movie, but then, it would have had to be fantastic to be so. All sequels are "more of the same" to an extent, so it's hard to be as good as the original, but this one comes pretty close.
There were things I wished I could see more of in this movie, like the Ents attack on Isengard, or maybe where Gimli discovers the caves at Helm's Deep (which wasn't in there at all), but I'm hopeful that the extended DVD release will add little extras like this back into the story as the extended DVD of FOTR did.
I was a little puzzled to see the Elves at Helm's Deep. I don't recall that from the book, but who cares really? It seemed logical that they would come to help. Nice addition.
Gollum was a truly amazing piece of CGI. I don't think he looked THAT realistic, but what made him work for me was the expression that they got into his features. Amazing stuff, especially the "Good Smeagol, Bad Gollum" internal struggle. Incidentally, on a humorous note, there were people in the audience that didn't get that bit. I heard at least two people (adults) wondering out loud where the second Gollum came from!
I also think that it was a shame Shelob didn't make it into this one. T'would have made a good cliff-hanger ending for the second film to have Frodo apparently dead and Sam alone. But as it was, those of us who know the story can know anticipate the appearance of Ungoliant's spawn in much the same way as we anticipated Gollum's appearance.
If there was one thing that I'm not sure is a good idea, it's the increasingly acrobatic Legolas. I almost hate to think what he'll get up to in the final installment. But I'll still go and see it!
All in all, this is a worthy follow-up to FOTR and well worth your time. It will certainly be making an appearance in my DVD collection as soon as the extended version is released.