Well....

Rating: Null/10 (28 December 2002)

The Two Towers was a *good* movie. I say that to emphasize that it was not a *great* movie by any means. The Fellowship of the Ring was gorgeous, intelligent, well paced, and exciting. The Two Towers is less gorgeous, less intelligent (often embarrassingly scripted), horrendously paced, and it frequently drags. This is not to say it is a bad film, but it is hardly best picture material, and it is a good step down from Fellowship. Don't listen to the excessive praises or the excessive criticisms. The Two Towers is often beautiful, magical, and poetic. Unfortunately it is just as frequently dull, illogical, and full of clichés. Some of the effects are phenomenal, while some are borderline awful--the sort of thing one would see in a mid-eighties fantasy film. Especially bad were the scenes with Treebeard carrying the hobbits on his shoulder, with obvious green-screen backgrounds rolling by as the hobbits bobbed up and down in a way not at all like Treebeard's stride (which in itself was obviously an effect). But great films are not made of great effects, and the story comes first. While a great deal of the narrative problems can be attributed to the "middle chapter syndrome", still more are the result of poor scriptwriting and poo r direction. TTT seemed rushed, as though all the pieces for a great film were there, but they were assembled improperly. Conclusions were hurried, while some loose-ends were never tied up (and I'm not referring to events which will be resolved in the final chapter... I'm speaking on a smaller scale). I got the feeling that, in Fellowship, Jackson wanted to convince us of the reality of this world, while in TTT he assumed that he didn't have to. The whole Ring mythology didn't seem as gelled in this installment. It's an abstract complaint it's true, but I've been assured it's a valid one.
But don't let me discourage Ring lovers from seeing the film. If you liked Fellowship, you'll probably dig TTT. If you didn't, you won't be won over with this installment. It's good folks, but great it ain't.
7/10