B+... the first one was better

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2002)

I know that it's not really appropriate to review The Two Towers as a straight sequel since LOTR is essentially one nine hour long movie. Still, it falls into some traps that most regular sequels do.
I enjoyed Fellowship an immense amount more than this film. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that it was our first glimpse into this world and that unbelievable first impression has been somewhat watered down now that I've grown used to the impressive visuals and sweeping landscapes. It doesn't hit as hard when you've seen it all before.
My biggest problem with TTT is that the splitting of the Fellowship from Part I really hurts the story. Obviously they're following the books and this is the sequence of events but the only section of this film I found interesting were the events that centered around Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. Frodo and Sam are very boring characters when they're left on their own. I won't even go into the "other" two hobbits bc if I had to see one more scene of them in that damn tree I was going to stab somebody. The characters work best together. Their chemistry was a huge part of the first films charm. This one feels rather flat. A lot of gloss without a whole lot of substance underneath it. It also feels like the first film was on a larger scale. This one kind of felt like I was looking at the same countryside over and over again.
Obviously the climax to TTT is far superior to Fellowship but that's about all it has on the original movie. That and Gollum, who alone is almost worth the price of admission. But the ring wraiths are totally wasted in this film, and surprisingly unfrightening. They were one of my favorite parts of Fellowship but here they're just cartoons.
Now I haven't read the books since I was a kid, but I know that Fellowship was a much better adaptation than TTT. Everything they needed was right there in the pages. Why did they feel the need to change so much? I don't need it to be down to the last detail. Hell, I like the new love triangle they've added... but there's something missing in this entry. A level of intrigue that the first one maintaned throughout it's entire running time. THere were only a few moments of TTT that left me with a similar reaction.
Don't get me wrong, this was still one of the better movies I've seen. It's actually fantastic until compared to the earlier film. Bottom line- Great flick, but not the same rush as Part I.