Second part of the best trilogy ever made

Rating: Null/10 (4 March 2004)

The movie opens with a return to Moria where Gandalf and the Balrog are at a standoff. This familiar scene, however, takes a new twist and instead of following the remainder of the fellowship to their grief, we follow Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellan) into the forgotten chasms below even Moria. Before we can learn his ultimate fate, we are brought back to where we left off in The Fellowship of the Ring.
Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin) have made little progress on their trek towards Mordor where they must return the one ring to the fiery pits from whence it came. Frodo is falling more and more under the control of the ring and the spirits of both of the hobbits is waning in light of the incredible length of the journey thus far and the unknown distance they must still travel. It is not long, though, before they run into the ring's owner prior to Bilbo- Gollum.
Gollum is a wonder to behold. Every bit of hype about the complexity, believability and dramatic effect of this digital character is deserved. As in the books, Gollum is an immensely important character to the movies and there was no room for error when presenting him onscreen. As he continues on the journey with Frodo and Sam, Gollum continues to be a dramatic entity like none other and his motives are never entirely clear.

Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) are hot on the trail of Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). As you may recall, the two hobbits were captured and whisked away by the evil Uruk-Hai. The trail leads the three into the land of Rohan which is in turmoil under the weak leader ship of King Theoden. Theoden is a thin shadow of his previous self, we learn, and we discover this situation is not what it seems. Through the help of the malicious Grima Wormtounge (Brad Dourif), Saruman (Christopher Lee) has gained control of Theoden in order to weaken the kingdom of Rohan to insure its defeat in the war waged by Sauron.
Merry and Pippin, it turns out, have escaped the Uruk-Hai but have come under the control of another, less malicious force- an ent by the name of Treebeard (voiced by John Rhys-Davis). Treebeard is a walking, talking tree that, at first, mistakes the hobbits for orcs. This storyline is the weakest and was the most cut up of the plot lines. It will be restored in the upcoming extended edition however.
This movie is an epic in itself and the plot outlined above all unfolds in the first 45 minutes of the three hour film. Needless to say, you should not, under any circumstances, attempt to watch this film without seeing The Fellowship of the Ring. Peter Jackson made the genius decision to pickup in this film where the first left off and spends absolutely no time recapping the previous adventures of these characters. Instead, he fills the entire three hours with new plot, more character driven story and epic adventure and action. The whole film culminates in the most viscerally engaging and technically detailed on-screen battle ever witness. The battle of Helm's Deep will most likely leave you breathless.
Jackson and his crew have crafted a living universe here. Every costume, every weapon, every plant and every creature looks as if it belongs. This is Middle-earth. The cinematography is darker in this film (due to the obvious shift in tone) and the direction and camera work is just as gorgeous as in the first film. There are no weak links in the chain of actors that have been asked to bring the characters of Middle-earth alive. Each and everyone lives and breathes their characters.
What The Lord of the Rings series comes down to is a masterfully epic story about a hobbit. While these movies could have been overwhelmed by special effects and CGI, Jackson understands the soul of the books were not in the creatures and the battles, but in the characters that have to do things that go against their very nature in order to bring harmony back into their world. The Two Towers is a perfect middle section to this trilogy and, like The Fellowship of the Ring, leaves us with a cliff-hanger and a good reason to go see the next film. When all is said and done, these three films will forever be discussed as part of film history.