Breathtaking!

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2002)

I had been anticipating the release of 'The Two Towers' since watching 'The Fellowship of the Ring' and I have to say that it has exceeded all of my expectations! This film is absolutely brilliant!
Unlike the first part of LOTR, this movie is a montage of stories - the ongoing journey of Frodo & Sam, the whereabouts of Merry & Pippin & the mission of Aragorn, Legolas & Gimli. This very collection of stories is what makes this movie better than the first & keeps us on the edge of our seats throughout!
The scenery is breathtaking (what a great ad for New Zealand!), the casting is perfect, and the special effects are awesome. Comedy relief in this movie came from, not Merry & Pippin, but Gimli & Gollum (probably not intentionally funny!) who comes across as both cute, yet frightening with his double personality. Treebeard and the rest of the Ents were unexpectedly cool to watch, the Orcs and Uruk-hai were disgusting and menacing and Aragorn was just plain gorgeous (like I said, great casting! ;-D)!
There are bits that seem slow and dull, but then you can't have non-stop action for 3 hours straight! Even so, the pace of this second installment of LOTR is a lot quicker and is action packed throughout.
The whole movie contains so many 'best bits' that it's hard to just pick one! But I have to say the battle of Helms Deep is probably THE best battle scene I had even seen on the big screen!
If you haven't already seen 'The Two Towers' then I recommend you go see it NOW!!! This is a film not to be missed!
[Just for fun: Look out for the Ent extinguishing his firey head as the water comes gushing in towards the end of the film!]