The Greatest Continuation of All Time

Rating: 10/10 (30 March 2003)

If you're going to see this movie, please be sure to watch Fellowship of the Ring (or reading the book works too). There is no reminiscence of the first, save for the opening scene that is shown in a different perspective than in Fellowship. The movie cuts right to the action, much like the books, because of the mere fact that its just 1 big, long, continuing story. All 3 of the movies/books could fit hand in hand without interuptions and would still flow smoothly if it was shown all in 1 sitting. The mere title of The Two Towers caused a considerable ammount of commotion, with a lot of people thinking that it had a sort of reference to 9/11. Those are the kind of people who didn't know that the books were written over 50 years ago, still sporting the same title. However, the title stuck and the controversy has quieted down to maybe the avid ranter still complaining about it. If, by chance, you are that person, there's a little thing we people call 'acceptance'. Figure it out.
Acting: 11/10 The acting is still straight on and well depicted. The introduction of an extremely large variety of characters in 1 movie was nicely done, and didn't put a restrain on the film. That pairing of actors with their roles was superb, aside from the character change of Faramir, however, I didn't mind it much and liked the changes. Once again, to any ranter reading this, the word acceptance pops up again. The original cast still holds true to their characters. Bernard Hill did a great performance in this movie as Theoden. I'm surprised he wasn't nominated. Only a few actresses could play Eowyn, and Mirando Otto is one of them, and struck the character right on. Opposite to Eowyn is Eomer, played by Karl Urban. Despite the lack of line's and appearance in the film in comparison to the others, he still played his part well. Faramir, played by David Wenham, had some of the most well spoken lines in the film, and portrayed his role well even though it was changed from the book, but it does make sense, considering he is one of the character's brother from Fellowship. Then we get to Gollum, the tormented creature driven mad by the Ring. Gollum alone crosses over to new boundaries in both acting and computer animation. I could write a whole paragraph on Gollum, but I won't. Andy Serkis deserved Best Actor.
Story: 10/10 The same story as Fellowship of the Ring, seeing as how its all a continuation, but now there's a twist. The Two Towers, which the title is named after meaning the Towers of Orthanc and Barad-dur, have officialy united in Saruman's and Sauron's assault to rule Middle-Earth. The war begins in Rohan, where Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas still pursue the Uruk-Hai who captured Merry and Pippin.
Music: 9/10 While the movie, in a retrospective view of Fellowship, is considerably darker, the music as well ties in with this darker theme, and tends to get darker as the story progresses. There are some moments which the darkness subsides for a while and a little bit of light shines through. When the sad feeling of despare overcomes the screen, the music ties in perfectly. When the battle begins, the music is there and sounds just right. However, it doesn't end with the emotional song Fellowship ended with. Now it ends on a sad, depressing note with Gollum's Song.
Visual Effects: 10/10 Once again, the MASSIVE program is put to full use in this. The masses upon masses of Uruk-Hai are all so real, its threatening. The Ents are amazing, however, the occasional twitchy movements of the Ents makes it seem that MASSIVE had a little glitch in it.
Final Score: 40/40
One Word Review: Amazing