Minor players, major impact

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2003)

With lots of reviews on the "big picture" of "The Two Towers", I wanted to make sure that two players got their props: Bernard Hill as Theoden and Andy Serkis (and animators) as Gollum. While Gollum has received lots of deserved praise for the animation, I think the animation grows out of the performance (on set and vocally) of Mr. Serkis. His performance is a wonderful interpretation of a character that could have played merely as unbelievable and irritating ...instead we get tragic, complex, and compelling. Mr. Hill's Theoden was joy, although his "possession" make-up was a bit over the top and unbelievable. Once back in command, Theoden's presence more than held his own with Aragorn. In fact if folks weren't so goggle-eyed over Viggo and Orlando, they might have noticed that Theoden stole a few scenes along the way...