Some Wonder Here

Rating: 6/10 (3 October 2003)

The first part of The Lord of The Rings trilogy was very overrated. The action scenes were repetitive and overlong and some of the characterizations were terribly annoying (Merry, Pippin, Sam). The second installment however, overcomes it's very choppy editing (especially regarding the romance between Aragorn and Arwen) and definitely rises above Fellowship of The Ring.

One of the main reasons is the presence of The Ents (the walking, talking trees.) These scenes are excellent. They stand for the all the environmental destruction that has gone on the past century, whether by war or industrialization. Merry and Pippin were seriously toned down, whether by circumstances, or the realization of the filmmakers and actors that their antics in Fellowship was very detrimental to a consistent tone for the series. These scenes were very powerful.
The score by Howard Shore is very good especially in the Ent scenes. Bernard Hill is excellent in the role of King Theoden. Miranda Otto as his niece Eowyn is very impressive, and I look forward to more of her in Return of The King. The widely hailed Helm's Deep climax was largely sabotaged by the dual between Legolas and Gimli as to who could kill more.
Another good aspect of the movie is Gollum, voiced by Andy Serkis. There are a couple of good scenes involving Frodo sympathizing with Gollum because of the effect the ring had on him.
Overall The Two Towers was a tremendous improvement over The Fellowship of The Ring, but because of the editing problems and the incompetent acting of Sean Astin, still is wildly overrated with many flaws.