Slightly inferior to Fellowship but still a fantastic fantasy epic

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2003)

The Fellowship Of The Ring was an incredible film and an incredible achievement. Peter Jackson and his team got so much right that the tiny flaws seem hardly worthy of mention,and some of these were even ironed out in the Extended Version of the film.
The Two Towers manages to be almost,but not quite,as brilliant. Once again we are immersed in a superbly detailed and convincing fantasy world that has great effects and awesome action but also strong characterisation. There are very few scenes that don't use special effects in some way,the film is packed with "wow"-type spectacle,but we are never allowed to forget about the people at the heart of the story.
Another terrific film,than,but sadly several flaws make it just a bit inferior to Fellowship. The film does not flow quite as well,with Jackson never completely solving the problem of cutting back and forth from different stories. Some parts seem overly rushed while other bits are dragged out,for example Merry and Pippin's encounters with the Ents only take up about 7 or 8 mins while the lead up to the Battle of Helm's Deep takes forever.
Sadly,Jackson also felt a need to tamper with the source material far more than in Fellowship. This is partly because he leaves out the last few chapters of the book,and therefore has to invent a great deal,may be not a big problem for those who have not read the book,but the story seems very stretched out and some of the added occurrences,such as Aragorn's separation from his companions,and his flashbacks of Arwen,seem like padding and make the middle hour drag a bit too much. Because Frodo and Sam's encounter with Shelob is missing,there was felt a need to invent another climactic story element with Frodo and Sam,but the whole Faramir/Osgilliath subplot feels hurried,as if it was made up on the spot,which it possibly was.However,the elves arrival at Helm's Deep works superbly.
Still,there is so much that is great about The Two Towers. It has a commendable different feel to it then Fellowship,somewhat more realistic and a lot more humorous,this does not entirely work but kudos for trying not to give us too much of the same. A few action sequences seem rushed but the middle Warg battle is thrilling and convincing-you mostly believe that the orcs are riding those creatures,and of course the lengthy Battle Of Helm's Deep is stunning,a truly great battle to rank with the best of Kurosawa and Eisenstein. The highlight,though ,is the climatic assault on Isengard by the Ents,an amazing spectacle.
The cast is again superb and two potentially problematic characters,Treebeard {and the other walking trees} and the sinister but oddly moving Gollum,are brilliantly achieved. In Gollum we have the most convincing CGI character so far done on film. Howard Shore's score is even better than his work on Fellowship,providing some of the most rousing film music in years but subtle in unusual places {such as Helm's Deep}. There are problems with this film,but all in all,it's still far better than pretty much everything else that came out this year.
A NOTE ABOUT THE EXTENDED VERSION As with Fellowship,the extended version is superior. While there are less important scenes added than in Fellowship,the film flows a lot better and is much more evenly paced. Still not as good as Fellowship,but very close.