The Two Towers Transcends its Antecedent

Rating: 10/10 (1 November 2013)

'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' is everything I could have hoped for in the second movie in 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy. In this film the fellowship has broken and the film now follows three different adventures taking place - you have Aragon, Legolas and Gimli fighting to protect Rohan, Pippin and Merry occupied with the Ents, and of course, Frodo and Sam lead by Gollum to fulfill their quest to destroy the ring. I really liked how these concurrent endeavors were told without feeling, as the viewer, disengaged from the main idea of the story. For example, it didn't feel like there was intolerable jumping between different scenes to follow these different adventures, so I thought the movie proceeded at a good pace.
Hats must be taken off to a perfect embodiment of Gollum's character and it is probably one of the most memorable performances I have ever seen in a movie. This twisted, tortured and disturbed creature is the epitome of the consequences of holding the ring for prolonged periods (500 years in Gollum's case). The ring is so evil and corrupted that Gollum represents the end result of it's control, which should signal to Frodo to make haste of his quest or else he'll end up just like Gollum.
The amount of action and fighting in this movie has increased compared to 'The Fellowship of the Ring', and I loved it. It was so satisfying to watch Legolas and Gimli kill Orcs so proficiently to the point where they keep a running tally of how many they kill. This form of humor embedded in several fighting scenes was much accepted and it wasn't too excessive to the point where it felt like the humor was forced.
Just like the first movie there are some epic panning shots as Aragon, Legolas and Gimli cross some stunning terrain, and I feel that just the mere scale of this movie is so much bigger in magnitude to that in 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. In the previous film, there was a lot more dialog and felt like more of an introduction to the characters and the 'culture' of the 'Lord of the Rings' film, which isn't condemned, but 'The Two Towers' steps up the fighting scenes to another level without losing the dialog and character development. The sheer size of Saruman's army sent a shiver down mine when I first laid eyes on it. You think to yourself, "hold on, how are 300 'good guys' supposed to defend themselves against 10,000 of these brutal and viscous Orcs?" Thoughts like this that leave you wondering what's going to happen next or how are the 'good guys' going to deal with this crisis is one of many reasons that kept me engaged in the film from start to end.
Furthermore, I loved Gandalf's return as 'The White', and the scene at the beginning where he battles the Balrog was an epic way to begin the movie. In addition, when the Ents destroy Saruman's headquarters was just insane to watch. I loved that feeling of gratification, yet also some sorrow, when you see the Tree Beard begin to lose it after what Saruman has done and the Ents just unleash chaos on Saruman. It was satisfying to see the 'good guys' (I dislike referring to them as this) finally overpower Saruman as he has been the one with supreme power and authority throughout the film (excluding Sauron). You can't also help but feel when the Ents take revenge on Saruman for destroying their 'friends', that one day, in today's modern, developed society, nature will reclaim what is rightfully theirs one day. The idea of conveying the trees as having emotions and allowing them to feel anger and sorrow just like humans do, makes you condemn things like deforestation around the world and the negative impact human consumption is having on the earth. In essence, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen and cannot wait to watch the final film in the trilogy.