An absolutely stunning continuation of the franchise

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2018)

While The Two Towers introduces a couple of new characters, it is still not exactly on Fellowship's level due to the character development of that particular motion picture. However, it is still painfully obvious that nearly every other single movie pales in comparison to the masterpiece that is The Two Towers.
In another comparison to the Fellowship of the Ring, the scale is increased significantly in Two Towers, and this results in a lot more special effect shots. It is not quite as beautiful visually as Fellowship because of this, but like in that film, the CGI that is used is once again utterly fantastic. Still, director Peter Jackson seems to only use CGI on objects or creatures it HAS to be used on, because it would be near impossible to utilize practical effects on certain things, such as the Oliphaunt, or an army of ten thousand Uruk-Hai.
With the addition of the 'Rohan' storyline come a couple of new characters, with Bernard Hill as Theoden, Karl Urban as Eomer, Miranda Otto as Eowyn, Brad Dourif as Grima Wormtongue & The motion captured but largely CGI character Gollum 'played' by Andy Serkis. All of these characters are being noteworthy in being a fantastic addition to a cast that was already near perfect.
The score by Howard Shore is still perfection, who uses a new 'Rohan' theme to further emphasize emotion when coupled with these scenes. The very first scene in which this sound is heard is when Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas & another individual arrive at Edoras, in which a flag of Rohan can be seen tearing itself away from the King's keep, and landing right before Aragorn, as if it symbolizes that hope is fading, and that only he can return it. The melancholy new sound of the Rohan-esque themes by Shore further fuel this emotion in the audience.
The dialogue is once again fantastic. Ofcourse this is once again largely thanks to Tolkien's literature, the poems recited by Theoden or the speech of Sam to Frodo ( By rights, we shouldn't even be here ) result in once again a very human story about hope, friendship and brotherhood. Which is ofcourse another thing that Jackson has succeeded as, the constant lingering fear of hopelessness, only to triumph in a great emotional climax in the end.
The acting in the Two Towers is near flawless, and seems to be even a notch above the first one in this aspect. Andy Serkis is absolutely brilliant as the crooked Gollum suffering from a split personality, and his voice perfectly emphasizes this feeling of 500 years of depravity and lust for the ring. Mirando Otto's facial acting when told of Aragorn's 'death' is also worthy of special notice, as the sheer genuine emotion there is almost too much to bear.
Once again, the Two Towers takes its time to set up the premise of the Rohan storyline, and does this with excellent characterization & character bonding. However, the build up would be worth less if it wasn't topped off with the incredible climax during the battle of Helm's Deep, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest cinematic sieges ever put to screen. From the very first shots of this massive army marching before the gates of Helm's Deep, you know this is going to be a special piece of filmmaking. Emphasized by gloomy rainy weather conditions and night-time, this siege is highly atmospheric and this does manage to capture the hopelessness of the situation even more. The story of the siege on Helm's Deep is worthy of a movie in itself, as every single new situation brings our main characters ( Who we have grown to care so much about ) in danger. The editing in this sequence, in particular the amount of widescreen shots as opposed to the closer shots of our protagonists fighting off the Uruk-Hai, is once again perfection. It is only when all hope seems lost, with only a couple handful of soldiers left, that our heroes decide to ride out and meet the adversaries, resulting in an incredible triumphant emotional climax as if we were riding besides them. However, the true climax was still yet to come, as a beautiful image of Gandalf appearing in full white with the Rohirrim behind him is seen, followed by a long charge down a very steep hill, combined with extraordinary cinematography & Shore's incredible score, resulting in one of the greatest charges ever filmed. The emotional satisfaction in this is inhumanly high, and the fact that the victory is pronounced over Sam's very human speech to Frodo makes it even more involving and emotional.
The Two Towers is the weakest link in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is admittedly not saying much, since there are very few films that can possibly compete with it. Featuring superb acting, fantastic dialogue, excellent slow paced characterization, an even more impressive Howard Shore score, gorgeous cinematography & one of the greatest sieges of all-time, The Two Towers is indeed one of the all-time greats of motion pictures.