The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Movie Review

After watching The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey I have been in a J. R. R. Tolkien mood, and have been going through some of his books, and recently the Lord of the Rings films, which I've watched numerous times. This time I stuck to the Original Cinema Version on Blu-Ray, and that's what this review will reflect.

Plot

SPOILER FREE

This film sees Frodo Baggins continue his journey to destroy The One Ring, although he's only got Samwise Gamgee, and later Gollum to help him. Meanwhile Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf head to Rohan, where they plan to free Théoden from Saruman control. Also Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took travel with Treebeard.

Review

This was a brilliant film, and a great continuation from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Peter Jackson has really done something wonderful with these films, and I love how each scene looks beautiful no mater what the tone of the scene is. The lighting is the thing that I believe makes each scene beautiful, as it's perfect, whether dark or light, showing the right amount of the picture in focus/light, not too much, and not too less.

Gandalf, Arargon Legolas, Gimli with Théoden

This film in my opinion is where the story begins to get really interesting, as all the members of The Fellowship of the Ring split into different groups, with Sam and Frodo together, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf together, and of course Merry and Pippin together. This allows for a wider variate of things to happen, which leads to even more brilliant scenes. There was also some new characters introduced in this film, which I liked, as it keeps the story fresh, and new, and not just a plain continuation of a greater story. Théoden, Éowyn, Éomer, Faramir were among the new characters introduced in this film, and they all played a significant part in the story, with Théoden, Éowyn, Éomer being centred mainly in the Battle of Helm's Deep, and Éowyn, and Éomer before that whilst Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli tried to bring Théoden from Saruman's control. Faramir also had a significant part, but I'll talk more about that further down my review.

Frodo and Sam with Gollum

Frodo and Sam's journey through out this film took a wider turn after finding Gollum, who agreed to help them find Mordor. With Frodo, and Sam's journey being the main part of this story it needs a bit of excitement in it, especially when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli's journey is getting brilliant action scenes, and looking to be the main feature in this film. What better way to help Frodo, and Sam's journey than to add in Gollum, who's a brilliant character due to his split personality, unpredictability, and sheer love for the One Ring. Although I personally preferred Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli's journey throughout these films, mainly due to there being ton's of marvellous action during them, these scenes are still brilliant, and have a lot of comic appeal in them. I also think that no one else could have played Gollum any better than Andy Serkis did, and am glad that he played him.

Merry and Pippin with Treebeard

Treebeard was also featured in this film, which I was happy to see. He is voiced by John-Rhys Davies (who also plays Gimli). It's a bold thing having one actor doing two roles, especially ones as different as these two, but overall I think that he was the perfect choice for Treebeard due to his voice. It is however easy to make similarities between the two characters due to their voices being the same, but I can overlook that due to the brilliant performance. I also liked Treebeard as a character in general, as he seems a very kind hearted character, whilst being very suspicious calling Merry and Pippin small Orcs at one point.

Faramir

As I said earlier in my review Faramir is in this film, and he also like everyone throughout these films was cast perfectly, with David Wenham playing him. The character plays a significant part, as he actually captures Frodo, Sam, and eventually Gollum during the film, and has lots of questions for them. Once he finds out Frodo has the One Ring his attitude changes, seeing an opportunity to be acknowledged. After being told the fate of Boromir, and how it occurred he has a question of the choice he will make. I also liked this character, as I liked Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring, so was happy to see that he had a brother and that he had similar traits to Boromir, whilst being an independent character. I also liked how despite his gritty nature Faramir had a good side to him, and seemed an overall good character, who was just following commands, and the way his people live.

Battle of Helm's Deep

The best thing in this film was the Battle of Helm's Deep. It was perfect, and I loved that it had a blueish overtone to it, and that it wasn't simply dark. The battle itself was nothing short of epic, and one of the best scenes throughout the trilogy let alone this film. The way that all these Orcs, and Uruk-hai stormed the walls was brilliant, and I loved how the Elves show up unexpectedly to help Rohan. My favourite scene during this was when Legolas uses a shield as a skateboard to come down the long stairs, whilst shooting Orcs with arrows. I also loved that all the main characters involved (Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli), as well as Théoden get plenty of camera time, as they are the main people this battle will affect throughout the remainder of the story.

Final Verdict

A brilliant film which surpasses Fellowship of the Ring. It is a tremendous continuation to one of the best trilogies of this generation, if not all time, and a brilliant film in it's own right. I would highly recommend this film as well as the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy, as they are superb films.

Rating: 5/5