Review: New 'Rings' Is 'Towering' Achievement
Second Chapter Of Trilogy Exceeds 'Fellowship'
POSTED: 7:17 a.m. EST December 18, 2002
'The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers' ( PG-13)
(out of four)
If "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" captured your attention with its alluring glow last year, then get ready to slip on the ring of power and forever commit yourself to "The Two Towers."
Even though it was filmed simultaneously with "Fellowship" and the forthcoming "The Return of the King," "The Two Towers" avoids the traditional trappings of a sequel. In fact, it maybe shouldn't even be characterized as a sequel at all, considering all three films of the Tolkien trilogy were filmed at once.
Sure, it continues the story of "Fellowship," but very much stands on its own as film. In short, it's a phenomenal movie.
Jackson skips any re-cap of "Fellowship" to begin "The Two Towers." Instead, he immediately plunges into the action -- quite literally -- by exploring Gandalf the Grey's (Ian McKellen) fate after falling into a dark chasm in the Mines of Moria while battling the massive Balrog.
And while "The Two Towers" ventures into much darker territory than "Fellowship," the fire hardly dims after Gandalf's encounter with the fiery creature. Instead, it picks up with thrilling sequences that split off into three engaging subplots.
In the first, we find Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Samwise (Sean Astin) encounter the ring of power's former owner, Gollum (voiced by Andy Serkis) on their path to Mordor. The pair can't entirely trust the troubled creature, but they need his help if they are to find their way to Mount Doom to destroy the ring.
Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli's (John Rhys-Davies) search for the captured hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) continues, but it instead results in an encounter with the reborn wizard Gandalf the White (McKellen).
Merry and Pippin, on the other hand, find refuge in a forest inhabited by the Ents, a band of living trees, and its eldest member Treebeard (voiced by Rhys-Davies).
Although the subplots are distinctively different, they all are tied together by the evil wizard Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), who fell under the possession of the Dark Lord Sauron in "Fellowship." Hell-bent on destruction, Saruman has bred a massive army of Uruk-hai soldiers in his quest to destroy man and Middle Earth, and is intent on repossessing the ring to enslave the world.
Perhaps the biggest difference between "Fellowship" and "Two Towers" is the pacing. The first film led us through an elaborate stretch of character and story development, while "The Two Towers" assumes you are familiar enough with the players and proceedings that it immediately begins where the first film left off.
Because of that, "The Two Towers" seems to move much quicker, despite the fact that the original theatrical version of "Fellowship" and "Two Towers" have roughly the same three-hour running time.
That's not to say that the narrative of "The Two Towers" falls victim to shallowness in lieu of the film's eye-popping visuals and action sequences. Again the sprawling settings are breathtaking, and the costuming, makeup and score help create an atmosphere that can't be denied.
On top of all of that, the movie is loaded with some great acting.
Wood brilliantly depicts his struggle of resisting the evil powers of the ring, while Astin shows an incredible amount of heart as the ever-dependable Sam. As for the "heroic" roles, there's no other way of putting it: Mortensen, Bloom, Rhys-Davies and McKellen's performances are larger than life. Mortensen and Bloom, in specific, are firing on all burners with intense charisma.
On top of that, there's a rich slate of new characters that flawlessly meld into Jackson's vision of Tolkien's masterpiece.
Among them are King Theoden (Bernard Hill), the beleaguered ruler of the Rohans -- a race of humans also threatened by Saruman; Eowyn (Miranda Otto), the niece of Theoden's who competes with Arwen (Liv Tyler) for Aragorn's affection; and Grima (Brad Dourif), the counsel to Saruman as he prepares his assault on Middle Earth.
The real revelation though is Serkis, whose voice work and digitally modeled movements bring startling realism to the computer-generated Gollum. Rhys-Davies is pretty impressive, too, in making you believe in the walking, talking Treebeard.
While the "The Two Towers" lives up to its big expectations, sometimes it's too big for its own good. Case in point is the climactic battle of Helm's Deep -- which may be too exhaustive for everybody but the devotee's of Tolkien's source material. The sequence is long and utterly brutal.
That brings to question the film's greatest curiosity -- how it ever attained its PG-13 rating. The battle sequence is chock-full of beheadings and soldiers being impaled by arrows, making it an easy target for an R rating. Perhaps the MPAA was too consumed with trying to decide whether "Solaris" should get an R instead of a PG-13 because of George Clooney's bare butt scene. Talk about being blinded by moonshine.
No matter how you perceive the scenes, it's hardly enough to take away from the fact that "The Two Towers" is one of the best films in theaters this year. It'll be interesting to see what the final "Rings" chapter "The Return of the King" will bring next December. I suspect when all is said and done, "The Lord of the Rings" is going to be one hell of a great nine-hour movie.
(out of four)
If "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" captured your attention with its alluring glow last year, then get ready to slip on the ring of power and forever commit yourself to "The Two Towers."
Even though it was filmed simultaneously with "Fellowship" and the forthcoming "The Return of the King," "The Two Towers" avoids the traditional trappings of a sequel. In fact, it maybe shouldn't even be characterized as a sequel at all, considering all three films of the Tolkien trilogy were filmed at once.
Sure, it continues the story of "Fellowship," but very much stands on its own as film. In short, it's a phenomenal movie.
Jackson skips any re-cap of "Fellowship" to begin "The Two Towers." Instead, he immediately plunges into the action -- quite literally -- by exploring Gandalf the Grey's (Ian McKellen) fate after falling into a dark chasm in the Mines of Moria while battling the massive Balrog.
And while "The Two Towers" ventures into much darker territory than "Fellowship," the fire hardly dims after Gandalf's encounter with the fiery creature. Instead, it picks up with thrilling sequences that split off into three engaging subplots.
In the first, we find Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Samwise (Sean Astin) encounter the ring of power's former owner, Gollum (voiced by Andy Serkis) on their path to Mordor. The pair can't entirely trust the troubled creature, but they need his help if they are to find their way to Mount Doom to destroy the ring.
Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli's (John Rhys-Davies) search for the captured hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) continues, but it instead results in an encounter with the reborn wizard Gandalf the White (McKellen).
Merry and Pippin, on the other hand, find refuge in a forest inhabited by the Ents, a band of living trees, and its eldest member Treebeard (voiced by Rhys-Davies).
Although the subplots are distinctively different, they all are tied together by the evil wizard Saruman the White (Christopher Lee), who fell under the possession of the Dark Lord Sauron in "Fellowship." Hell-bent on destruction, Saruman has bred a massive army of Uruk-hai soldiers in his quest to destroy man and Middle Earth, and is intent on repossessing the ring to enslave the world.
Perhaps the biggest difference between "Fellowship" and "Two Towers" is the pacing. The first film led us through an elaborate stretch of character and story development, while "The Two Towers" assumes you are familiar enough with the players and proceedings that it immediately begins where the first film left off.
Because of that, "The Two Towers" seems to move much quicker, despite the fact that the original theatrical version of "Fellowship" and "Two Towers" have roughly the same three-hour running time.
That's not to say that the narrative of "The Two Towers" falls victim to shallowness in lieu of the film's eye-popping visuals and action sequences. Again the sprawling settings are breathtaking, and the costuming, makeup and score help create an atmosphere that can't be denied.
On top of all of that, the movie is loaded with some great acting.
Wood brilliantly depicts his struggle of resisting the evil powers of the ring, while Astin shows an incredible amount of heart as the ever-dependable Sam. As for the "heroic" roles, there's no other way of putting it: Mortensen, Bloom, Rhys-Davies and McKellen's performances are larger than life. Mortensen and Bloom, in specific, are firing on all burners with intense charisma.
On top of that, there's a rich slate of new characters that flawlessly meld into Jackson's vision of Tolkien's masterpiece.
Among them are King Theoden (Bernard Hill), the beleaguered ruler of the Rohans -- a race of humans also threatened by Saruman; Eowyn (Miranda Otto), the niece of Theoden's who competes with Arwen (Liv Tyler) for Aragorn's affection; and Grima (Brad Dourif), the counsel to Saruman as he prepares his assault on Middle Earth.
The real revelation though is Serkis, whose voice work and digitally modeled movements bring startling realism to the computer-generated Gollum. Rhys-Davies is pretty impressive, too, in making you believe in the walking, talking Treebeard.
While the "The Two Towers" lives up to its big expectations, sometimes it's too big for its own good. Case in point is the climactic battle of Helm's Deep -- which may be too exhaustive for everybody but the devotee's of Tolkien's source material. The sequence is long and utterly brutal.
That brings to question the film's greatest curiosity -- how it ever attained its PG-13 rating. The battle sequence is chock-full of beheadings and soldiers being impaled by arrows, making it an easy target for an R rating. Perhaps the MPAA was too consumed with trying to decide whether "Solaris" should get an R instead of a PG-13 because of George Clooney's bare butt scene. Talk about being blinded by moonshine.
No matter how you perceive the scenes, it's hardly enough to take away from the fact that "The Two Towers" is one of the best films in theaters this year. It'll be interesting to see what the final "Rings" chapter "The Return of the King" will bring next December. I suspect when all is said and done, "The Lord of the Rings" is going to be one hell of a great nine-hour movie.Copyright 2003 by Lifewhile.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
