By Tanya Batson, Staff ReporterTHE LORD of the Rings: The Two Towers is absolutely fabulous. Actually this statement bears repeating ad infinitum, but due to space limitations it will be said only once more. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers IS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! Okay, okay maybe once more: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is absolutely fabulous!
To be frank, The Two Towers is the reason movie-making technology was invented. It is the ultimate celluloid wet dream. The movie combines wonderful special effects, good acting, interesting (though not particularly deep) characters, wonderful cinematography and heart-pounding action. To ask for much more from The Two Towers is to be very, very, very greedy.
Granted, there are those who could easily argue that the movie does not continue in the spirit of Tolkien, the author of the three-part epic. The film's director Peter Jackson and screenwriter Frances Walsh evidently decided to divorce themselves from what could be described the more gentle nature (and exhausting tedium) of the novels. However, The Lord of the Rings novels are a great read. Even if you want Tolkien to simply get to the point, you find that you cannot stop reading, because the story which is being unravelled simply captures your imagination.
The two Lord of the Rings movies that have so far been released (and we can assume the same of the third) seem to capture that imaginative power and take it to the next level. Although the movies have watered down the epic appeal of the books, what is left is a wonderful action adventure.
Unlike the novels, the importance of the hobbits is reduced in the movie versions of the story, no longer making it a triumph of the small over the great. In the first movie, they were pretty much to blame for most of what went wrong (contrary to the novel) and in this version, with the exception of Sam, they do nothing really. The Two Towers is a more standard fare of the battle of good against evil. In place of the hobbits rise the larger heroes. At the forefront of this group are Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the ultimate swashbuckling hero, and Legolas (Orlando Bloom). Legolas' lethal use of a bow and arrow is particularly thrilling to watch for those who like to get their fill of violence and mayhem. He is cold, deadly and exacting in his delivery of death.
Where the movie stays true to Tolkein, however, is in several of the characters and the marvelous scenery which is displayed. Of course, the detail in which Tolkein described Middle Earth has made the recreation job easier for the movie makers. Additionally, the breathtaking views of New Zealand which populate this film will probably make their tourist arrivals go way up.
However, scenery aside, the character which runs off with the cake (inclusive of all crumbs) is Gollum (voiced by Andy Serkis). Gollum is the CGI dream realised. He is unbelievably engaging, showing a wonderful choreography of voice and action.
Gollum possessed the One Ring before it passed to the hobbits. He is a very dark figure who suffers from a split personality and is one of the scarier and funnier characters in the film. One simply moves between marvelling at the marriage of technology and art being gripped by Gollum's very disturbing personality.
Another great tribute to the power of CGI is Treebeard. Treebeard is an Ent (a treeherder). Looking very similar to his flock, he seems like a walking, grumbling tree who admires the virtues of being slow far too much. Due to the special effects used, however, he is not in the least a painful addition to the cast.
On the slight possibility that there are some who do not know this (and woe be unto them for their ignorance), The Two Towers is the second part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
At the end of the first part of the story, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the fellowship had been broken. Gandalf (Ian McKellen) had fallen into what could only be presumed to be one of the nether regions of hell. Boromir was killed (in a very spectacular battle with the Uruk-Hai). Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and his faithful servant Samwise Gamgee (Sean Austin) had run off on their own, while Pippin (Billy Boyd) and Merry (Dominic Monaghan) are kidnapped by the Orcs and the Uruk-Hai.
In the Two Towers the surviving members of the fellowship continue the quest; this time however, they are split into three groups. As such, rather than following a single story, our attentions are divided among the exploits of Frodo and Sam; Merry and Pippin; and Legolas, Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and Aragorn.
The only way in which the movie could have been improved was in the character development. With the exception of Gollum and Aragorn, no real attention was paid to giving greater detail about the characters, especially the hobbits. Fortunately, the action is usually so intense or the scenery so distracting that this probably will not come across as a flaw until one has seen the movie four times or so.
Note, however, that The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is not a sequel. It is simply a three-hour long middle. None of the stories are complete in and of themselves. Until one gets to the third part, The Return of the King, the story does not end. Personally, I believe it's worth the wait.
