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All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
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 out of 4
Review by Susan Granger
4 stars out of 4
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You must see "The Fellowship of the Ring" before "The Two Towers,"
because director Peter Jackson begins this J.R.R. Tolkien action-adventure
second-act with the wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) and his brutal Uruk-hai
warriors in the snowy mountains of Middle Earth and Gandalf (Ian McKellen) in a
fiery battle with the Balrog. No prologue, no explanation of how the tiny hobbit
Frodo Baggins (still-cherubic Elijah Wood) acquired the tempting, all-powerful
One Ring and became reluctantly embroiled in a cataclysmic, courage-and-carnage
fight between good and evil. It's a major adrenaline rush. Then the quest plot
kicks in as Frodo and his faithful friend Sam (Sean Astin) trudge toward the
fires of Mount Doom, led by the enigmatic Gollum. Not only is the Gollum (voiced
by Andy Serkis) the most ambitious, amazing CGI creation but his split
personality is a revelation. And there are so many phantasmagorial creatures
like the walking, talking Treebeard, an ancient Ent of Fangorn Forest -
elephantine Oliphaunts, who bear war-towers into battle - and the terrifying
Wargs, which blend the ferocity of bear, wolf and hyena. Between violent battles
and creepy encounters, Gimli the Dwarf (John Rhys-Davies) provides comic relief,
plus there's the tepid love triangle of the human Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the
immortal elf Arwen (Liv Tyler) and lovely Eowyn (Miranda Otto), the Viking-like
Rohan whose kingdom is besieged. Bravo to previous Oscar winners: special
effects designer Richard Taylor, cinematographer Andrew Lesnie and composer
Howard Shore. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Two Towers" is a
visually awesome, triumphant 10. Recalling the first "Star Wars" trilogy, "The
Two Towers" is like "The Empire Strikes Back," a thrilling, epic war movie.
Copyright © 2002 Susan Granger
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