The opening scene of The Two Towers provides an outstanding, yet very brief, taste of action, cinematography, and special effects, only to be matched (and far surpassed) in the final hour of the film. The Two Towers picks up right where Fellowship left off and it only improves on the great movie that the first one was. With the following two films it shows how great of an idea it was to film the films all together. Everything flowed amazingly together, because of that you don't truly feel that this is three separate films but one long movie.
The most amazing part though about this movie is how it flows so strongly together with the fact that your main characters are divided into four separate stories. For me this is amazing because a lot of times with story lines split others end up being stronger while others turn weak and do not get the proper attention to keep them moving. Viggo Mortensen really shines in this expanded role, the character of Aragorn really has a lot of the qualities that the audience can root for. Mortensen really commands the role with a quiet confidence that shows he is in control and as the viewing audience you know he will be the hero that everyone wants him to become. Also on the opposite side of the spectrum Gollum also becomes a true character and is not just the character that is hinted about in the first movie. The performance for Gollum to be perfect relies on not only the great computer animation and the seamless integration, but Andy Serkis whose movements the animation relies on is spot on for how Gollum needed to be portrayed. Here he is more of a leading character and a 'star,' and his convincing dual-personality, stabbing voice, and well-choreographed body movements make him consistently eye-grabbing and the center of focus of nearly every scene in which he appears.
Once again the cinematography is breathtaking and masterful. The swooshing camera movements that follow the armies and horsemen throughout the fields are extremely satisfying in this post-Matrix era. The shots of the ascending enemy-laden ladders in the battle of Helm's Deep are terrifying and chillingly gorgeous all at once. The visual effects take an appropriate leap forward from those of the first film. While the visual effects in Fellowship were outstanding, the battle of Helm's Deep provides for the best application of CGI since the rippling waves of The Matrix's 'Bullet Time.' The battle of Helm's Deep features absolutely awe-inspiring and seamless integration of acting, stunts, and computer animation. Each orc seems to have its own personality, demonstrated in its movements and visual features. The masses of armies fight with strategy and true character, which I imagine is much harder to accomplish than animating thousands of identical clone troopers. I was truly grateful that I was able to see this movie in the theater and feel the complete movie going experience with this film.
To me the greatest feeling throughout this entire movie is that of hope. All the characters no matter how the darkness is coming up throughout all of Middle Earth, believe in the quest to destroy the ring and that although they are all doing separate parts to help the quest succeed. Peter Jackson's directing helps show this hope in a way that that under any other director the vision of this masterpiece of a book would fall short. While this movie was more action intensive compared to the first movie, it does not get drawn only into the action but still gives us great intensive dialogue scenes that help us delve deeper into each character and give us the depth of character that are lacking in most films today.
The Two Towers did not let anyone down in comparison to the first film. For me they took what was a solid and great movie with the first and not only exceeded expectations but took film making to another level. For the great increased powerful performance and amazing cinematography. Because of all this I am giving this film four and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. Just like the first film this is a must have for any DVD collection.
-The Movie Man-
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