Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Scott Manning December 23, 2002

Director: Peter Jackson
Release Date: December 18th, 2002
Rating: PG-13 (for epic battle sequences and scary images)
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If you thought Fellowship of the Ring was an epic movie, you haven't seen anything yet.

The Two Towers picks up right where Fellowship' left off (And thank God, because the biggest complaint with the first installment of The Rings series was that it didn't have a conclusion). Frodo and Sam are still journeying to Mordor to destroy "The Ring" while Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas are chasing a group of Uruk-hai (Pronounced ear-ick-high) who have captured Merry and Pippin.

But that's only the beginning. Saruman has constructed a massive force of 10,000-plus Uruk-hai to destroy every last man in Middle Earth and, meanwhile, there is always the threat that Sauron will obtain "The Ring" and take over the world. Sound intense? It is as the viewer is sitting on the edge of their seat for the entire three hours.

Coming from the perspective of never reading the books, this movie was no doubt better than its predecessor. Fellowship' had built a world of hobbits, elves, dwarfs, wizards, and Orcs. The Two Towers continues this world and adds men to the picture, which some consider to be the last hope for Middle Earth.

The costumes, effects, acting, scenery, and photography were all just as impressive as Fellowship', but Peter Jackson did not stop there. There is an entirely new soundtrack for this movie which is worth buying and twice as many new characters introduced. Although some of the names are hard to remember (let alone pronounce), the faces and personalities are not lost with any of these well-developed characters.

Jackson continues to prove he is a genius as he makes a battle scene with over 10,000 computer-generated soldiers look real in the movie's climactic battle. He also took the concept of Ents, walking and talking ancient trees, and made it work. Upon first thought of the Ents, I pictured something out of the Wizard of Oz. Jackson destroyed that notion as he took these fantasy creatures conceived from a book and made them into believable characters who are just as threatening as they are old.

The greatest actor is not human
The most intriguing part of the whole movie is the computer-generated character Sm'agol. This ancient creature's voice is done by Andy Serkis. Andy's voice coupled with the realistic, computer effects are enough to make the viewer believe that someone needs an "actor of the year" award. But do you give it to Andy or the effects team or both?

Sm'agol has been tormented physically and spiritually for over 600 years transforming him into a schizophrenic psycho constantly talking to himself and scared of everything around him. The most memorable scene of the movie is Sm'agol arguing with himself as he decides whether or not to kill his master. The argument brought forth laughter and chills to the audience as we could all feel the conflict raging inside him. Among all of the new advancements in film made by The Rings series, Sm'agol is thus far the most impressive. Never before has a computer-generated character been mixed so perfectly with real-life humans.

The Star Wars of today
The Rings series is the Star Wars of today. You may be thinking that Star Wars is the Star Wars of today, but this is not the case. Having been to the midnight openings of both Episode II and The Two Towers this year, attendance and freaky people in costumes were in more abundance at Two Towers. The Rings' cult followings were started long before the movies came out and will keep going for years to come for virtually every character found in this series.

Whether J. R. R. Tolkien envisioned his books gaining this much acclaim, I don't know, but this phenomenon is beyond anyone as the The Lord of the Rings will live on much longer after we're all dead.

Getting a 5 out of 5 rating from me is virtually impossible. I usually want to wait a few years to see how influencial the movie ended up being compared to how good it actually was. Not only is this movie amazing, but it is clear that it will influence generations to come.

See this movie. See it twice. It is the epic movie you've been waiting for.

Related Links:
Lord of the Rings Official Site
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