- The closer Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) are to Mordor, the worse things seem to get. They're lost in a mountainous maze, the skies are dark, the ring weighs heavily, and, worst of all, they have Gollum to contend with. The creature Gollum (modeled on Andy Serkis) is a slinking, emaciated being obsessed with reclaiming his "precious" lost ring. He was once a hobbit named Smeagol, but the terrible power of the ring drove him mad long ago. He's obviously untrustworthy, but he also happens to be the hobbits' best chance of ever getting into Mordor. One can imagine that he would not be so helpful if he knew the true nature of their quest, but then I suppose Gollum is of two minds on most issues. As if going to Mordor weren't bad enough, their paths eventually intersect a patrol led by Faramir (David Wenham) of Gondor, who struggles with the same temptations that plagued his late brother, Boromir.
- Meanwhile, the other remaining members of the fellowship are hot on the trail of the band of orcs who kidnapped Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). Their pursuit leads them to the land of Rohan, where the evil influence of Saruman (Christopher Lee) runs deep. There, two interesting and unexpected meetings take place. First, the newly-escaped Merry and Pippin encounter Treebeard (voiced by too-recognizable John Rhys-Davies), the leader of the arboreous Ents. It takes some effort to convince Treebeard that hobbits are not orcs, but that is nothing compared to the challenge of prodding a small army of unhurried Ents to attack Saruman's fortress. The second strange meeting is with the newly-resurrected Gandalf (Ian McKellen). It takes more than a fire-breathing balrog to destroy this wizard, and Gandalf the White has returned to Middle Earth at its time of greatest need. After leaving the hobbits in Treebeard's care, the wizard reunites with Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) and leads them to Edoras, the tattered capital of Rohan.
- In Edoras, the decrepit King Theoden (Bernard Hill) sits on his throne, waiting to die. His sole advisor, Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), has succeeded in reducing this once-great king to a withered pawn of Saruman's who no longer recognizes the nobility of his nephew, the exiled horseman Eomer (Karl Urban), and niece, the shieldmaiden Eowyn (Miranda Otto). Although Gandalf magically helps Theoden make an absurdly overdramatic recovery, Saruman's army is already on the march. While Gandalf rides to enlist Eomer's aid, the king evacuates his subjects to the fortress of Helm's Deep, where they hope to weather the approaching storm of destruction. The ensuing battle, greatly augmented from that described in the novel, is an impressive visual spectacle, although it is also characteristically less visceral than the battles of the first film. I suppose showing the deaths of 10,000 individual orcs would cease to be interesting after the first hundred or so. At any rate, the battle's final climax is appropriately majestic, even if the audience does seem a bit far removed from the action.
- The Two Towers is not as uniformly compelling as the first film in the trilogy, but it still manages to achieve excellence in some respects. The chief success of the film is of course Gollum, who is certainly the first interesting CGI character ever created. The creative team behind Gollum so successfully hurdled the uncanny valley that I found it very natural to forget his digital pedigree. The Ents, too, were very impressive, especially considering the inherent silliness of a bunch of talking trees. Less amazing were some of the writers' deviations from Tolkien's original story. Aragorn's unexpected trip downriver, for example, served no obvious purpose beyond reminding everyone that Liv Tyler was paid for three films. Likewise, it seemed that Faramir and Frodo were, at times, motivated only by the desire to generate conflict that could later be resolved. I appreciate the difficulty in creating three self-contained films from a serialized story, but drama should never be introduced at the expense of believability. Still, the film continues the epic tale with enough momentum that I can't complain too much.
- This film ends at a very different place in the story than the book did.
