1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

#1021- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
Directed by: Peter Jackson


Plot Summary: The quest for the Ring continues as Frodo and Sam find themselves on the road to Mordor, accompanied by a new guide, Gollum, a previous owner of the Ring who is looking to get it back. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are hunting a group of Uruk-hai, who captured their companions, Merry and Pippin. On their journey, Aragorn and company travel to Edoras, where they must defend Rohan in their war against Saruman's forces, culminating with an epic battle at Helm's Deep.


When making a trilogy, one of the most difficult parts is making the second film, especially if your trilogy follows an ongoing storyline. With your first film, you are able to introduce the story and characters that you'll see for the remainder of the series, and with the final film, you are able to bring everything to a close. But when it comes to a second film, you have to find a way to bridge a gap between the beginning and ending of a film series, while still making your film stand on its own in the series. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is considered a great film, but is also regarded as the least favorite film in the trilogy. But I would argue that the film still has a lot of moments that help it measure up and considered to be just as good as the other two films.

While he was briefly seen in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gollum, played by Andy Serkis, is left in the shadows and you can only hear him speak. In The Two Towers, Gollum is not only shown on screen, but is a fully developed character. The filmmakers incorporated many different techniques to create Gollum, which come together to form a character that I at times forgot was computer generated, which would logically make him the greatest computer generated character of all time. There are scenes where Serkis has to portray two different versions of the character, Gollum, the alter ego that was created through the Ring's power, and Sméagol, the hobbit that he used to be before finding the Ring. Through his emotions and motivations, Gollum is a character that, whether you despised him or pitied him, you had an opinion about him, acknowledging that he is the character that steals the show.

The title of The Two Towers is widely debated among Tolkien enthusiasts, but in the context of the film, it stands for the union of the two main villains, Sauron and Saruman. Saruman, played by Christopher Lee, serves as the main antagonist for The Two Towers. Lee, a major Tolkien enthusiast, plays the role with a full knowledge of what he needs to do in order to give the character justice on-screen. Saruman is an interesting character because he is wizard, like Gandalf, who turned to the dark power and is a servant to Sauron. He serves as a character that is both similar and different from Gandalf, and foreshadows what Gandalf would be like if he were to fall to the Ring's power. Saruman's power is at full force in the film as he plans to take over Rohan with an army of Uruk-hai soldiers. Saruman also has a spy, Grima Wormtongue, played by Brad Dourif, who tries to corrupt Rohan from the inside. Saruman's forces help supply the film with a presence of great evil, that Saruman is pulling the strings on all the evil that is surrounding our heroes in the film.

One of the main factors the filmmakers thought would lure women to see the film is a love triangle that originates in The Two Towers. The Fellowship of the Ring establishes the relationship between the Elven Princess Arwen, played by Liv Tyler, and Aragorn, played by Viggo Mortensen, with the major conflict being that Arwen is an immortal elf and Aragorn is a mortal man. When Aragorn travels to Edoras, he meets the king's niece, Éwoyn, played by Miranda Otto, who takes a liking to Aragorn. When looking at both romances, it's up to the audience to decide which one they side with. Personally, I felt that the relationship between Aragorn and Éwoyn was more developed. The audience is able to see their relationship progress naturally in The Two Towers, whereas Aragorn's relationship with Arwen is more implied and already established with context when you are introduced to them in The Fellowship of the Ring. 

The members of the Fellowship have more time in The Two Towers to get proper development and character growth, two in particular being Legolas, played by Orlando Bloom, and Gimli, played by John Rhys-Davies. Legolas and Gimli offer a dynamic in multiple ways. The first is that they are representation of the different races in Middle-earth, Legolas being an elf and Gimli being a dwarf, as well as a theme of racism in Middle-earth, with Elves and Dwarves not getting along and Legolas and Gimli's growing friendship breaking that tradition. They also offer a dynamic in their trio, also consisting of Aragorn, with Legolas doing a lot more of the stunt action, and Gimli providing more comic relief. While the two don't get the deepest of character development in the film, The Two Towers does give Legolas and Gimli more screen time for the audience to know these characters and be invested in what happens to them.

A big highlight of The Two Towers is ending the movie with one of the greatest film battles of all time, The Battle of Helm's Deep. The film does a great job of building up anticipation for the battle as it is stressed that 10,000 Uruk-hai soldiers are making their way to battle Rohan, who do not have nearly enough forces to combat evenly with Saruman's forces. Aside from the amazing fighting choreography, the battle has an incredible mood that is set through lighting. The battle takes place during a nightly rainstorm, giving the battle a bluish tone in lighting and having the rain set a mood of despair. There are numerous stages of the battle and is able to flow at a reasonable pace, while also being able to take over most of the screen time in the final hour of the film. The battle scene is executed to the point where it has plenty of action, does not drag, and serves as a suspenseful climax for the second installment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.


Rating:  5 out of 5 stars.

Many have looked at The Two Towers as the weakest entry in the series, but I think it's still a great film that serves as character and plot development, while also having moments like Gollum and the Battle of Helm's Deep to help the film stand out. An easy recommendation for seeing and owning the bridging film of the trilogy.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and movie images are copyrighted by New Line Cinema