The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Flashier, more explosive, and slightly faster than The Fellowship of the Ring, but not really better overall. The Two Towers has a lot of unforgettable moments, Peter Jackson is uncompromising in the action scenes and there is an abundance of severed limbs. But it's amazing how masterfully he composes the intimate scenes, too, especially the elven ones. Howard Shore’s Unique music also plays its part, it’s properly action-packed and beautifully resonant, exactly how the score for a massive film like The Two Towers should be like. But Fellowship has its unmistakable charm, besides begin the first, something new that is hard to resist. In addition, occasionally, the continuation of the monstrous trilogy is a bit too pompous (especially scenes with Bernard Hill), but without a doubt, it is one of the films of the year. (11/08/2006)

The Two Towers is such an emotional and visual barrage that the brain is not able to absorb everything it sees at first, and when it was over I couldn't remember what I saw at the beginning. This is not a film to watch once, you absorb it only after a second or third viewing. Die-hard fans of the book will probably squeal in disgust at how Jackson dared to change the plot and character of Faramir. I don’t care, on the contrary, I think those changes benefited the film. I even loved the much-criticised scene with Arwen, in fact, I think it’s one of the best in the film. A film is a film and a book is a book, they are two different worlds. I'm interested in the film and it's well made, it's spectacular and awesome. (16/01/2003)

The most contentious part of the trilogy... The fact that the film is really very good in all aspects only stands out fully in the extended version, in which the otherwise rather broken story of Merry, Pippin and Treebeard is finally concluded; the story of Faramir (eventually one of the best changes) unfolds and the whole film gets some energy. Not energy in the sense of "dynamic forward run", but energy in the sense of "yes, it moves slowly, but I would like it to move even slower, because it is extremely beautiful". I am incredibly irritated by Aragorn's incomprehensible fall into the abyss. Why? But a speck this small can't devalue the impression of a great spectacle. King Theoden's monologue before the Battle of Helm's Deep is another of the moments that will remain in my memory forever, as is the return of the Rohirim to the king... (25/01/2004)

The Two Towers is faster-paced, more action-packed and more spectacular than The Fellowship of the Ring. The film’s three hours flowed by like water. Not to mention the fact that The Two Towers is bursting at the seams with gems like the duel with Balrog in the first film. But I still liked The Fellowship of the Ring better. It was more drawn out and slower, but fuller and more consistent in terms of its content. The Two Towers is concise and serves up all that breathtaking action and spectacle in the form of a concertina book of beautiful but narratively less cohesive visual gems. Even if this drawback could be forgiven, because the film is “only” a bridge between two monuments, I still have another criticism – the humor, which detracts from the dignity and drama of the film (Golum cooking fish, Gimli on the ramparts). Visually, however, The Two Towers is a real gem with by far the most sophisticated and “best acted” digital character (Golum) to ever appear on a movie screen. (20/12/2002)

I don't know why, but the second part will probably be the best of the whole trilogy for me. It's not because of the story. All the parts are great in this respect. It's rather because of the gloomy atmosphere of the whole movie. Unlike the calm storytelling style of the first part, things are set in motion, the movie has a swifter pace and more action certainly doesn't hurt. The great Peter Jackson has everything worked out down to the last detail. Especially the epic final battle shows his brilliant directing skills. Compared to the first installment, the visual effects have also improved, Gollum in particular is excellent. Although I consider this part the best, I'm not saying that the other parts are inferior. The whole trilogy deserves 5 stars. (25/07/2012)