The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

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)

After watching the theatrical version a few times, I was convinced that, after the excellent Fellowship, The Lord of the Rings movie saga was doing a head dive before it got a chance to take off properly. It was indisputably a strong experience, but too obviously to be taken at face value without anything hidden “underneath the surface". “Merely" perfect craftsmanship and “just" a good movie which, in this case, is too darn little. It’s void of emotion and some of the changes leave you speechless; not even Michael Bay comes anywhere near this. Add to that unbalanced pace and overall incoherence. But then I saw the Special Edition. It’s incredible how this version, which lasts 45 minutes longer, has far better and more balanced pace and, thanks to added and extended scenes, it gains a completely new dimension. These are two different movies in terms of both tone and quality. (20/11/2003)

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)

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)

[extended] The first one suits those who like distinctive characters and RPGs (by which I don’t mean rocket launchers), three is the nirvana of those who love epics, but two strikes a balance between them, and that's why I currently like it best of the trilogy (otherwise about on par with one, but I've seen that one a bajillion times). While the first is practically a standalone film and the third a megalomaniacal ending, the second is a sort of "intimate" awakening of the nations, where the stories of the individual characters and the whole development of the history of Middle-earth are fantastically intertwined. That's why these factors are constantly given far more consideration than in the previous installment. The Battle of Helm's Deep works far better than the Battle of Pelennor Fields because it's not so much based on Massive Armies as it is on heroic characters, helped by its setting – a ravine with a fortress and a huge wall with nowhere to retreat to at night and in the rain. Compared to the third "sure thing" installment, Jackson is still betting the farm on a bunch of ideas and experiments – try explaining to a special effects studio that you want the Ents to look like animatronic puppets, for example. Speaking of walking trees, the scene of the last march of the Ents is one of the highlights of the entire film trilogy, and it all just elaborates on Tolkien's line "...and so the Ents went out on their last march." What’s more, The Two Towers handles the two strongest stories of the trilogy for me, the one about Éowyn and the one about Merry and Pippin. The Scandinavian feel of the realm of the Rohirrim is just icing on the cake. (06/08/2012)