THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
© 2002 New Line Cinema

Mania Grade: A
Reviewed Format: Wide Theatrical Release
Rated: PG
Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Brad Dourif
Writers: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, Peter Jackson, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
Director: Peter Jackson
Distributor: New Line

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THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS

You know those gushing reviews treating Peter Jackson's three-part adaptation of THE LORD OF THE RINGS like it's the greatest thing to come along since the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's revered trilogy in the '50s? Those "We're not worthy" love letters that consider RINGS not only one of the best fantasy film efforts ever, but a new highpoint in genre moviemaking that will stand alongside such classics as THE WIZARD OF OZ and STAR WARS in cinematic history?

This is one of those.

While Jackson's second installment, THE TWO TOWERS, only takes us two-thirds of the way through Tolkien's epic saga, it's already clear the screen trilogy is something new in the world of men, elves and dwarves. Only a handful of times in recent decades (THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, BLADE RUNNER) have ground-breaking effects and design combined with powerful dramatic storytelling to the extent that fantastic works have been able to transcend mere escapism to be considered great films, full stop. The success rate in translating so-called "high fantasy" (wizards, magic swords, etc.) to the screen has been particularly bad aside from EXCALIBUR, are there even any serious candidates?

All that ended with the triumphant arrival of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING a year ago. More than just every old D&D player's fondest wish come true, the kickoff of Jackson's version of the trilogy raised the bar on this type of screen storytelling to an almost unhoped-for new high, instantly making virtually every film ever made in its particular subgenre seem like kid's stuff. Rooted in half a century of literary and visual interpretation of Tolkien's masterpiece, itself the product of a lifetime of creative thought, Jackson's vision of RINGS is so much richer and more detailed that anything that came before that it's probably fated to always remain in a class of its own, as the books have.

For the non-Tolkien scholars out there, TWO TOWERS' title refers to a pair of stone monoliths whose union might just spell the doom of the free peoples of Middle-earth Isengard, headquarters of the fallen white wizard Saruman (genre icon Christopher Lee in his career-capping dream role), and Barad-dûr, power base for the world-conquering dark lord Sauron. Hardly pausing to tip its helm to viewers whose Ring lore might be a bit shaky, TWO TOWERS jumps back into the story at full speed as events pull the members of the broken Fellowship of the Ring in three separate directions, none of which take them anywhere near a bottle of shampoo. Human ranger/prince Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) find themselves hoofing it into Rohan, where King Théoden (TITANIC's Bernard Hill) has fallen under the evil influence of conniving advisor Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif, the voice of CHILD'S PLAY's Chucky). Meanwhile, hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) desperately try to escape the clutches of the orcs that captured them at the end of FELLOWSHIP. Finally, Ring-bearing hobbit Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and his faithful servant Samwise (Sean Astin) search for a way into the dark land of Mordor as part of Frodo's seemingly hopeless quest to destroy Sauron's One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom.

Not surprisingly,

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS

© 2002 New Line Cinema

Of the many changes made in adapting the story, the most notable is a flashback sequence filling in more of the romance between Aragorn and Liv Tyler's elf princess Arwen. Jackson's decision to play up this element little more than a footnote in Tolkien's version pays off again in the second film with a moving dramatization of Arwen's decision whether to join the rest of her kin in leaving Middle-earth or to remain with Aragorn, forsaking her elvish immortality. Aside from injecting some much-needed female energy into Tolkien's very male-centric saga, adding Arwen into TWO TOWERS also puts the budding attraction between Aragorn and Théoden's strong-willed niece, Éowyn (Miranda Otto from WHAT LIES BENEATH), in a more interesting light. Faced with the choice between an elf Princess Right he may never see again and a human Princess Right Now making eyes at him in Rohan, what's a poor ranger to do? As for the big Aragorn/Arwen love scene, Jackson and his co-writers cleverly dodge the corny-dialogue factor altogether by playing the mushy stuff in Elvish. (Are you taking notes, Mr. Lucas?) Cate Blanchett's Galadriel and Hugo Weaving's Elrond likewise receive brief "Hey, remember us?" cameos to bridge their roles in FELLOWSHIP and the final installment, RETURN OF THE KING.

Like the first film, TWO TOWERS astounds with its ingenious mix of old-fashioned camera tricks (including forced-perspective shots and the frequent use of diminutive doubles for the smaller characters) and cutting-edge computer-generated effects. The film's all-CGI version of degenerate Ring addict Gollum is generally convincing, especially in close-ups. If the trickier animation of his full-body movements doesn't always look dead real, Andy Serkis' terrific voice and motion-capture performance goes a long way toward making the character come alive. Serkis' Gollum also adds some unexpectedly funny touches to the alternately frightening and pathetic split nature of the character, providing some relief from the otherwise relentlessly dreary tone of Frodo and Sam's section of the story. In the end, it's this memorable characterization, not the latest computer wizardry, that really separates Gollum from the Jar Jar Binkses that have given such a bad name to CGI characters in recent live-action films.

The filmmakers'

King Theoden (Bernard Hill) walks among his troops with Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS

© 2002 Pierre Vinet/New Line Productions

As remarkable as the film's effects and design work is, however, it's on the dramatic level that THE LORD OF THE RINGS distinguishes itself so completely from its (let's face it, mostly mediocre) predecessors in the genre. For once, fantasy fans can relish a film series that plumbs Shakespearean depths of character and theme, wonderfully portrayed by actors that, for the most part, bring little of the movie-star baggage that can so easily throw a viewer out of an imaginary world (the major exception is token marquee name Tyler, cast more effectively as an elf here than she's ever been as a human elsewhere). Ian McKellen's pitch-perfect work as Gandalf seems destined to establish him as the movie wizard of the present Age, while Wood succeeds in taking Frodo into darker character territory as the Ring continues to exert its terrible influence on him. The other extraordinarily well-cast principals continue to deliver in the second film, with Bloom's Legolas and Rhys-Davies' Gimli in particular coming into their own.

As with the individual volumes of Tolkien's "trilogy" conceived of by the author as a single work and only split into three parts as a practical measure by its publisher consideration of TWO TOWERS as a freestanding film can only go so far. THE LORD OF THE RINGS is ultimately a single, nine-hour epic, the all-important last act of which Jackson hasn't even completed, so it does seem a bit premature to assign its permanent place in cinema history at this point. But only a bit premature, since the storytelling momentum at the end of TWO TOWERS shows little sign of petering out, and readers of the books know Tolkien's final installment, THE RETURN OF THE KING, offers little room for a RETURN OF THE JEDI-style disappointing limp to the finish line. This is THE LORD OF THE RINGS we're talking about, after all.

Now, if there were only some way to get the next 12 months to go by more quickly...