This is a review of the extended edition of the film.

The most difficult part of any story, or a series of films that tell one story, is the middle. The beginning sets up the conflict, the end resolves the conflict, but the middle...what does the middle do? Stuff happens, sure...but what? Why? How? When? Where? Who?

Thankfully, Jackson and company dealt with this all-too-common dilemma with the deft ease and perfection as they had when dealing with every other aspect of this story. I have not read the books (though I do own them and will be diving in soon enough), but the word on the street is The Two Towers was the biggest departure from the source material.…

*this review is about the extended version*

My initial response to The Fellowship of the Ring (which can be read here) was one of wonder and amazement. My expectations for the Two Towers were nothing but stellar. And Jackson kept all the promises he made in the first film and then some.

Doing the second part in a trilogy is always the most difficult as it does not have a beginning and an end. In Tolkien's books this always showed as they were not initially meant as a trilogy. The story was written as six separate books, it was the publisher's choice to make it into a trilogy. Peter Jackson understands this very well. His screenplay for the Two Towers…

The middle part of any trilogy is always destined to be the most difficult, bridge as it must the beginning and end of a narrative. Peter Jackson is one of the few filmmakers to manage it with The Two Towers, second in his adaptation of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. This might be my personal favourite of the three, in fact, the narrative growing in complexity and darkness casting over many of the characters. It doesn't quite flow as tightly from a story perspective but it strikes a more powerful chord and builds to a climax that serves, for me, as the trilogy's high point.

As with Fellowship, Jackson starts relatively tight and contained before gradually expanding outward from…

If my lynching wasn't guranteed with my Fellowship review ( letterboxd.com/silentjoe13/film/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-fellowship-of-the-ring/ ) it will after this one.

Opposed to me liking the last one as a kid, I never liked this one. I thought it was really boring. Even in 2002 when I was just a ittle cynical bastard in training I didn't like this. It seems like that dislike has also resonated into the older cynical bastard inside of me.

Most of the stuff I liked in the last film still stand. The visuals are impressive. Great cinematography. Acting is still exceptional (Wood, Tyler, Bloom) and excellent (McKellan, Mortensen, Lee). Sadly the stuff I like is not enough to tolerate how unbearable this is.

A lot of the stuff…

10.0/10

The Two Towers is a perfect sequel. Peter Jackson took the risk of bringing Tolkien's work to the screen in one of the most complex and ambitious film projects made in recent times. The Two Towers was the most difficult to make for two reasons:

a) Being the one in the "middle", it has neither a beginning nor an end, so he had to take all the elements of the story that were already put in the first film and carry the story towards the conclusion in the third film. The fact that all the three movies tell the same story was what made this so hard.

b) The Two Towers is the most "disorganized" volume of the trilogy,…

This was a sensational follow up to "The Fellowship of the Ring."

This too is a film that is a must watch for anyone who thinks of themselves as a movie buff. The effects are great, the sets are great, the story is riveting, the acting is superb and there is never a dull moment.

This particular installment is considered to be the weaker of the three by many but I honestly think it is on the same level of greatness as the rest of the trilogy. This film won Oscars for sound editing and visual effects and was also nominated for best sound editing, best picture, best film editing and best art direction-set decoration. It is incredible that each…