After the major success of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'- and proving everyone that 'Lord of the Rings' could be done in live action- MGM naturally moved onto the sequel 'The Two Towers'. The cast of course were more than happy to return to their respective roles.
And so, the second part of the 'Lord of the Rings' saga was made. As it turned out, it was even better than 'The Fellowship of the Ring'. Including the excellent Battle for Helm's Deep. More on that amazing scene later.
The story starts off with Gandalf's (Ian McKellen) iconic "You shall not pass!" line with his battle against the Balrog from the previous film. It doesn't carry on to what went on afterwards with Frodo (Elijah Wood) and his friends fleeing the monster. Instead, we then see Gandalf bravely fighting the monster. It is during this fight that Frodo suddenly wakes up; he had been sensing Gandalf's fight with the monster in his sleep.
Some time has clearly passed since the first film. Frodo and Sam (Sean Astin) are walking through the rocky terrain of Emyn Muil and are now clearly lost. Meanwhile, Gollum (Andy Serkis) has been stalking them, obsessed with trying to find The Ring which Frodo has with him in order to destroy it.
When Frodo and Sam finally apprehend Gollum, Gollum is screaming uncontrollably because of the rope that is holding him is "burning him". "Everyone from here to Mordor is going to hear this racket!" Sam complains angrily to Frodo. Frodo takes pity on Gollum and tells Sam to remove the rope. Trying to reason with Gollum, Frodo manages to persuade Gollum to take him to Mordor.
Gollum nods reluctantly to Frodo's request whilst Sam looks on with distrust towards Gollum.
Like its predecessor 'The Two Towers' was met with huge success. Mostly due to the outstanding visual and special effects and amazing battle scenes. Including the excellent hour long Helm's Deep battle midway through the film.
Howard Shore also returns to do the score for the film and was also met with a lot of praise.
Despite competition with ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ (released around the same time), it was easy to see which film would come up on top during that week.
Over all, the film is a stunning visual masterpiece of cinema and like ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ before it the Extended Cut is also worth the watch. Take notes Amazon; this is how you do ‘Lord of the Rings’!
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