Unless you're a Lord of the Rings super fan, you'd better brush up on Fellowship of the Ring before seeing this sequel, because director Peter Jackson jumps right in to the middle of the story without introductions or explanations. He assumes you remember where hero Hobbits Frodo and Sam (Elijah Wood and Sean Astin) are in their quest to cast the dangerously omnipotent Ring into the volcanic fires of Mount Doom, and that warriors Aragorn and Legolas (Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom) are trying to rescue Orc-abducted Hobbits Merry and Pippin. If you don't remember these basic plot strands, you don't stand a chance of keeping up with the trilogy's second three-hour installment. Like its predecessor, The Two Towers is a spectacular epic, replete with dangerous adventure, concealed duplicity, battles of incredible scale and scope, and groundbreaking effects. In fact, the film's most captivating presence is a seamlessly integrated, 99%-lifelike CGI creature named Gollum (voiced and movement-captured by actor Andy Serkis), a haggard, hollow-eyed, feral demon-imp who acts as Frodo's guide while secretly coveting the Ring. Highly recommended. [Note: Available in both widescreen and full screen versions, DVD extras include a 43-minute “Return to Middle Earth” behind-the-scenes WB special, a 14-minute Starz Encore “On the Set” making-of featurette, “The Long and Short of It” short film by costar Sean Astin with a making-of featurette on the short (longer than the short itself!), eight production featurettes from lordoftherings.net (on sound effects, costumes, props, locations, battles, specific characters, and more--about 3 to 5 min. each), the music video “Gollum's Song” by Emiliana Torrini, a five-minute preview of the special extended DVD edition of the film, a 12-minute behind-the-scenes preview of the trilogy's final film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, a three-minute preview of EA Games' The Return of the King video game, TV spots, trailers, and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a fine extras package for one of 2002's best, though many will wait for the 4-disc extended edition arriving November 18.] (R. Blackwelder)[The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers--Platinum Series Special Extended Edition--Nov. 18, 2003--New Line, 4 discs, 223 min., PG-13, $39.99--The biggest extra on the “extended version” of LOTR: The Two Towers is the additional 43 minutes (seamlessly integrated, as was it in the first installment), featuring more Gollum and extra battle scenes. Other extras on this four-disc box set include four audio commentaries by “The Director and Writers,” “The Design Team,” “The Production/Post Production Team,” and “The Cast” (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Sean Bean, Bernard Hill, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, John Noble, Craig Parker, and Andy Serkis) on the first two “movie” discs. The third and fourth discs include the “appendices”--blessedly accompanied by helpful indexes--with brief intros by director Peter Jackson and costar Elijah Wood, including the documentaries “J.R.R. Tolkien: Origins of Middle-earth” (29 min.), “Designing Middle-earth” (46 min.), “From Book to Script: Finding the Story” (21 min.), “Weta Workshop” (44 min.), “The Taming of Smeagol” (40 min.), “Warriors of the Third Age” (21 min.), “Cameras in Middle-earth” (68 min.), “Big-atures” (22 min.), “Weta Digital” (27 min.), “Editorial: Refining the Story” (22 min.), “Music for Middle-earth” (25 min.), and “The Soundscapes of Middle-earth” (21 min.); the featurettes “The Battle for Helm's Deep is Over…” (9 min.), “Gollum's Stand-In” (3 min.), and “Andy Serkis Animation Reference” (2 min. sequence); seven location segments for “New Zealand as Middle-earth” (14 min.); a “Middle-earth Atlas” tracing the journeys of four alternate paths of the Fellowship; “The Flooding of Isengard” animatic sequence with original and split-screen comparisons; a brief sound demonstrator for “Helm's Deep”; design galleries for “The Peoples of Middle-earth” (a 22 minute slideshow with selected commentary); a 13-segment gallery of “The Realms of Middle-earth” (categorized both alphabetically and in story order); and galleries--with selected commentary--of production photos, two abandoned concepts, and seven “miniature galleries.” Bottom line: handsomely packaged with a book-like slipcase and chockfull of extras, this one's a no-brainer--even if you already own the theatrical version.]
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
New Line, 179 min., PG-13, VHS: $22.95, 2 videocassettes; DVD: $29.95, 2 discs, Aug. 26 Volume 18, Issue 4
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: