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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
By Dave DePino
By now, the Ministry of Tourism of New Zealand must have knighted their homeboy, director extraordinaire, Peter Jackson, for showing the entire world the lush and breathtaking beauty of the wilds of their country. Even if you haven't seen either installment of his J.R.R. Tolkien movies yet, or don't plan on seeing them at all, it would have been difficult not to have caught at least a glimpse, if not an hour long documentary about the making of the movie "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." In representing the Middle Earth of the fable, NZ looks very much otherworldly in the most gorgeous of nature's ways.
To start with, if you didn't see the first installment of the trilogy, "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings," forget seeing "Two Towers." You must go rent "Fellowship" first! The second, which is a bit difficult to follow even when you're in the heat of the moment of terrific storytelling and movie making, is a continuation of the initial film and Jackson doesn't give you even a hint of a summary to help you out. Many devotees of the first film are renting it just to get up-to-speed before seeing the new entry. Devotees of the printed text are flipping through the 1300 pages like crazy. That is because, like many mythological tales, there are a myriad of very uncommon names, odd titles, and strange groupings of humans and non-humans with a vast variety of alliances and centuries of combustible hatreds. But take heart, all that seeming confusion becomes lessened with the familiarity of faces. Believe me, it is not difficult to remember who are the good guys and who are not. Good and Evil, here, are fairly obvious.
Episode Two: "Two Towers" has separated the members of the Fellowship into three different groups. First we have the film's darlings, hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and his best bud, Sam (Sean Astin). These two are trudging over treacherous mountain ranges as they make their way to the dreaded land of Modor to destroy the ring, which has been put in Frodo's charge. Brief recap: the ring determines the fate of the world and can only be destroyed at Modor where it was forged. The second duo of hobbit fellows, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), have been captured. The remaining fellows, the warriors - the human Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) - are furiously searching for Merry and Pippin.
All aspects of good, and those of goodwill, are vying for the future of Middle Earth against the forces of evil in the guise of the terrible Lord Sauron and his cohort, the nasty wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee). On the side of good is the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), who we saw die in the first episode, but is very much alive, resurrected with a white, glowing, ethereal quality. Gandalf opens the film with a very exciting battle with some kind of a fiery fiend as they plunge, clashing swords, to the center of the Earth--or is that Middle Earth? Anyway they plunge and battle and fall very fast towards an abyss, somewhere. All events from here on, and there are a broad selection of some compelling, electrifying, funny, poignant, hair-raising and sensitive happenings, bring this portion of the trilogy to the most amazingly filmed battle ever seen in a movie with 10,000 of Saruman's non-human soldiers storming the fortress at Helms Deep. It is mind boggling to even imagine how this was accomplished.
The two towers mentioned in the title are Saruman's bastion and the fortress of Sauron. Strangely, neither structure really figures into most of the story as being particularly pivotal to the plot. Also, the all-important ring seems to be almost a sub-plot here. The thrust of the drama, and it does tend more towards genuine drama than fantasy, seems to be really focused on the struggle for the existence of life as these creatures of Middle Earth know it. There is also a profound sense of fraternity and humanity - even among non-humans. The players aren't just posturing in costume, feigning affectations and accents. The performances are straightforward which makes this endeavor classic filmmaking. If there is any justice, Mortenssen must attain bona fide leading man status from the trilogy. He is a legitimate craftsman, a very fine actor, and now, an actor with star quality. With so extraordinary a production, one sometimes overlooks performances in the dazzle of extravaganza. Mortensen is right there nailing the dazzle to the story, as is young Wood, who we watched grow up in the industry. Here, Wood brings a new passion to Frodo that at once intensifies the immediacy of the struggle going on in the story. KcKellen is a crowing jewel to any project. Astin, Rhys-Davies, Monaghan, Boyd, Boom and Lee add solid support. Returning snippets of Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett add much. New faces like Hugo Weaving, Bernard Hill, David Wenham, Karl Urgban and Miranda Otto stir up new excitement. And the introduction, or reintroduction, of the strangest little computer -derived creature, Gollum, with Andy Serkis doing the voice and body language, will keep you wondering.. is he or isn't he?
There is one small minus which somehow jars the adrenalin rush of the super battle scene, and that happens with the cutting back and forth to a slow-paced scene with Merry and Pippin and the living forest. However, this might have been, after all, a good thing, because, like the "Fellowship," "Two Towers" has no actual ending. It slows to the credits like a treadmill set on cool-down mode. It leaves us satisfied, yet wanting for the finale to come next year, "The Return of the King."
Jackson is an amazing director who has delved into a gargantuan task and come up with another big winner. Two down, one to go. The writers, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Jackson, have done right by Tolkien's work, preserving the classic forever in our minds and on film for posterity. Production designer Grant Major has touched on the tingle of Tolkien's words in visual terms as it is captured by cinematographer Andrew Lesnie's lens, enhanced by Jim Rygiel's visual effects, and meticulously chop-shopped by editor Michael Horton. Howard Shore's spirited musical score follows the emotional temperature of the film without ever swelling to intrusiveness. There is also another tune by the heavenly voice of Enya for your pleasure. "Two Towers" is a great movie!
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