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Lord
Of The Rings - The Two Towers
12PG
Plot Summary
Two Hobbits, (4 foot, pointy-eared
creatures with large furry feet), Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee have
left their friends and protectors to continue their dangerous journey to
Morodor where they are going to destroy a powerful and evil gold ring that
threatens to destroy mankind. Frodo
(Elijah Wood) has been entrusted with this enormous responsibility and
with the help of his friend Samwise (Sean Astin) he sets off into the
dangerous land.
His
friends and hitherto travel companions Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the elf
Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) go in
search of two other Hobbits that have been kidnapped by vicious Orcs.
Their search leads them to the Riders of Rohan whose lands have
been under attack by marauding gangs of Orcs…
Review
The epic novel, The Lord of The
Rings by JRR Tolkien is made up of three books, The Fellowship Of The
Ring, The Two Towers and The Return Of The King.
This is the second movie in the trilogy.
The first movie, The
Fellowship Of The Ring, has already been hugely popular and now this
movie starts off where the first finished.
The movies were made back-to-back and therefore this second movie
isn’t a sequel but a continuation of the story.
The continuity of the movies is evident as there is a smooth
transition between them.
In the book a wonderful world,
with imaginative places and creatures, was created and the movie captures
this magic with breathtaking scenery, fantastic sets, costumes, makeup and
special effects. As in the
first movie it is obvious that great effort went into every detail and the
enormity of the production is clear.
This movie is quicker paced
that the first one and there is more fighting and battle scenes in it.
Yet there is still balance between story and action.
The climax is a spectacular battle at Helm’s Deep when the Riders
of Rohan and the elves are under siege from the Dark Lord’s army.
The movie does jump from one
scene to another as it follows the different strands of the story and this
can be a little distracting at times.
Younger children might find the
movie a little long and some parts are quite scary.
There are more gory battle scenes in this movie than the first and
will probably appeal most to the over 12’s.
The casting is excellent and
there are strong performances throughout.
Many of the characters were in the first movie but there have been
some interesting additions. For
example "Ents" are introduced which are basically walking,
talking trees and we meet the character Treebeard.
We also get to see a lot more of Gollum, a small wretched slimy
creature, who is brought to life thanks to inspirational special effects.
The Bottom Line:
A spectacular spectacle and even if magic fantasy movies aren’t
your thing you have to appreciate the awesome scale of the movie.
Lasting
thought: The tenuous
existence of mankind and the dangers of destroying nature.
“Nobody looks after the woods anymore”.
Reviewed by Niall Quinn,
Premier Movie
Reviews 2002 |