Revisiting: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Poster Description: This poster has a very sepia tone. Sauron’s black tower looks like a giant chess piece against a full moon. Our characters are clustered in the centre, starting with Frodo’s sweaty, anxious head. Facing opposite him, towards Sauron’s spire, is a grim-faced Gandalf the White. Aragorn frowns with lank hair. Arwen and Eowyn glance over their shoulders. Eowyn wears an incredibly long-sleeved dress. A miniature version of Gimli starts to swing his axe, and Legolas wears his quiver across his back. Sam stands alone, looking nervous, behind a hunched, dark figure with glowing eyes – of course, it’s Gollum! Saruman stands away from everyone else, arms folded over his black staff. His tower looms in the misty distance. An orc army bristles behind the film’s golden title. The tagline reads: The journey continues.

Like my review of Fellowship of the Ring, I originally wrote my review for The Two Towers over ten years ago, to celebrate the release of the first Hobbit film. As with all of my revisits, my thoughts from 2012 will be written in bold blue.

WARNING: There will be spoilers…and excitement from a die-hard fan.

2012: To recap: Nine companions set out into Middle Earth to destroy a Ring of Power before all things bad and gruesome reclaim it for their Master, Sauron.

2023: When we last saw them, the Fellowship had broken. Frodo and Sam (Elijah Wood and Sean Astin) embark on their journey to Mount Doom.

2012: [The Two Towers] is a lot darker than its predecessor, physically and plot-wise.

2023: To reach Mordor, Frodo makes a deal with Gollum, the creature following him – or, more accurately, the Ring. His precious. What can I say about Andy Serkis’ performance that hasn’t already been said? The motion-captured CGI has aged for a film that is now twenty-one years old, but it is no less impressive or convincing thanks to Serkis’ dynamic voice work and movement. While Sam distrusts Gollum – because the creature tried to kill him! – Frodo treats him with more respect, encouraging Sméagol (his other, true self) to take more control. Although Sam comes across as rather unlikeable at times (an excellent performance from Sean Astin), he is still the compassionate voice Frodo needs to keep going in their quest to destroy the Ring.

It needs to be said that Gollum is, effectively, what Frodo could become if he succumbs to the power of the Ring…and is starting to, even if he’s just looking at it when he thinks no one is watching. A deleted scene from the film shows that future: Frodo crouched and rocking, losing his hair. It’s shockingly bleak, so it’s easy to see why it wasn’t included in the final product; the whole trilogy’s raison d'etre is finding hope in darkness and despair.

2012: Wood and Astin should be congratulated for keeping in character, when the reality is, rather than a creepy creature with skin hanging off his bones, Gollum is simply Serkis in a full-body suit, covered in dots. How they did those scenes without laughing, I’ll never know, but the end result is superb…

2023: Serkis went on to do so much more motion-captured roles in his fantastic career, like the rebooted Planet of the Apes trilogy and Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn. (Side note: Still waiting for that sequel!).

Serkis also narrates the audiobooks of Lord of the Rings; like every character, no voice sounds the same. As I write this, I’m only on Fellowship; having read the books, I still recommend them.

It’s exceptionally petty of me, but I’ve never liked how The Two Towers begins. It replays the fall of the wizard Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) from Fellowship – except it shuffles the dialogue around, so Frodo’s heartbroken cry happens before Gandalf falls rather than afterwards. As a prologue, it reminds its audience of a critical plot point and major foreshadowing, but it feels clunky now. It also shows us Frodo’s state of mind as a dream sequence. There are other sequences in the film that stand out as awkward to me, which I shall discuss later on.

2012: It’s all about shadow and gloom, and in one significant scene, a deadly swamp.

2023: Frodo falls over A LOT across the trilogy, but I was never more disturbed for him than in the Dead Marshes. There are creepy faces submerged in the water, and Gollum sets up the stakes, leading him and Sam through the misty swamp with the ominous warning, “Don’t follow the lights…” So, guess what Frodo does.

When you stand up too fast.

GIF Description: The sun shines on Frodo’s bowed head as he falls into the grey water.

The choir as Frodo plummets into that ghost-infested water is dread incarnate. The spirits are a little disappointing, because they all have the same face with what looks like badly fitted dentures, but the warbling howls and Frodo’s open-mouthed horror keeps the scene tense.

Likewise, the Nazgûl are back, and they’re riding winged beasts. That gradual reveal – the jagged, silver gauntlets tightening on the reins, the hooded figure before zooming out – will always be terrifying. Hobbit or not, everyone is tiny and insignificant under their shadow. Along the way, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are captured by men, one of whom happens to be Faramir (David Wenham), brother of Boromir. The tension between him and Frodo works well unless you’ve read the book because Peter Jackson likes antagonism for the sake of it.

Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) set off to find Merry and Pippin. These Hobbits were kidnapped by a horde of orcs. On the off-chance that one of them might have the One Ring. Legolas looks pretty, running up and down incredible landscapes, offering exposition (and inadvertently creating musical memes), and Gimli is the comic relief. They cross paths with a banished army led by Eomer of Rohan (Karl Urban). The men slaughtered the orc horde with no sign of Merry and Pippin, so our indelible trio finds the corpse pyre… and yes, my younger self was traumatised.

It should be noted that Mortenson broke his toe in this scene – oh, yeah, that anguished roar is real. Bloom broke some ribs after falling off a horse, and John Rhys-Davies’ stand-in Brett Beattie hurt his knee.

2012: Merry and Pippin have their time to shine in this film, as they try to escape from the orcs, in a particularly atmospheric flash-back, which mixes well with the scene of Aragorn searching for them in the light of day, in the present.

2023: I neglected to mention how much this confused me as a kid. Merry and Pippin have some close calls in that sequence, but I loathed the fake-out of Pippin about to get crushed by a rearing horse. He may be a fool of a Took, but I did not care for that kind of edited manipulation, thank you very much.

Image Description: Dressed in black leather and fur, the orc has grey skin, like old marble or blue cheese. The orc is balding with wisps of hair about curved, pointed ears. His nose is also sharp with flared nostrils. His hooded eyes are bright red, and his teeth are thin and jagged, almost protruding over his gory bottom lip.

Is it me, or does this orc look like Kenneth Williams? You know, before the rest of the army killed and, er, ate him.

2012: [Merry and Pippin] run into a forest, where they encounter something more than just your typical trees…

2023: As does the orc who chases them (rest in pieces, Grishnásh). These non-typical trees are sentient, known as Ents, and Merry and Pippin (literally) get picked up by one named Treebeard: John Rhys-Davies provides his epic voice. The Ents are a poignant sub-plot, as they speak slowly and are distanced from the brewing war. In contrast, Merry and Pippin – mostly Merry–are desperate to get involved in the fight and play their part with his friends. It makes Pippin’s drastic decision to show Treebeard the true extent of the orcs’ destruction of his forest more heartbreaking. The Ents’ fight in Isengard is incredibly entertaining!

However, Treebeard is not the only shock Hobbits encounter in the woods! Is it Saruman? The camera lingers over his glowing shoulder at Merry and Pippin’s amazed faces, and then the scene just…ends. It’s clumsy tension-bait, and I’m coining that phrase now.

The tension ramps up again when we return to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in the forest. They’re being followed, but it’s not Saruman.

It’s Gandalf.

Image Description: In a sun-dappled forest, Gandalf looks sombre, holding a thin, white staff. He has long white hair and a cape and robes to match. Because he’s Gandalf the White now!

He’s bleached his robes…and he has a sweet ride! Shadowfax, the lord of all horses.

Image Description: Shadowfax is a grey horse with a dark grey muzzle. He stands in a field bordered by trees and mountains.

If you thought Fellowship was a love letter to New Zealand’s impeccable landscapes, The Two Towers ups the ante with swooping camera angles that fit right at home with Howard Shore’s captivating score. A highlight is “The Riders of Rohan,” as Shore utilises strings for a stirringly mournful Gaelic sound. In Rohan, we meet Eomer’s uncle, King Theoden (Bernard Hill), who is under Saruman’s control through mysterious lickspittle Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif). I have a great, resigned fondness for how good characters tend to wear white, and the evil ones dress in black in Middle Earth; Grima is no exception. Dourif shaved his eyebrows daily for the role, accentuating his large blue eyes. Yes, Frodo has competition! You have to feel sorry for Eowyn (Miranda Otto), as Grima is infatuated with her. I couldn’t write a revisit without quoting one of the most stirring similes I have ever read:

So pale… so cold, like a morning of pale spring still clinging to winter’s chill.

Shame it comes from Grima. Needless to say, Eowyn is not impressed:

Your words are poison!

Is the slimy little man downright evil, though? Maybe not. A tear rolls down Grima's cheek when Saruman shows him the sheer number of orcs lined up to destroy Rohan. It’s a masterstroke in character without saying anything at all. That is, however, the last we see of Grima in the theatrical version of the trilogy.

Eowyn, meanwhile, falls for Aragorn. And, really, when he opens doors like THAT, who can blame her?

Positive masculinity in motion…

GIF Description: Huge wooden doors open inwards, pushed by Aragorn with both hands. He is dirty and bedraggled, and his dark hair swings about his bearded face. He looks a little surprised. Men wearing helms walk about behind him.

Eowyn is a rare example of a strong female character without losing her femininity and staying dutiful to her King. Otto captures this well; you can feel Eowyn’s frustration in every scene because she wants to fight. Aragorn sees her as that person and respects her for it. Unfortunately for Eowyn, Aragorn’s heart already belongs to Arwen. Unfortunately for Aragorn, she is already leaving Middle Earth, at her father’s request, Elrond, rather than live with the idea of Aragorn’s eventual death…I guess. That storyline feels awkward, although it is executed beautifully by Liv Tyler and Hugo Weaving, so I let that slide!

The Two Towers is most memorable for the Battle of Helm’s Deep, but my favourite part is the fight against Warg Riders. What are Wargs? They are giant wolves, although they look more like mutant hyenas used as steeds by orcs. The ensuing battle is visceral: King Theoden stabs a Warg in the mouth at one point. Aragorn gets trapped and falls off a cliff, and for a second there, Orlando Bloom shows some emotion!

Good doggie?

Image Description: The sky is pale grey. A creature with a bulbous, hairy head, tiny eyes, and a flat nose bears crooked, yellow fangs. It has thick claws which it bears down on upon the withers of a saddled horse towards Gimli’s helmeted head.

2012: The Battle of Helm’s Deep is another example [of fighting against darkness and despair].

2023: My TV is renowned for struggling with dark scenes, especially when watching it in the daytime, but (I can’t believe I’m typing this) you can see everything that’s going on in this nighttime battle. I will use Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3 as a counterexample: I couldn’t see anything until the fires started, like everyone who laboured through that one. Helm’s Deep happened sixteen years before HD was a real thing, and it is still perfectly lit throughout. Even the orcs – or Uruk-hai with their roaring, black mouths – are all entirely visible. The actors chewed liquorice sweets to achieve this, which is a strangely endearing example of practical effects.

2012: [Helm’s Deep]…is jam-packed with (mild) violence, exploding walls, and the fact that it’s pissing it down with rain makes for quite the intense experience, but there is still enough room for some comedy, thanks to Gimli being too short to see over the wall to see what’s going on, and his rather juvenile contest with Legolas on who can kill the most orcs.

2023: It certainly gives Legolas more personality. He shoots arrows, sliding downstairs on a shield! Of course, it blew my mind.

2012: The Battle for Middle Earth begins, and the atmosphere is heavy with it. Will Frodo and Sam ever make it to Mordor before it’s too late?

2023: The Two Towers carefully balances hope and impending darkness except for a few clunky moments. Rohan and its people face the agony and victory of war, and Frodo and Sam’s journey to Mordor looks more dangerous than they could have ever anticipated. It is a glorious example of cinema.

My Rating:

2012: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

2023: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

My Sources:

The Two Towers poster – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167261/

Video: Frodo becomes Gollum (deleted scene) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzLs_r26f7k

GIF: Frodo falls into the swamp - https://gfycat.com/allgreatamethystgemclam

Video: They’re Taking the Hobbits to Isengard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-1RPDqJAY

The Two Towers on-set accidents - https://movieaccidents.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/the-lord-of-the-rings-memorable-accidents/

Image: Red-eyed orc - https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/lord-of-the-rings-orc-actor-panic-attack-set-1234630436/

What is the name of the orc who chases Merry and Pippin? - https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Grishn%C3%A1kh

Image: Shadowfax - https://lotr.fandom.com/wiki/Shadowfax