The Two Towers (2002) Review: The Middle Chapter Done Right

Is The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers worth watching?

Yes. The Two Towers is a rousing, darker continuation that turns the quest of the first film into a full-blown war story and introduces one of cinema’s landmark digital characters in Gollum. Its siege of Helm’s Deep is still a benchmark for large-scale battle filmmaking. The reservation is structural: as the middle of a single story, it has no real beginning or ending, and its three-way split means some threads move far more slowly than others.

What is The Two Towers about?

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers opens with the fellowship broken into separate groups. Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) press on towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring, and they acquire an unlikely guide: Gollum (Andy Serkis), the wretched creature who once possessed the Ring and still craves it.

Meanwhile Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), the elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and the dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) chase the orcs who have taken the hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd). Their pursuit leads them into Rohan, a kingdom of horsemen whose ageing ruler, Théoden (Bernard Hill), has fallen under the influence of the corrupt wizard Saruman, and whose people face an army marching from Isengard.

Peter Jackson directs again from a screenplay with Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Stephen Sinclair. Filmed in New Zealand in English, it runs 179 minutes in its theatrical version.

Gollum changes the rules

The film’s most lasting achievement is a character. Serkis performed Gollum on set alongside the other actors, and the animators built the digital creature around his movements, face and voice. The result is a performance, not an effect: a creature torn between the pitiful Sméagol and his hungry, venomous other self. A scene in which the two halves argue with each other, cut between two sides of Gollum’s face, is as memorable as any battle in the trilogy.

That tension feeds the Frodo and Sam story, which becomes a psychological three-hander. Wood lets Frodo’s growing sympathy for Gollum look like both compassion and a warning sign, and Astin’s suspicious Sam gives the audience someone to side with.

Helm’s Deep and the art of the siege

The last hour builds to the defence of Helm’s Deep, a fortress in a mountain valley, and it remains a model of how to stage a long battle. Jackson sets up the geography first, so the audience always understands the walls, gate and approaches, then lets the fight unfold at night in pouring rain. Andrew Lesnie’s photography and the physical sets give it grit, while the digital armies give it scale.

Rohan itself is the film’s richest new world. Bernard Hill makes Théoden a broken, proud king rather than a stock monarch, and Miranda Otto’s Éowyn, a shieldmaiden hemmed in by duty, adds emotional depth to a story otherwise dominated by warriors. Howard Shore’s Rohan theme, with its mournful Hardanger fiddle, gives the whole kingdom its identity.

Where the middle chapter drags

The Merry and Pippin thread, which brings the hobbits into the company of the ancient, tree-like Ents, is the weakest part. The Ents are charming but deliberate, and their scenes slow the momentum just as the other storylines are gathering pace. Intercutting three strands of story also means the film can feel episodic, and some of the book’s quieter moments give way to extra action. Newcomers will be lost entirely without the first film.

Who should watch The Two Towers?

It is for viewers who finished The Fellowship of the Ring and want to continue, and it may especially appeal to those who prefer action to lore, since it is the most battle-driven of the three. Plan for about three hours, more for the extended edition. The violence is intense but not gory, and Gollum and the orcs may frighten younger children; around 12 and up is a sensible guide.

Where to go next:

• The Return of the King, which picks up these threads and brings the trilogy to its conclusion.
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Jackson’s later return to Middle-earth, for those who simply want more of this world.

The verdict

The Two Towers does what great middle chapters do: it deepens the characters, raises the stakes and delivers a centrepiece that stands on its own. The Ent storyline sags and there is no true ending, but Gollum and Helm’s Deep make it an essential part of a remarkable trilogy.

Rating: 4.5/5