The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - Review

Over hill and under tree – a review of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. 

The fellowship is broken. Boromir is dead. Merry and Pippin have been taken by orcs. Gandalf is gone. Frodo and Sam are walking to Mordor alone. All seems lost. What of Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn?

“Let’s hunt some orc”.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers picks up where Fellowship ends. With heartache and fear, but hope. Our heroes are now divided, spread across Middle-earth, fighting their own fights, holding on to their belief in Frodo. Without the help of the fellowship, Frodo and Sam must navigate to Mordor without their strength or guidance, without being captured or lost. As fate would have it, they find a new guide… Gollum, a creature so obsessed with his desire for the ring that he stalks Frodo and Sam before he is eventually captured by the pair and finally becomes (to Sam’s great displeasure) their guide.

Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas have refused to leave Merry and Pippin to a painful death at the hands of the orcs. Together, the trio follow the trail and attempt to hunt down the orcs that captured their small friends, eventually finding a smouldering pile of bodies, taken down by the Rohirrim of Rohan. The Rohirrim, Horse Lords of Rohan known for their cavalry, being unaware of Merry and Pippin’s presence, fear that Merry and Pippin have been killed in the battle. However, Aragorn is able to use his ranger skills to find their escape route and deduces that they are not dead; they have escaped into Fangorn Forest.

Having escaped the orcs, Merry and Pippin find themselves in the company of Treebeard, an Ent, a massive, walking, talking tree, who at first mistakes them for little orcs. Treebeard comes to trust the hobbits, and in time tells them about the devastation Saruman has had on his forest.

There is so much to love about The Two Towers, from Gandalf’s triumphant return as Gandalf the White (having previously been lost in battle to a balrog in the Mines of Moria), Saruman’s chilling acceptance of darkness and his willingness to forge an army of Uruk-Hai, the rage of the Ents, and of course the unwavering love and loyalty Sam has for Frodo.

New Zealand remains the perfect filming location, with the vast green spaces and dark forests bringing Middle-earth alive. The music, by Howard Shore, is emotive and iconic, recognisable to this day as the soundtrack for Middle-earth. For me though, the best part of this film isn’t the music, the incredible scenery, or the highly detailed costumes.

Comradery and friendship are so important throughout the trilogy, but I think never more so than in The Two Towers. Will the fellowship broken, it could have been easy for all involved to give in to despair and return to their homes defeated. Yet, despite their grief and pain, they continue. Merry and Pippin, who only really ever set out to steal some crops from Farmer Maggot in The Shire, and who have endured their capture from the orcs, don’t just sit on the sidelines. Instead, they enlist the help of the Ents to attack Isengard, the mighty stronghold of Saruman. Legolas and Gimli set aside the differences of their races and become close friends, with Legolas even threatening Eomer with the line “You would die before your stroke fell” when he fears the Rohirrim mean harm to his dwarven friend. Together with Aragorn, who is grappling with his own identity and future, the trio focus their efforts on aiding with the fight against Saruman and defending Helms Deep, alongside Rohan's King, Theoden. The fellowship may have been broken, but the friendship and loyalty remained.

It is the bond between Frodo and Sam that I think really makes this film. Alone, but for Gollum, the pair face a treacherous and intimidating journey. The further they go, the heavier the burden of the ring becomes for Frodo, but Sam never once gives up on him, standing with him through every difficulty. Sam is perhaps my favourite character in the trilogy, embodying loyalty, being strong for Frodo even when he couldn’t be strong for himself, and despite his deep mistrust of Gollum, never giving up hope no matter how hard the journey.

The writing of this film is again fantastic, with some heart wrenching lines and Sam’s beautiful monologue about hope reminding the viewer exactly what is at stake if they fail.

The Two Towers is a triumph, yet it’s my least favourite of the trilogy. That’s not by any means to say I don’t love the film, because I do. There are moments where the plot could move quicker, and there are times when the scenes with the Ents feel like they could have been shorter. These are small points rather that criticisms though; there isn’t a film in this trilogy which isn’t a masterpiece.

With the battle for Middle-earth well and truly under way, with hope being in low supply, and Frodo and Sam having only the help of the treacherous Gollum, it can be difficult to imagine that anything good could be on the horizon for any of the good people of Middle-earth. Yet, there’s something that you can’t quite help but hold on to.

"What are we holding onto, Sam?"

"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

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