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

Peter Jackson truly has created a fantasy world unlike any other with his adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This is a fantasy epic unlike any other. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, while I consider it to be the weakest film in the trilogy, that’s like saying that Hot Fuzz is the weakest of the Edgar Wright films. The least member in a pile of brilliance is still brilliance in itself. And that is the single way I can describe The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Based off of the book of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien, we pick up right where the first book/film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, left off. Gandalf the Grey (Ian ‘Magneto’ McKellen NOTE: This is just what I call him), having previously sacrificed his life in order to save the Fellowship of the Ring from a horrible beast, is resurrected as Gandalf the White weeks later. In the time between, hobbits Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Sean Astin) of the Fellowship continue their quest to destroy the One Ring by throwing it into the middle of a volcano in the evil land of Mordor, where they are encountered by Gollum (Andy Serkis), a former-hobbit whose mind and body were twisted by the One Ring many years ago, whose only mission is to get it back. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson), Legolas (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), a trio of fighters, also a part of the Fellowship, are met by Gandalf the White as they prepare to fight against Saruman the White’s army, under the allegiance of Sauron, the creator of the One Ring, who plan to take over all of the surrounding lands to Mordor, and possibly control the world. To a geek of this franchise, everything I just said made absolutely perfect sense. And I have become a geek of this franchise. Granted, I have read not a single page of what Tolkien has written, but Peter Jackson’s words are enough for me now. This series is magical, mystical, dramatic, emotional, and compelling. And it is also really, really, awesome. It is the only fantasy series that I can truly say has an even fighting chance against the Harry Potter franchise.
9/10