Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I loved the Fellowship of the Ring movie, and was eagerly awaiting the Two Towers. Although a devoted Tolkien reader (generally re-reading LOTR once a year), I don't consider myself a "purist", and was willing to forgive Fellowship for it's deviations from the story because it kept within the spirit of Tolkien, as well as being necessary to adapt to a much shorter medium than the books.
However, I was deeply disappointed by the deviations The Two Towers movie made from the book - deviations which I felt fundamentally altered many of the characters involved. Example #1 is Faramir - his whole character is altered by his stout resolution to take Frodo to Gondor. The whole contrast between Boromir and Faramir is now completely lost. The scene takes up valuable minutes that could be spent on something else, and far from adding to the story, seriously detracts.
Also disappointing is the healing of Theoden, and his subsequent recovery. In the books, Gandalfs healing powers are 10% magic, and 90% wisdom. The movie completely reverses this relationship, making the healing a simple magical duel between Gandalf and Saruman. In Tolkien, Wizards accomplish their greatest feats through their extensive knowledge and lore. Changing this to magic feels like a cheat. Also, after being freed from his affliction, Thoeden seems to show very little willingness to accept the advice of Gandalf, another serious departure from the books which seems pointless.
Third major variation I was disappointed with was the Entmoot. The Ents make decisions very slowly. To show them deciding not to help, and then flipping about on a moments notice when Treebeard sees what he should have known all along seems bizarre in the extreme.
I also had a problem with the treatment of Gimli. The comic relief added to Fellowship was fun, and added to the story. In the Two Towers, however, the comic relief seemed to consist of making Gimli into a buffoon, something not at all keeping in character with the story.
I thought the added scene depicting an attack on Theoden and his people was O.K., and added some extra action, but the fall of Aragorn seemed a pointless excursion.
A minor quibble- Gollum was not visually not at all as I imagined him, but I recognize that everyone will have their own opinion of what he should look like. But really, he didn't look nearly as wizened as one would expect after 500 years of being stretched and tormented by the ring. Clean him up and fix his teeth and he would look like a healthy hobbit, not a creature barely recognizable as one.
I was also deeply disappointed that the two best scenes from Two Towers were removed - the confrontation with Saruman, and the fight with Shelob. But since these seem to be simply moved to ROTK, that doesn't detract from the series as a whole, I suppose.
Two Towers remains competently executed, and the actors do an excellent job portraying the parts they were given. I simply have serious problems with the scriptwriter. Overall, Peter Jackson has used up most of the good will from me that he earned in Fellowship of the Ring. I'll be watching Return of the King, but praying it resembles Fellowship more than Towers.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm all alone
Review: Anyone who has read the book will be likely to find this film to be jarring. If Peter Jackson is such a Tolkien fan, why does he find it necessary to make so many gratuitous changes? My personal unfavorite is the new character Faramir who Jackson wrote in. By a strange coincidence, Tolkien also had a character by the same name in his book. I am not a purist,and loved the Fellowship despite its changes, but this time the spirit of the book has been trampled and I really don't care if I am the only person in the known universe who thinks so.
Rating: 
Summary: A stunning sequel, as was expected
Review: The question of how do you follow up one of the best fantasy movies ever made, has finally been resolved by Peter Jackson: you take things to another level, another scale. And that's precisely what he's done with The Two Towers, the middle part of his Lord of the Rings trilogy. It begins pretty much where the last film left off, with Frodo and Sam in search of Mordor, Pippin and Merry hobbit-napped by orcs and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli on their way to rescue them.Any review of this movie is probably going to be separated into two parts to some extent. One is to whether Two Towers works as a film and secondly as to whether it's a good adaptation of Tolkien's novel. The answer to both is a defiant yes, despite sometimes veering from the original narrative. Visually this is amazing, making glorious use of the New Zealand landscape, and manages to stage some thrilling battle sequences, in particular the long but not over-extended fight for Helm's Deep that proves the movie's finale. However, though Helm's Deep has often been the focus of many a review, the stunning fights along the way - notably Gandalf's battle with the Balrog, and a group of Orcs arriving on a pack of hyena-like creatures. There's also the creation of Gollum, most definitely the most impressive digital creation for the cinema to date. Although much credit is due to the actor who plays him, the digital creation of Gollum's split persona is superbly realised, managing to mould a creature that is both grotesque and pitiable. The acting is again solid as ever. Indeed, the cast is almost entirely made up of rising stars, and Elijah Wood, Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortensen hold their own alongside acting greats Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee and Bernard Hill. All of the characters here have such screen presence that they really pull you into this beautifully realised fantasy world. Of course, such words as 'beautifully' and 'superbly' seem like hyperbole but to anyone who's seen the movie they're the only words that seem fit somehow. Now as to how Peter Jackson, a self-confessed Tolkien fanatic, deals with the book. He does it incredibly well, although the various deviances from Tolkien's work may infuriate some purists. Yet for the most part such deviances are entirely necessary and help to make the story even more cinematic and involving than it already was. The book is actually split into two parts, telling the tale of Frodo and Sam after telling of what happened to the other characters. As an interesting sidenote, the battle of Helm's Deep actually happens halfway through rather than at the end. Jackson adds much more Eowyn and Arwen (who isn't in the book) to the action, although incidentally the romantic subplot of Aragorn and Arwen is in Tolkien's appendix to the third book Return of the King. The addition of more screen time for the female characters was a wise choice, since this was arguably the only thing wrong with the book was its homogenous environment. There's also the addition of Frodo's empathy for Gollum, and his argument with Sam over this provides one of the movie's most compelling moments. Also the recreation of the Ents and the Nazgul are very well done indeed, showing Jackson's attention to detail. At three hours in length many people have complained that's it's boring, but something this accomplished that has character development alongside the action sequences, drawing an audience of adults and kids alike. My one point of possible criticism is that this might be a bit menacing for younger children, although other than that this is proof positive that Jackson is a director of his generation. Miss this at your peril!
Rating:
Summary: AN AMAZING MOVIE!
Review: I recently went to go see The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers and it wasn't as good as I had expected...it was so much BETTER! The first one was amazing telling and explaining the plot of the story and how the ring came to be but the second one has a lot more action and each character(s) have there own story...Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas continue their journey searching for Merry and Pippin but find themselves in another even greater situation...Merry and Pippin are captured by the Urak-Hai and are accompanied by the Ents...and Frodo and Sam continue their quest to destroy the one ring with Gollum as their guide...I don't want to tell you exactly what happens and I'm not one of those people who spoil it in the reviews for those who haven't seen it...but I highly suggest you go see this AMAZING and EXCITING movie and I would even say...best movie of the year! Aragorn is DEFINATELY good to look at! lol...:)
Rating: 
Summary: Breathtaking, but needs to be longer
Review: The movie was fantastic, but so much happened that some of the characters were barely in it, like Gandalf, Eomer and Faramir. This film was three hours long, but still needed to be longer to add a bit of depth of character to some of the people in it. Perhaps I'll be a bit more satisfied if they put out an extended version on DVD. The battle scenes were truly breathtaking; I sat there slack-jawed, staring at what the director Peter Jackson has achieved with this series of films. But there were certain things not in this film that were in the books, that I really wanted to see, most notably, Gandalf's confrontation with Saruman after the battle of Helm's Deep. There were a few scenes with Arwen to make the film not so male-oriented, and I thought they could easily have been dispensed with so that we could spend a little time getting to know some of the newer characters. Eomer in particular was in the film for not much more than 60 seconds, and I thought he needed some fleshing out. However, all in all, Jackson has raised the bar on film making once again with this film. Gollum was the first computer generated character I've ever seen that I actually liked, and in fact he was quite a scene-stealer. The film was a wonderful effort all around.
Rating:
Summary: Ok, OK, so it doesn't exactly follow the book, but....
Review: For those who have read, re-read and re-re-read the Lord of The Rings, the new Peter Jackson film, the Two Towers, is a big departure from what we've imagined while reading the book. That doesn't lessen the visual impact, the cinemagraphic sweep, or the awe inspiring size and scope of the film. The battle scenes alone are enough to make the ghost of Cecil B.(10 Commandments) DeMille drool with envy. It does mean that you shouldn't go into the movie expecting to see the story followed as closely as it was in Fellowship (yes, it also departed from the written story, but not as much as Towers). Although Mr, Jackson took quite a bit of artistic license with this film, enough of the original story is woven in to satisfy the most ardent fan of the book. In fact, there are long stretches that are taken practically verbatim from Tolkien's work. The only major annoyance? Gimli's role dwarfed (sorry) by the desire to have him be the comic relief. All in all, Towers is at least as good, if not better than Fellowship.
Rating:
Summary: A legendary masterpiece! I'm absolutely speechless!
Review: I was spellbound by the previous Lord Of The Rings film, "Fellowship Of The Ring". However, that one, as powerful, riveting, and astounding as it is, it is eclipsed by this second installment film in the three part trilogy ¡§The Two Towers¡¨. The cast of this movie is perfect. The same held true with the previous as well. The thing that I found vastly improved was the grouchy dwarf Gimli. I wasn¡¦t fond of him as he seemed selfish & just plain uninteresting in the first LOTR movie but in the second LOTR movie, he was vastly improved in this movie to become one of the highlight characters in my opinion. The whole imaginative world that J. R. Tolkien built in his mind would¡¦ve put anything that George Lucas or Steven Spielberg would¡¦ve imagined to shame. He made up entire languages, entire language accents, entire worlds, it goes on. He would¡¦ve been impressed by the movie screen adaptations. No other novel that I¡¦ve read has been so well adapted to the big screen like ¡§Lord Of The Rings¡¨ has and I doubt it¡¦ll be surpassed for a long time if ever. What I find amazing about the LOTR movies so far is that things that make most other fantasy movies rather cheesy sometimes, add so much to this movies power and emotion. Just trying to be able to put even a drop of the creativity that Tolkien had, onto the big screen seemed impossible but with the help of Peter Jackson, doing so succeeded in every way. Ian McKellen was perfect to play Gandalf. I especially find it wonderful to see the husky voiced Christopher Lee play the renegade wizard Saruman. The only one missing from the previous movie is Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins. That however, is made up for though as new characters are introduced as new alliances are made to fight Saruman¡¦s armies. I would even go far enough to say that IMO, what Peter Jackson already has accomplished surpasses what Lucas & Spielberg did when they made the ¡§Star Wars¡¨ & ¡§Indiana Jones¡¨ trilogies. Even the Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger team doesn¡¦t stand a chance against the menacing Saruman, Gandalf, Frodo, or Aragorn. Those movies are all classics but ¡§The Two Towers¡¨ alone in more powerful than ¡§Star Wars¡¨, & ¡§Harry Potter¡¨ combined! Jackson¡¦s directing is stunning & mind boggling. In fact, from my perspective, this movie is perfect! The visuals are amazing especially with the ¡§Sauron¡¦s Eye¡¨ and the lightning above Mt. Doom, as well as the birds eye view of Saruman¡¦s Tower Palace and the Gates to it. The storylines are incredible emotionally deep and moving. There isn¡¦t one drop of talent wasted in the movie. Picking up where "The Fellowship of The Ring" left off where Frodo and Samwise were when they saw the fiery Mount Doom, the two run into the alienish looking creature Gollum, a former Hobbit, who found the Ring after thousands of years and tormented by it's power before Bilbo Baggins found it after Gollum lost it and Frodo now had the ring and is on his bid to destroy it in the fires of Mt. Doom but encounters Gollum, the one who found it after it was lost for thousands of years. Due to his permanent mental poisoning caused by the ring and his experience of the rings power, he guides Frodo & Samwise (who does not trust Gollum) towards the fiery Mt. Doom. At the same time, Aragorn, Legolas, & Gimli hunt down orcs that captured Pippin & Merry during the battle that claimed the life of Borimir in the last movie. The two hobbits escape the orcs though and what lies ahead for them is well, let¡¦s just say, out of this world. The whole story perfectly runs along and the special effects are beyond words. However, that¡¦s not the main thing that makes this one rank above ¡§Fellowship¡¨. What makes this one even more powerful is that towards the ending, there¡¦s a powerful message at the ending that I¡¦m not going to give out as doing so would spoil the thrills. I had sky high hopes for ¡§The Two Towers¡¨ but to my surprise, this movie not only met them, it surpassed them by a thousand miles to become my favorite movie of all time. Five stars isn¡¦t enough to do this movie any justice. I think overall, I think this one may as well turn out to be the best of the three, as well as the one with the most substance. All I can do now is try to keep myself entertained as I now begin the excruciating one year wait for the cataclysmic finale ¡§Return Of The King¡¨ and witness the final battle to save Middle Earth from the evil clutches of Sauron. Ultimately, these three movies will become legendary classics as the years progress and become favorites for generations to come. I look forward spending 9 to 10 hours watching all three LOTR movies the whole way through when all three of them are out on video. Go see this movie pronto! Once you leave the movie theatre, you¡¦ll never be the same again. 'º_ Well, I¡¦m pretty much exhausted of words. Bye! Bye!
Rating:
Summary: Very slow, and drawn out.
Review: Ive noticed that most of the reviews currently are based on the "preview" (mostly 5 stars). I too liked the "preview", and it looked very interesting. BUT, when i went to go see it it was not that interesting.
I have not read the book, but then again i did not read the book for the first movie (fellowship) and enjoyed that one. But this one was three hours of what i would like to call a "buffer". They did a very odd thing, which I could not follow. It seemed as though they had three (yes three) movies going at once. This really confused me, and by doing so might have took away from the movies story line. Now, I don't know if they did this in the book, but as a viewer I would have liked to see it progressing though time, not just little cuts. After the movie, i found out that there were two other hobbits, which i thought were just another storyline of frodo. This is what triped me up, and as a viewer, I did not pick up on this because they looked so much alike. Also, even at the biggest war scene yet, it was'nt top notch. The computer graphics (cg) were good though, and kept that feeling of realism that could only be acomplished by computers. The music of the movie was very appropiate, and fit in perfectly as this epic battle unfolds. I think this is really ment to lead up to the third movie, and i'm hoping the third is much better. They did a good job with golem, and like the book he was a major character in the movie. To sum it up. The Trailer seems alot more interesting then the movie really is. And the movie had a very confusing sort of style to it, which I myself did not like. If you are a true fan though, you just have to see this, but don't expect it to be like the first movie. Lastly, I think if I had read the book, it would have made a lot more sense and would have been better. ~hope this helps
Rating:
Summary: Incredible! - slightly disappointing to book fans
Review: This is an edit of my original review. I have changed it from three stars to four after watching the movie for the second time. I made the mistake of judging this film after only one viewing. There were some 'errors' I criticized the film for that, after the second viewing, turned out to not be errors at all but merely my own lack of understanding and comprehension of what was occurring. If you can approach this movie with the idea that it captures the essence of Tolkien's book, but not necessarily every factual detail, I think you will come away with a satisfactory feeling. I now give The Two Towers four stars because it is, in fact, better than the original version of Fellowship. However, it is not as well made as the extended version of Fellowship. As of now, the extended version of Fellowship is the definitive adaptation of a Tolkien work. It is a masterpiece. This version of The Two Towers is not a masterpiece, but it comes closer than did the original Fellowship. One hopes that when The Two Towers is finally released in its extended version that it will match, if not exceed, its predecessor. For a book fan, watching this movie at least twice is mandatory. The first time, you will be in shock and probably upset at some of the changes. But, if you think about it long enough you will realize that PJ is not as crazy as you might think - and he's not as far off as you think either! The second time, after you have digested the movie and reasoned with yourself, pay close attention to EVERYTHING and you will realize PJ has gotten closer to Tolkien than you may have first thought. That's when you can really start enjoying this film for what it is - a brilliant piece of cinema.
Rating:
Summary: LOTR TT
Review: Wow! I can easily say that this is the best movie ever! The Two Towers is much better than Fellowship. It has much more action and quickly paced scenes. The acting is great. Gollum is one of the best characters, you can't even tell he is computer generated at times. I went to the movie on opening day and got more than I expected, even though I went in expecting the best it was better than the best. I think that everyone should go see this movie.
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