Subplots include two other Hobbits trying to get along with the talking trees, and the rocky romance between Aragorn and his elfish honey (Liv Tyler). She�s immortal, but he�ll only live for a paltry seventy or eighty years and, as her father L. Ron (Hugo Weaving) points out, they truly are from different worlds. Aragorn even begins eyeing the Blonde Daughter of the Blonde King. Together, or separated, all these characters run around, fight things, get taken prisoner, fight things, get freed, form alliances, fight things, and end up pretty much back where they started, still heading toward the volcano and still waiting for Sauron to drop the hammer on them (since he�s just a disembodied eye, he can�t really�never mind).
For a movie that accomplishes nothing, �The Two Towers� sure is something. Plenty of fun, exciting, and even great films �accomplish nothing,� but that nothing is made especially obvious in �The Two Towers� by its tremendous production design, its vast battles, stunning landscapes, incredible set direction, and the conviction and strength of its cast. It�s an eye-popping, visceral experience, a landmark in cinema spectacle. The battles, in which orcs hurl themselves by the thousands at Our Heroes, are a comfortably PG13 kind of thrill, not on the gut-wrenching level of �The Wild Bunch,� �Raging Bull,� �Heat,� or �Braveheart,� but, then again, they don�t have to be.
Director Peter Jackson and his cinematographer Andrew Lesnie have a great eye not only for their models and computer-generated landscapes, but for real New Zealand, and have combined nature and the microchip into some magnificient visuals. The effects in �The Two Towers� are as good as its predecessor, including the giant towers of the title, Sauron�s mines, and the castle where the Blondes make their final stand. Gollem himself is probably the movie�s best creation; an entirely computer-generated creature, he has a beautifully ugly face, seemingly capable of all the expression of traditional animation, and interacts almost flawlessly with his surroundings, including the way he kicks up water in a stream and how shadows fall across him. The talking trees�who get up, walk around, and, like everything else in �Lord of the Rings,� are capable of great acts of violence�are also pretty impressive. I�d be lying if I said there wasn�t some satisfaction in seeing trees tear down buildings for a change.
There isn�t a whole lot of depth to Our Heros (I hope no Terence Malick fans are holding out to see Frodo or Aragorn sitting in the tall grass with the breeze in their hair, thinking oblique but deep thoughts about God, love, and the nature of suffering). But they are likable, and their shift from the wariness and unease of �Fellowship� to the absolute loyalty of �The Two Towers� is an admirable one. I like that Frodo and Sam have not chosen action, but have it thrust upon them, and the camaraderie between the human, the elf, and the dwarf is entertaining more often than not. Dialogue is mostly people yelling �get down!� and �run!� or someone with a far-off look in his eyes solemnly entoning that �a time of great darkness has spread like a funeral shroud over the realm of Hoobajoob and the hour for us to lift our strong swords forged by Googlemook comes as swiftly as a thief in the winedark night.� The movie�s theme is a good one, too, in which everyone tested by evil finds strength by acknowledging that there is good in the world, and that that goodness must be preserved.
�The Two Towers� has made ludicrously large piles of money, landed a spot in the Internet Movie Database�s Top Ten Movies of All Time, between �Star Wars� and �Memento,� and is prompting a lot of repeat business. Whatever. It�s a fun movie, to be sure, so go see it, have a great time, but, as a favor to me, your most humble and gracious servant, see something else next week.
Finished December 29, 2002
Copyright � 2002 Friday & Saturday Night