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<< Go to my Personal Comment on TTT >> STORYLINE: This is the sequel to The Fellowship of the Ring. It immediately continues with the journey of Frodo and Sam, Pippin and Merry, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. The journeys of all three groups are highlighted, especially as Frodo and Sam reach The Black Gate, and The Three Hunters face the Battle of Helms Deep. The Ring�s power grows stronger, and, as new characters are introduced, we become ore intimate with Gollum. RECOUNT: A good tip would be to make sure you have seen �The Fellowship of the Ring� BEFORE you see �The Two Towers�. If you choose not to, I almost guarantee you�re completely screwed and will be scratching your head the entire time. CHARACTERS INCLUDE: Ents, women, men, orcs, wargs, hobbits, elves, dwarves (and more horses than last time!) FOCUS: Remains on the Ring and its power- and the mere distance now between itself and its master. The knowledge of the Great War of Middle Earth is made known by the gathering armies at both MORDOR and ISENGARD (The Two Towers). The focus is largely upon defeating all evil, and holding onto the hope �that there�s still some good in this world, and it�s worth fighting for!� (Samwise Gamgee) It begins with a little bit of a �rewind� to the Mines of Moria, where Gandalf fell to shadow along with the Balrog. It shows us Gandalf�s view of things (not the fellowship continuing on) as he falls further and further- yet does not perish. The next scene is cut to Frodo and Sam making their way to Mordor (quite unsuccessfully), using only the EYE OF SAURON as their target in the distance. As they realise they are wandering helplessly in circles, the two settle down to sleep. And the suspense grows as the audience shouts at the two sleeping figures, �Wake up, RUN YOU IDIOTS!!!� because Gollum (Andy Serkis) is lingering on the rocks above them, back to claim his �preciousssss�. But it is all okay! Frodo and Sam weren�t really sleeping, and they hear Gollum�s chanting and throw him to the ground. Of course, Gollum breaks free and tries to snatch the ring from Frodo�s neck, as Sam pulls his leg (literally) and holds him back from choking �Mr. Frodo.� Frodo moves from Gollum�s reach and threatens to cut his throat with �Sting� (the sword). Gollum then ends up being dragged to Mordor (like a little puppy dog on a leash) but is soon pitied by Frodo and is told to lead them to The Black Gate. Whilst this is happening, it is cut to the orcs (who captured the two hobbits) running across Rohan. Aragorn is then the next scene, telling Legolas �They must have caught out scent, HURRY!� Legolas is then seen climbing the rocks gracefully, turning back to check on Gimli (who is far behind). The Three Hunters (or so they are named) run across Rohan, following the trail of Merry and Pippin. Meanwhile, in Edoras (The Golden Hall of Meduseld, to be precise), King Theoden (Bernard Hill) has been possessed by Saruman. His nephew, Eomer (Karl Urban), arrives back from an orc battle, with his severely injured cousin, Theodred (King Theoden�s son and heir). Eomer�s sister, Eowyn (Miranda Otto), whom is Theoden�s niece reports the news to her uncle (who does not care about his son because he is Saruman and not himself). King Theoden�s associate, Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), who is Saruman�s sidekick, banishes Eomer from the kingdom. As Eomer and his �Rohirrim� ride north from Edoras, they meet the Isengard orcs during the night. Pippin and Merry are attempting to escape when Eomer and his Rohirrim disturb the orcs and slaughter them. By morning, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli meet Eomer. They are told that the Uruk Hai was all destroyed the night before. They are given two horses to continue their journey on, and, thinking they have failed to save their two-hobbit friends, they ride to the pile of burnt carcasses- and find Pippin�s belt amongst the ashes. The sight of hobbit tracks leading into Fangorn Forest soon comforts them. Meanwhile, Pippin and Merry are deep amidst the tall murmuring trees, trying to lose an extremely hungry orc, whom is on their trail. As they climb a tree to avoid the orc�s grasp, they come face-to-face (literally) with a large blinking eye on the tree! After squashing their predator and introducing itself as Treebeard (voice of John Rhys-Davies), the tall, herding ent suspects them to be �orc spies� and drops them at the foot of the White Wizard. Frodo and Sam have passed the Dead Marshes (the remains of the war against Sauron) and the circling Nazgul (this time- on flying dinosaurs!) and made it to the Black Gate. After a slight mishap of Sam falling off a rock, Frodo and Sam prepare to enter Mordor- only to be stopped by Gollum who claims to know another way in. And their journey continues. Meanwhile, inside Fangorn Forest, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli come face-to-face with the White Wizard- GANDALF! (After Legolas senses him in the woods, with his elvish characteristics, of course). The four then continue on to Edoras- after Gandalf summons his white horse, Shadowfax. By the time they arrive, Theodred has died. Gandalf removes Saruman from Theoden�s body with his newfound power. Grima Wormtongue is thrown out of the kingdom and flees for Isengard. King Theoden (who seems to have lost 60 years off his face!) decides to protect his people from war by seeking refuge at Helms Deep. And so Edoras and The Golden Hall empty and travel slowly along the river toward help. (On their journey, Aragorn has a dream- a fairly boring one- about Arwen). There are also brief scenes between Arwen and her father, Elrond, about leaving Rivendell to go to the Undying Lands. The species of elves flee, and the knowledge that Elrond made Aragorn �dump� Arwen is made known. Soon, the scene is back to Aragorn walking besides his horse chatting away with Eowyn, while Legolas is courageously leading the huddle and keeping prowl on spies. Of course, it is then that the wargs attack (these dog-like creatures). The women and children continue to Helms Deep while the men (and elf!) fight off the wargs. Insignificantly, Aragorn falls off a cliff, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, Legolas jumps backwards onto a horse to fight, and looks vewwi sad when he finds out about what happened to Aragorn. And so the men (or those who survived the wargs) go for Helms Deep. While this is happening, the Ring is brainwashing Frodo with its power and making him go nutto! Gollum is evolving into the mind of his former self as the three of them draw closer to another entrance into Mordor. Unknowingly, as they stop for a brief meal of rabbit stew and see an �Olyphant�, they are captured by captains of Gondor, Faramir (David Wenham), who happens to be Boromir�s brother. Gollum mysteriously disappears when Sam and Frodo and taken. Faramir holds them captive, and finds Gollum in the Forbidden Pool and uses Frodo to lure him in. Gollum then learns to distrust Frodo, and spills the beans about the Ring to Faramir. It becomes Faramir�s urge, just like Boromir�s, to keep the Ring for himself. And he takes Frodo and Sam and Gollum to Osgiliath, where the army of Mordor has settled for destruction. During this, Aragorn has been pushed ashore (ALIVE) and his horse has magically found him and returned him to Helms Deep. Here, Legolas speaks a lot of HOT Elvish, does a lot of smiling, and a lot of smirking! All of the women and children are hidden in the caves as the Uruk Hai from Isengard (10,000) march and approach the Wall of Helms Deep in the rain. And The Battle of Helms Deep begins! A bonus is the few hundred/thousand elves that joined the Edoras humans to fight. Many great war strategies are used in the battle, especially exceptional bow and arrow shots, sword swings, shield surfs, dazzling smiles and hair flips by Legolas. While the ents in Fangorn Forest debate whether of not to assist in the war, they discover a motive for starting a war of their own, with Isengard. It is so cool to see TREES destroying Isengard and flooding/burning it to the ground. So where�s Gandalf, do you ask? Well, he arrives in the nick of time, with Eomer and his Rohirrim to help with the struggle at Helms Deep. And, after a few mishaps such as: the wall being blown up by a suicide bomber, the gate being belted down, and the cave being invaded; they ride out into victory. And the hope lies with Frodo, who has just re-begun his journey to Mordor after being helpless at Osgiliath and almost killing himself by offering the Ring to a flying Nazgul. Finally, Gollum, who has a murderous plan, leads Frodo and his companion Sam into the wilderness. ONE WORD: Magical |
| ~Movie Review~ The Two Towers. |