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The Two Towers (2002)
While Frodo and Sam edge closer to Mordor with the help of the shifty Gollum, the divided fellowship makes a stand against Sauron’s new ally, Saruman, and his hordes of Isengard.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Jackson, based on 1954’s The Two Towers, the second volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2001’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the film is the second instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, and Andy Serkis.
Continuing the plot of the previous film, it intercuts three storylines. Frodo and Sam continue their journey towards Mordor to destroy the One Ring, meeting and joined by Gollum, the ring’s former keeper. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli come to the war-torn nation of Rohan and are reunited with the resurrected Gandalf, before fighting against the legions of the treacherous wizard Saruman at the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Merry and Pippin escape capture, meet Treebeard the Ent, and help to plan an attack on Isengard, fortress of Saruman.
The Two Towers was financed and distributed by American studio New Line Cinema, but filmed and edited entirely in Jackson’s native New Zealand, concurrently with the other two parts of the trilogy. It premiered on 5 December 2002 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and was theatrically released on 18 December 2002 in the United States, and on 19 December 2002 in New Zealand.
The film was acclaimed by both critics and audiences, who considered it to be a landmark in filmmaking and an achievement in the fantasy film genre. It received praise for its direction, action sequences, performances, musical score, and CGI, particularly for Gollum. It grossed $936 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 2002 and the third highest-grossing film of all time at the time of its release, behind Titanic and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Following subsequent reissues, it has, as of 2021, grossed over $947 million.
Like the other films in the trilogy, The Two Towers is widely recognized as one of the greatest and most influential films ever made. The film received numerous accolades; at the 75th Academy Awards, it was nominated for six awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects. The final instalment of the trilogy, The Return of the King, was released in December 2003.
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The Two Towers (2002)Â Trailer
The Two Towers (2002)Â Reviews
To compress the labyrinthine story into a sentence or two, the enemy is Saruman (Christopher Lee), who commands a vast army of Uruk-Hai warriors against the fortress of Theoden (Bernard Hill). Aragorn joins bravely in the fray, but the real heroes are the computer effects, which create the castle, landscape, armies and most of the action.
There are long stretches of “The Two Towers” in which we are looking at mostly animation on the screen. When Aragorn and his comrades launch an attack down a narrow fortress bridge, we know that the figures toppling to their doom are computer-generated, along with everything else on the screen, and yet the impact of the action is undeniable. Peter Jackson, like some of the great silent directors, is unafraid to use his entire screen, to present images of wide scope and great complexity. He paints in the corners.
“The Two Towers” will possibly be more popular than the first film, more of an audience-pleaser, but hasn’t Jackson lost the original purpose of the story somewhere along the way? He has taken an enchanting and unique work of literature and retold it in the terms of the modern action picture.
If Tolkien had wanted to write about a race of supermen, he would have written a Middle-Earth version of “Conan the Barbarian.” But no. He told a tale in which modest little hobbits were the heroes. And now Jackson has steered the story into the action mainstream. To do what he has done in this film must have been awesomely difficult, and he deserves applause, but to remain true to Tolkien would have been more difficult, and braver.
- Roger Ebert –  Roger Ebert
- Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
If there is a primary quality needed to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings to the screen, it is vision – an attribute possessed in abundance by director Peter Jackson. In more than 100 years of motion pictures, few cinematic campaigns of this magnitude have been mounted. Not only has Jackson faced the daunting task of creating and populating an entirely new world based on Tolkien’s blueprint, but he has contended with the real-word rigors of a two-year shooting schedule and an initially nervous group of purse string holders.
The popular and critical success of The Fellowship of the Ring vindicated Jackson’s perseverance. Nevertheless, even as the Oscar nominations came pouring in, the director was moving on. The plaudits heaped upon the first installment would lose their luster if either of the succeeding episodes, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, failed to live up to expectations. And, considering the high ground occupied by The Fellowship of the Ring, the bar would be at an astronomical altitude for the other movies.
Of the three pieces of the Middle Earth puzzle, The Two Towers is the one with the biggest handicap. It is afflicted with the “middle chapter syndrome” – an inherent obstacle for the second episode of any trilogy. The Two Towers has no real beginning or end. (This is as true of the book as it is of the movie.) It takes situations and characters introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring and prepares them for The Return of the King. The trick is to immerse audiences “in the moment” and keep them from looking ahead – a daunting task, to be sure, but one that Jackson is up to.
In nearly every way that counts, The Two Towers is The Fellowship of the Ring‘s equal. In terms of tone, pacing, character development, plot advancement, and visual splendor, there is no drop-off. More importantly, the continuity is seamless (one advantage of filming the trilogy as a single project), allowing a viewer familiar with the first movie to flow effortlessly into the second. Of course, therein lies a drawback, as well.
The Two Towers cannot stand on its own. Familiarity with The Fellowship of the Ring is not just advisable, it is mandatory. Anyone attempting to watch The Two Towers without having seen (or read) the first installment is headed for confusion and disillusionment.
The Two Towers essentially picks up where The Fellowship of the Ring concludes, albeit following a short flashback to the battle between the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellan) and the Balrog. In the first movie, when Gandalf tumbles from the bridge, we see him disappear into the abyss. Here, however, we follow him as he and the Balrog tumble endlessly downward, continuing their struggle along the way. In the wake of his victory over his foe, Gandalf is reborn as a white wizard, and returns to the world above to re-unite with his former companions.
In the company of Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas the elf (Orlando Bloom), and Gimli the dwarf (John Rhys-Davies), the wizard heads for the city of Rohan, where he hopes to convince the king, Theoden (Bernard Hill), that war is upon his kingdom. At the same time, the hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd), having escaped from their orc captors, flee into the forbidding Fanghorn Forest, where they encounter Treebeard the Ent (voice of John Rhys-Davies), a giant shepherd of trees who decides to protect the two diminutive interlopers.
Meanwhile, to the East, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) find themselves lost on their way to Mount Doom. And, in addition to suffering from the physical difficulties of such an arduous journey, Frodo is beginning to show the strain of bearing the ring, with the Dark Lord Sauron’s baleful glare constantly seeking him. The creature Gollum (Andy Serkis), who has been following the hobbits, attempts to steal the ring from Frodo, but is subdued and captured. Thereafter, he reluctantly agrees to serve as Frodo and Sam’s guide and take them to Mordor.
Stodgy Tolkien purists who disliked some of the changes Jackson made to The Fellowship of the Ring may be outraged by what he and his screenwriters have done here. The Two Towers differs much more from its written inspiration than the first movie.
Yet, in tone and spirit, this remains very much Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, although altered in a manner that makes it more of a living, breathing cinematic endeavor rather than a point-by-point regurgitation (like the Harry Potter films). The movie version of The Two Towers also ends before the book does. Certain events that occur late in the novel will be incorporated into the beginning of the film adaptation of The Return of the King.
The stunning climax of The Two Towers is the battle of Helm’s Deep – a 30-minute spectacle that features the siege of a seemingly impregnable stone fortress by an army of 10,000 creatures of Sauruman (Christopher Lee). Inside that fortress is a small force of several hundred humans and elves, led by Aragorn, Theoden, Legolas, and Gimli. Although the attack occupies only a dozen pages of Tolkien’s novel, Jackson has transformed it into the centerpiece of the film – an amazing, heart-stopping battle against impossible odds.
And, while a huge special effects contribution is needed to make the battle such an awesome feast for the eyes, Jackson never lets the CGI work overwhelm the human element of what’s going on, and there are plenty of scenes in which costumes, set design, and makeup enflame our imaginations, not computer work.
Jackson has added dashes of mirth and romance to the film – two elements in short supply in the novel. Most of the humor, which is decidedly low-key, involves Gimli, who occasionally seems to be around as much for comic relief as anything else. For example, in the middle of the battle of Helm’s Deep, he is infuriated that his number of kills can’t keep pace with Legolas’. On the romantic front, Aragorn, who is promised to the elven princess Arwen (Liv Tyler), finds himself the object of attention for Theoden’s niece, Eowyn (Miranda Otto). This sets up a triangle.
The returning actors have grown nicely into their roles. There are changes, of course. Elijah Wood’s Frodo is haunted and weary, relying more upon Sam. Wood’s body language expresses the weight Frodo feels from bearing the ring. Mortensen’s Aragorn is a more heroic figure. Ian McKellan plays Gandalf with greater authority now that he has been transformed from a gray wizard to a white one.
Newcomer Bernard Hill brings a sense of authority to Theoden. Miranda Otto is regal and strong as Eowyn. Brad Dourif is the slimy Grima Wormtongue, the servant of Sauruman who speaks poison into Theoden’s ear. And, as Gollum, Andy Serkis (whose performance is overlaid with computer imagery) presents his twisted character as a strangely tragic and conflicted creature. We feel pity for Gollum.
The Two Towers starts out a little slowly, but the rousing second half, which gathers momentum like a boulder racing downhill, will leave audiences craving more when the end credits roll. Combined, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers represent one of the most engrossing and engaging six-hour segments of cinema I have ever enjoyed. If the final third of the puzzle is the equal of the first two, this will go down as one of the crowning achievements of cinema.
Like its predecessor, The Two Towers is a great motion picture, and not to be missed by anyone who appreciates fantasy adventure.
- A movie review by James Berardinelli
The Two Towers (2002) Credits
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
179 minutes
Cast
Elijah Wood as Frodo
Ian McKellen as Gandalf
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee
Billy Boyd as Pippin Took
Liv Tyler as Arwen Undomiel
Christopher Lee as Saruman
Brad Dourif as Grima Wormtongue
Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
Directed by
- Peter Jackson
Written by
- Peter Jackson
- Frances Walsh
- Philippa Boyens
- Stephen Sinclair
Based on the novel by
- J.R.R. Tolkien
The Two Towers (2002)Â Plot
Awakening from a dream of Gandalf fighting the Balrog in Moria, Frodo Baggins finds himself, along with Samwise Gamgee, lost in the Emyn Muil near Mordor. They discover that they are being tracked by Gollum, a former bearer of the One Ring. Capturing Gollum, Frodo takes pity and allows him to guide them, reminding Sam that they will need Gollum’s help to infiltrate Mordor.
Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue a band of Uruk-hai to save their companions Merry and Pippin, entering the kingdom of Rohan. The Uruk-hai are ambushed by a group of Rohirrim, allowing the Hobbits to escape into Fangorn Forest.
Meeting Aragorn’s group, the Rohirrim’s leader Éomer explains that he and his men have been exiled by Rohan’s king, Théoden, who is under the control of Saruman and his servant GrÃma Wormtongue. Éomer believes Merry and Pippin were killed during the raid but leaves the group two horses. Searching for the Hobbits in Fangorn, Aragorn’s group encounters Gandalf, who after his fight against the Balrog was resurrected as Gandalf the White to help save Middle-earth.
Gandalf leads the trio to Rohan’s capital, Edoras, where Gandalf frees Théoden from Saruman’s control. Aragorn stops Théoden from executing Wormtongue, who flees. Learning of Saruman’s plans to destroy Rohan with his Uruk-hai army, Théoden evacuates his citizens to the fortress of The Hornburg at Helm’s Deep.
Gandalf departs to find Éomer and his followers, hoping they will fight for their restored king. Aragorn befriends Théoden’s niece, Éowyn, who becomes infatuated with him. When the refugees travelling to Helm’s Deep are attacked by Saruman’s Warg-riding Orcs, Aragorn falls from a cliff and is presumed dead. He is found by his horse Brego and rides to Helm’s Deep, witnessing Saruman’s army marching to the fortress.
In Rivendell, Arwen is told by her father Elrond that Aragorn will not return. He reminds her that if she remains in Middle-earth, she will outlive Aragorn by thousands of years, and she reluctantly departs for Valinor. Elrond is contacted by Galadriel of Lothlórien, who convinces him that the Elves should honour their alliance to men, and they dispatch an army of Elves to Helm’s Deep.
In Fangorn, Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard, an Ent. Convincing Treebeard that they are allies, they are brought to an Ent Council, where the Ents decide not to take part in the coming war. Pippin asks Treebeard to take them in the direction of Isengard, where they witness the deforestation caused by Saruman’s war effort. Enraged, Treebeard and the Ents storm Isengard, trapping Saruman in his tower.
Aragorn arrives at Helm’s Deep, bringing word that Saruman’s army is close and Théoden must prepare for battle despite being vastly outnumbered. The army of Elves from Lothlórien arrives, as does Saruman’s army, and a battle ensues. The Uruk-hai breach the outer wall with explosives and during the ensuing charge kill the Elves’ commander, Haldir.
The defenders retreat into the keep, where Aragorn convinces Théoden to meet the Uruk-hai in one last charge. At dawn, as the defenders are overwhelmed, Gandalf and Éomer arrive with the Rohirrim, turning the tide of the battle. The surviving Uruk-hai flee into Fangorn Forest and are killed by the Ents. Gandalf warns that Sauron will retaliate.
Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes to the Black Gate, but recommends they enter Mordor by another route. Frodo and Sam are captured by Rangers of Ithilien led by Faramir, younger brother of the late Boromir. Frodo helps Faramir catch Gollum to save him from being killed by the Rangers. Learning of the One Ring, Faramir takes his captives to Gondor to bring the ring to his father Denethor.
Passing through the besieged city of Osgiliath, Frodo tries to explain to Faramir the true nature of the ring, and Sam explains that Boromir was driven mad by its power. A Nazgûl nearly captures Frodo, who falls under the ring’s power, but Sam saves him and reminds him that they are fighting for the good still left in Middle-earth. Impressed by Frodo’s resolve, Faramir releases them. Gollum decides he will betray Frodo and reclaim the Ring by leading the group to “Her” upon arriving at Cirith Ungol.
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The Two Towers (2002)Â Box office
The Two Towers opened in theaters on 18 December 2002. During its opening day, the film grossed $26 million, making it the second-highest opening Wednesday, behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. It earned $62,007,528 in its opening weekend in the US and Canada, becoming the fifth-highest opening weekend of that year, behind Austin Powers in Goldmember, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Spider-Man. The film then made $101.5 million during its five-day Wednesday opening.
Outside the US and Canada, The Two Towers made $99.4 million from 25 territories during its opening weekend, which made it the highest international opening weekend. The combined total opening weekend gross increased to $189.9 million, making it the highest worldwide opening weekend of all time. The film would hold both records until 2003 when they were given to The Matrix Reloaded and its successor The Matrix Revolutions respectively.
The Two Towers set opening day records in Germany, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and Norway, as well as a single-day record in Denmark. It then made opening weekend records in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Mexico, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and South Korea.
The film went on to gross $339,789,881 in North America and $596,899,854 internationally for a worldwide total of $936,689,735 against a budget of $94 million. The Two Towers was the highest-grossing film of 2002 worldwide.[49] Box Office Mojo estimates over 57 million sold tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run.
Through re-releases in 2003, 2011, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021, the film has grossed an additional $2,761,484 in the United States and Canada, and $8,043,876 overseas for a combined total of $10,805,360. This brings overall earnings to $342,551,365 domestic and $604,943,730 international for a worldwide total of $947,495,095.
The Two Towers (2002) Critical Response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Two Towers holds an approval rating of 95% based on 255 reviews, with an average rating of 8.50/10.
The website’s critics consensus reads, “The Two Towers balances spectacular action with emotional storytelling, leaving audiences both wholly satisfied and eager for the final chapter.” Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, has assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, indicating “universal acclaim”. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale, a grade up from the “A−” earned by the previous film.
Like its predecessor, The Two Towers was released to universal critical acclaim. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, describing it as “one of the most spectacular swashbucklers ever made”, and stating “It is not faithful to the spirit of Tolkien and misplaces much of the charm and whimsy of the books, but it stands on its own as a visionary thriller”.
Nev Pierce for the BBC gave the film four stars out of five, and wrote that while it lacked “the first film’s wow-factor”, it surpassed The Fellowship of the Ring “in terms of wit, action and narrative drive”. Pierce described Gollum as “the first believable CG character” and the Battle of Helm’s Deep as “one of the finest, most expansive combat sequences ever filmed”.
Writing for The Observer, Philip French described The Two Towers as a “stunning visual epic”. French commended the battle scenes and the visual style of the film, relating it to the paintings of “Caspar David Friedrich, the Pre-Raphaelites, Art Nouveau illustrations for children’s books, and the apocalyptic biblical landscapes … of the Victorian visionary John Martin”.
He concluded the review looking forward to the release of the final chapter, writing “This is likely to be happier, more decisive and infinitely more satisfying than anything that will happen to our world in the next 12 months.”
Joe Morgenstern for The Wall Street Journal lauded the narrative construction of The Two Towers: “Elaborate preparations are required for the payoff in this installment — the massing of troops plus much individual struggle as splintered groups of the Fellowship make their separate ways toward the defining battle of Helm’s Deep … Yet these preparations count as payoffs too … Seldom has a popular entertainment set its stage so carefully or evocatively, with such lavish respect for its audience.”
Morgenstern also highlighted the digital effects and the battle scenes, and said of the series “The Lord of the Rings continues to stake its singular claim on movie history; it’s a gift of epic proportions.”
In his review for the Evening Standard, Alexander Walker wrote that the Battle of Helm’s Deep was “probably the greatest battlepiece composed for the screen since Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible“, and that with The Two Towers the trilogy had achieved “a majestic proportion, chivalric and quixotic, earthly and magical, an experience that reaches beyond the dimensions of the cinema screen and somehow reflects the global unease of the world in the first years of the 21st century”.
In his review for Newsweek, David Ansen commended Jackson’s direction of the battle scenes, writing “Few people can stage a battle — and the eyepopping siege of Helms Deep is one of the most spectacular you’ll ever see — with such sweep and clarity that the carnage doesn’t seem an oppressive end in itself”. Ansen also praised the complexity of the character of Gollum, commenting “While everyone else in Tolkien’s myth falls neatly into the camps of Good and Evil, the self-lacerating Gollum is at war with himself.
In an epic drenched in medievalism, he’s the dangerously ambiguous voice of the modern.” Caroline Westbrook, for Empire, gave the film five stars out of five, and wrote “It may lack the first-view-thrill and natural dramatic shape of Fellowship, but this is both funnier and darker than the first film, and certainly more action-packed. An essential component of what is now destined to be among the best film franchises of all time.”
Westbrook lauded Jackson’s ability to temper the spectacular scenes “with some heartstring-tugging moments – peasants despondent as they are forced to abandon their villages, Aragorn and Arwen’s troubled relationship, and, of course, the return of Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen, superb as ever), one of the film’s most powerful, memorable images that may well leave Ring devotees a little misty-eyed.”
A less enthusiastic review was written in The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw, who had already written a mixed review of The Fellowship of the Ring. Bradshaw gave The Two Towers three stars out of five, appreciating it as “a very watchable, distinctive, if over-extended FX spectacle”. However, he commented that the film could not be taken as “a serious evocation of good and evil”, and dismissed the subject as “lots and lots of interminable nerdish nonsense”.
The Battle of Helm’s Deep has been named by CNN as one of the greatest screen battles of all time, while Gollum was named as the third favourite computer-generated film character by Entertainment Weekly in 2007.
The Two Towers (2002)Â Accolades
- Academy Awards
- Winner: Best Visual Effects (Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke) and Best Sound Editing (Ethan Van der Ryn and Michael Hopkins).
- Nominee: Best Picture (Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair and Peter Jackson, producers), Best Art Direction (Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Alan Lee), Best Film Editing (Michael J. Horton) and Best Sound (Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek).
- British Academy Film Awards: Best Costume Design, Best Special Visual Effects, Orange Film of the Year (voted on by the public)
- Empire Awards: Best Picture
- Grammy Awards: Best Score (Howard Shore)
- Hugo Awards (World Science Fiction Society): Best Dramatic Presentation — Long Form
- 2003 MTV Movie Awards: Best virtual performance (Gollum)
- Saturn Awards: Best Fantasy Film, Best Costume (Ngila Dickson), Best Supporting Actor (Andy Serkis)
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