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

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

Peter Jackson

Writers (WGA):

J.R.R. Tolkien (novel)
Fran Walsh (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 December 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

A New Power Is Rising.

Plot:

Frodo and Sam continue on to Mordor in their mission to destroy the One Ring. Whilst their former companions make new allies and launch an assault on Isengard.

Plot Keywords:

Ring | Army | Mission | Middle Earth | Hobbit

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 65 wins & 76 nominations

Cast

Bruce Allpress	...	Aldor
Sean Astin	...	Sam
John Bach	...	Madril
Sala Baker	...	Man Flesh Uruk
Cate Blanchett	...	Galadriel
Orlando Bloom	...	Legolas Greenleaf
Billy Boyd	...	'Pippin' Took
Jed Brophy	...	Sharku / Snaga
Sam Comery	...	Éothain
Brad Dourif	...	Grima Wormtongue
Calum Gittins	...	Haleth
Bernard Hill	...	Theoden
Bruce Hopkins	...	Gamling
Paris Howe Strewe	...	Théodred - Prince of Rohan
Christopher Lee	...	Saruman the White

Also Known As:

Der Herr der Ringe - Die zwei Türme (Germany)
The Two Towers (USA) (short title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for epic battle sequences and scary images. (also special extended edition)

Runtime:

179 min | 223 min (special extended edition)

Country:

USA | New Zealand | Germany

Language:

English | Sindarin | Old English

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Manitoba/Ontario) (re-rating) (video) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) (original rating) | Malaysia:U | UK:12 (video rating) | UK:12A (original rating) | Hungary:14 | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-11 | Finland:K-15 (special extended edition) | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12 | Ireland:12 | Israel:PG | Italy:T | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Philippines:G | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #39418) | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Camperdown Studios, Camperdown Road, Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

The scene with the Uruk-hai before the Battle for Helms Deep starts, where they stomp their spears into the ground, was inspired by the same act the stuntmen would do between takes to pass time. After seeing it, Peter Jackson liked it, and put it in the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: Aragorn's sword disappears from his hand shortly before he falls off his horse, but reappears in its scabbard later.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Gandalf: You cannot pass!
Frodo: Gandalf!
Gandalf: I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. Go back to the shadow. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udun! You shall not pass!
Galadriel: The power of the enemy is growing. Sauron will use his puppet Saruman to destroy the people of Rohan. Isengard has been unleashed. The Eye of Sauron now turns to Gondor, the last free kingdom of men. His war on this country will come swiftly. He senses the Ring is close...

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Spaceballs: The Animated Series: Lord of the Onion Rings (#1.3)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Gollum's Song

The Greatest of the Three Rings

Yes, it's true. Return of the King may have won more of the Oscars as the culmination of Peter Jackson's magnificent cinematic achievement, but history will in fact adjudge "The Two Towers" as the greatest of the three Rings. If Fellowship was a road movie and ROTK was a friendship film, then Two Towers is an unadulterated war movie of heroic proportions. Peter Jackson said he based it on "Zulu"- and we can see why. It has a dramatic intensity and flow which none of the other films quite share. Good against evil are so sharply contrasted that you could cut your fingers on them. TTT also has the best score Howard Shore has produced. And it has the best dialogue.

The screenplay explains (with barely disguised contemporary resonance) what we are protecting in Western civilisation when we defend ourselves against those who would wish to destroy it. When Sam tells Frodo that there are "some things worth fighting for", when Merry tells Pippin that there "won't be a Shire" unless they do something about it, when King Theoden laments that "the sun has gone down in the West" this film could be entitled not the "Two Towers" but "the Twin Towers". It is Miltonic in its scope. It is cinema as art.

Yes, one may quibble about certain Entish details, and I know that the Elves weren't supposed to be at Helm's Deem, and that Faramir is a little undeveloped, but does this matter? Not at all. The Extended version is better than the original, but does not need to make such a quantum leap as Fellowship managed with its EE. However it will be a film that is seen as a landmark in cinema. A trilogy which may never be bettered. And a reminder of what we are all here for