Artist The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
Director Peter Jackson created something genuinely amazing with his three-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterwork. Epic in scale without losing a human touch, the films hewed more closely to the source novels than one might have thought possible for a Hollywood-bankrolled blockbuster trilogy. To live up to expectations, The Two Towers only had to be as good as its predecessor—and, astoundingly, it’s better. What makes Towers so staggering is the way it brings the full scope of Jackson’s adaptation into focus. Without missing a beat in three hours, the film shifts from epic to lyrical and back, portraying a harrowingly intense battle one moment, then pausing for a father’s grief over his son’s death the next. And, for all the attendant technophobia, it’s another technical masterpiece.
Updated 01/10/2012
