The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (newmovietop.blogspot.com)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic fantasy film , written by J. R. R. Tolkien and directed by Peter Jackson. It is the second installment in The Lord of the Rings film series, preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and followed by The Return of the King (2003). This trilogy Considered to be one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, with an overall budget of $281 million the entire project took eight years, with the filming for all three films done simultaneously and entirely in New Zealand. The series was a major financial success, with the films collectively being among the highest-grossing film series of all time. The films were critically acclaimed and heavily awarded, winning 17 out of 30 total Academy Award nominations.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was highly acclaimed by critics and fans. It also considered as a one of the greatest fantasy film ever made. Like its previous The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), the film was a massive box office success, earning $926 million worldwide against its budget $94 million. The story continuing the plot of The Fellowship of the Ring, the film intercuts three storylines. Frodo and Sam continue their journey towards Morder to destroy the One Ring, meeting and joined by Gollum, the ring's former owner. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli come to the war-torn nation of Rohan and are reunited with the resurrected Gandalf, before fighting at the Battle of Helm's Deep. Merry and Pippin escape capture, meet Treebeard the Ent, and help to plan an attack on Isengard. The film won numerous accolades and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers directed by Peter Jackson, Produced byBarrie M. Osborne, Fran Walsh, and Peter Jackson.And music by Howard Shore, Edited by Michael Horton and Jabez Olssen and Cinematography by Andrew Lesnie. Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Stephen Sinclair, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. Film released in 5 December 2002 (New York City), 18 December 2002 in U.S.A and in 19 December 2002 in Wellington with 179 minutes running time.Here is the official movie trailer.

Plot

Frodo and Sam continue their journey to Mordor to destroy the One Ring where they attacked by Gollum, former owner of the Ring but they capture him and Frodo asks Gollum to lead them safely to Mordor, despite Sam’s objections. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue the Uruk-hai to save Merry and Pippin from them. The Uruk-hai are slaughtered by the Rohirrim army of Rohan, but the two Hobbits escape into Fangorn Forest where they meet the Ent Treebeard. Aragorn’s group later meet the Rohirrim and track Merry and Pippin to the forest and there they found Gandalf who perished in Moria, but was revived to help save Middle Earth.

 Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes whilst evading the Nazgûl. They reach the Black Gate to Mordor but Gollum stops them, saying it's too risky and that there is another entrance, finding himself becoming loyal to Frodo for his kindness.But later trio are captured by the Rangers of Ithilien, led by Faramir, brother of the late Boromir. Faramir discovers Frodo has the Ring, he intends on taking him to Gondor, capturing Gollum when Frodo exposes him. Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, and Gimli travel to Rohan’s capital Edoras. where Gandalf releases Théoden from Saruman’s power. Learning Saruman plans on wiping out Rohan with an army of Uruk-hai, Théoden decides to move his citizens to the protection of Helms deep, but Gandalf departs to find the Rohirrim led by Théoden's nephew Éomer. Aragorn strikes up a friendship with Théoden’s niece Éowyn who quickly falls in love with him. During a Warg attack, Aragorn falls off a cliff into a river, but is found by his horse and taken to Helm’s Deep.

In Fangorn, Merry and Pippin convinced Treebeard to participated in the war by the showing the destruction Saruman has unleashed on the forests around Isengard. The Ents storm Isengard and take Saruman captive. The Uruk-hai army arrive at Helm’s Deep, finding a makeshift army of peasants and Elves from Rivendell waiting for them. A great battle follows with Théoden losing hope until Aragorn convinces him to ride out and meet them. Gandalf and the Rohirrim arrive, turning the tide of the battle and destroying the Uruk-hai. (This battle considered as one of the greatest battle on the screen ever). Frodo, Sam, and Gollum are taken to the fallen Gondor city Osgiliath but they are attacked by the Nazgûl and Mordor army.

 Sam informs Faramir of how the Ring nearly drove Boromir mad, stunning Faramir. Frodo is nearly captured by the Nazgûl but Sam tackles him down a flight of stairs, prompting Frodo to nearly kill him until recognising him. After the attack ends, Faramir frees the trio and sends them on their way. Gollum, hurt by Frodo’s betrayal, decides to reclaim the Ring by leading Frodo and Sam to a creature he refers to as “her”, leading them away towards Mordor.

 Here is the Ending scene.

Cast

·         Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins

·         Sean Astin as Samwise "Sam" Gamgee

·         Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn

·         Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey

·         Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf

·         Liv Tyler as Arwen Undomiel

·         John Rhys-Davies as Gimli

·         Bernard Hill as Théoden

·         Billy Boyd as Peregrin "Pippin"

·         Miranda Otto as Éowyn

·         Hugo Weaving as Elrond

·         Andy Serkis as Gollum

·         Cate Blanchett as Galadriel

·         David Wenham as Faramir

(In the Battle of Helm's Deep, Peter Jackson has a cameo appearance as one of the men on top of the gate, throwing a spear at the attacking Uruk-hai.)

Production and filming

These two films became a trilogy under New Line, Jackson, Walsh and Boyens shuffled their scripts. Also they had a clear decision with making the Battle of Helm's Deep the climax, a decision affecting the whole story's moods and style. One notable change in plotting is that in the film Théoden is literally possessed by Saruman, whereas in the book he is simply depressed and deluded by Wormtongue. A larger change was originally planned: Arwen and Elrond would visit Galadriel, and Arwen would accompany an army of Elves to Helm's Deep to fight alongside Aragorn. During shooting, the script changed, both from writers coming up with better ideas to portray the romance between Aragorn and Arwen, as well as poor fan reaction. 

When Alan Lee joined the project in late 1997, Helm's Deep was the first structure he was tasked to design. At 1:35 scale, it was one of the first miniatures built, and part of the 45 minute video that sold the project to New Line. The film explores the armies of Middle-earth. John Howe was the basic designer of the forces of evil.

The Two Towers shared principal photography with The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King between 11 October 1999 to 22 December 2000. They went on for three months filming the Battle of Helm's Deep. The musical score for The Two Towers was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Howard Shore, who also composed the music for the other two films in the series. While the scores for its predecessor and sequel won the Academy Award for Best Score, the soundtrack for The Two Towers was not nominated.

Critical Response And Box office

Film released in 5 December 2002 (New York City), 18 December 2002 in U.S.A and in 19 December 2002 in Wellington with 179 minutes running time. The film was a massive box office success, earned $ 926 million worldwide against its budget $93 million. It was the highest grossing film of 2002 worldwide.

The Two Towers received critical acclaim and was one of 2002's best reviewed films. The film holds a 96% "Fresh" rating on the aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 246 reviews, with an average score of 8.5. The films holds a Metacritic score of 88 out of 100, based on 38 reviews, indicating "Universal Acclaim". And The Battle of Helm's Deep has been named as one of the greatest screen battles of all time. In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the film an average grade of "A".

Awards

The film won numerous accolades and was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing. In British Academy Film Awards: Best Costume Design, Best Special Visual Effects, Orange Film of the Year (voted on by the public).

Reference

1.Wikipedia “The Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers ”.

Author : Anuradha

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