2002, PG-13, 179 minutes

I decided to wait to see this film until it had already been in theaters for a few weeks, that way I could distance myself from the hype and fanatics and view it from an objective standpoint. While it's no secret that I felt The Fellowship of the Ring was one of the most overrated movies in years and was bored by the repetitive second half, I'm pleased to report that The Two Towers is better than its predecessor. The film may not have nearly as much suspense as the first one, but overall it's more competently structured and far less pretentious (meaning more story and less on-the-nose philosophy).

Beginning where the last film left off, The Two Towers clearly benefits from already having its characters and world introduced, allowing us to jump right into the story. Also, because the characters have been separated, it is necessary for there to be three separate storylines throughout, which helps to speed up the pace and boost the suspense by cutting away at a few crucial moments. In fact, even though the runtime is nearly three hours long, it feels shorter than the last film because the story is always advancing; and whereas last time the end was merely a setup, Towers has a sense of culmination and ultimately delivers with an epic battle.

As for the big battle, the sheer volume of it is impressive; however, what I appreciated most was the limited and restrained use of special effects by Peter Jackson. Don't get me wrong - this film is overflowing with computer generated images, but when it comes down to the actual fighting, you can tell there are real actors in costumes as opposed to only a few people set against a blue screen (ala George Lucas). On the other hand, when special effects are employed, some of them are a little corny and video game-ish from time to time, but not nearly as distracting as most movies that attempt to accomplish such tasks.

Mentioning special effects, I haven't even mentioned Golem - the much talked about CGI character that puts Jar Jar Binks to shame. While he doesn't look real, as some fans would have you believe, he sure looks better than any other digital character I've seen. More importantly, he actually has character rather than being an annoying distraction, and he was as much fun to watch as anyone else. To be honest, the storyline with Golem, Frodo and Sam is probably the most interesting of the three, which is funny given that it's the most simplistic and down-to-earth (or Middle Earth).

By nature, some of us are born fantasy fans and others, like myself, tend to be realists. I could never quite enter the world of The Lord of the Rings and get wrapped up in it completely, and therefore it would be impossible for me to love this film the way many people do/will. That said, I can still attempt to compare them objectively, and overall I'd say The Two Towers is an improvement simply because it provides more of a payoff, although it's best moments weren't quite as good as the best moments offered in The Fellowship of the Ring. If you liked the first film you'll like this one, and probably the next one too.