Perfection – Part II of III
Disc 1 of 2
Nearly my entire childhood, this was my favorite LOTR solely because of the final battle. And since it’s dropped back and forth between two and three. It may climb back to the second-best, but I’m not sure yet.
Every bit of natural character growth, story development, and extended worldbuilding is present. Not to mention all of the new elements introduced and handled with such efficient grace. There’s such an elegance to these films, it astounds me every single time.
The true brilliance of the Two Towers is how it seamlessly switches between three storylines. Middle movies can make or break a trilogy with those (as can third films for their own reasons) but TTT perfects it in every conceivable way. There are no throwaway scenes or dialogue. It’s all intentional and the payoffs will be wondrous yet again.
Side note, I always forget the opening to this is one of the most epic prologues to dance across the cinema screen. Freaking cool. But then again, doesn’t that just sum up the entire trilogy?
Disc 2
What can be said that hasn’t already? Everything echoed from part 1 is here. The Boromir flashback expands on the subtleties of Faramir so much, that he becomes entirely three-dimensional while also retrospectively giving new shades to Boromir and expertly preparing us for Denethor and the politics of Gondor to come.
Helm’s Deep is still probably the best-directed battle sequence of all time. And most likely my favorite. There’s really only one competitor, and that’s to come soon. It’s also surrounded by phenomenal drama, and intercutting it with the doom of Osgiliath and the last March of the Ents is chill-inducing. I still laugh at the “toss me” moment, every single time. Not only are the stakes crazy high, the strong sense of camaraderie and overcoming of fear is inspiring, as is the scene of children being brought to fight sobering. War is cruel, but there’s always hope.
Theoden is such an underrated character. And Aragorn is still reminding me of what a brave man should be – and why Viggo was my first man crush.
I am still noticing the aging of some of the VFX, I think because of the remastering. Gollum is still a masterpiece visually that was light years ahead of its time.
Everything fades with time. Yet can still be timeless.
5 out of 5 stars
Read this review (disc 1) on Letterboxd
Read this review (disc 2) on Letterboxd