‘Two Towers’ delivers an epic story

‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” is the second of three

films the began with the Golden Globe-nominated and AFI Award-winning

“The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”

“The Two Towers” follows the continuing quest of Frodo Baggins

(Elijah Wood) and the Fellowship that has joined together to

eradicate the dark power of the One Ring and confront the evil of

Sauron and Saruman (Christopher Lee).

Any time a book is adapted to film, you lose something in the

transfer; more so when adapting an epic of more than 1,000 pages.

However, director Peter Jackson and company have pulled it off in the

first and second installments of this trilogy.

In the first film, we met many of the principal characters as they

traveled together as a team. In this film, the entire team has split

into smaller parties, and explores different visually stimulating

locales.

If you are unfamiliar with Tolkien’s saga, you may wish to

familiarize yourself with it before attending this film. You should

certainly make sure to have seen the first film as this one starts

right where the last one ended.

Since it is the second of three films, it lacks a solid start and

finish. It is as much a cliffhanger as the first film, and you will

have a 12-month wait before the third part comes out.

Jackson expertly directs the action and has a knack for

envisioning the special effects and producing a superb end product.

The CGI/special effects in this film are flawless.

The Gollum character is complete animation, and will stand out in

your mind as more realistic than some of your neighbors. He is

definitely no Jar Jar Binks.

The ensemble of actors is equally flawless. This film seems to

involve much more dialogue and action than the first.

If there is any drawback to cramming so much into this film, it is

that we lose some of the focus on Wood’s Frodo. There are times in

the midst of scenes that you may find yourself wondering, “What about

Frodo?” And you may or may not get your answer when you want it.

There is no question in my mind that this film represents the

state of the art in film making today. Jackson pulls out all of the

stops. Even a full price ticket to this film is a bargain.

* RAY BUFFER, 33, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.