The Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers (DVD 2003)

Peter Jackson did it – where others crashed before him – he has brought Tolkien’s world to life. Hence The Lord of the Ring is not a film trilogy, it is an epic, it is a legend.

There were, in ancient times, epics and legends that were sung and played by bards and poets traveling from town to town. Those stories were full of heroes and adventures, and their purpose was to give people a sense of good and evil, a sense of honor, dignity, loyalty, honesty and righteousness. The Lord of the Ring is a modern version of such epics. It serves the same purpose, and in a society where we have lost the sense of enchantment and magic (not to speak about righteousness), it deserves the same attention.

The naïve innocence of some heroes (the Hobbits) can be arguable in credibility: one has to be sly to defeat evil, naivety hardly pays in any society, and it does not protect against evil. As for the script, in spite of the narrative inherited from the book it seems the films constantly need to create new villains, challenges and battles to keep you out of breath. But the mastery with which all this is crafted and directed is a flawless enchantment all throughout. The universe of Tolkien recreated in CGI is like a long stream of dazzling sceneries and creatures that can beat the wildest imaginations – that in itself shouldn’t be missed. (And when Liv Tyler in immortal Elvish Princess tells Viggo ‘I would rather share a lifetime with you than face all the Ages of this world alone,’ Oh boys! have a wish she says that to you.)

So, you’re in for a deep journey across a world of fantasy and enchantment, with the most spectacular effects and battles you’ve ever seen. And if you like the genre, the three parts are to be seen as one to make sense – they gain in intensity and rival in quality.