Movies - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

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	Movies - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a film released on December 18, 2002, directed by Peter Jackson, with a runtime of 179 minutes. It is the second part of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, following The Fellowship of the Ring
and preceding The Return of the King
. It was adapted mostly from the second volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic literary fantasy, The Lord of the Rings
, by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. (In addition, Stephen Sinclair is credited as a writer: he worked briefly on the screenplay in 1997 before it was conceived as a stand-alone film). The movie was very well received critically and was an enormous box-office success, earning over $900 million worldwide (making it the fourth most successful film in history at the time of its release, ahead of its prequel).

Cast

In addition to many characters returning from the first film, The Two Towers features Éowyn, a noble lady of Rohan who yearns to be a warrior; Éomer, a stalwart Marshal of Rohan and brother to Éowyn; Théoden, a troubled king, uncle of Éowyn and Éomer; and his treacherous counsellor, Gríma Wormtongue. The human actors were supplemented by a number of special effects creatures including tree-like Ents, the pterodactyl-like flying steeds of the Nazgûl, and, especially, Gollum, widely acclaimed as the best fully realized CGI character in a live-action film up to that point. Many of his movements and facial expressions were modeled after the actor who provided his voice, Andy Serkis. Only glimpsed in the first film, Gollum here becomes a pivotal character with the potential to change the fate of the story's world. He wrestles with inner demons and becomes a source of friction in Sam and Frodo's previously unshakeable friendship.

Synopsis

The surviving members of the Fellowship of the Ring have split into three groups. Frodo and Sam face many perils on their continuing quest to save Middle-Earth by destroying the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Merry and Pippin escape from the Orcs and must convince the Ents to join the battle against evil. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas encounter a mysteriously transformed Gandalf and battle Saruman's army at Helm's Deep.

The Meaning of the Title

The title "The Two Towers" was chosen by Tolkien's publisher, Allen & Unwin, and its meaning is unclear. When Tolkien began designing dust jackets for the book, he found the task of designating the towers difficult. He first went with Barad-dûr and Minas Tirith (the whole city). Then he switched to Minas Morgul and Orthanc. Finally, he switched to the White Tower of Minas Tirith and Orthanc.

Tolkien once said, "The Two Towers gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books 3 & 4 and can be left ambiguous — it might refer to Isengard and Barad-dûr, or to Minas Tirith and B; or Isengard and Cirith Ungol." But later in life, Tolkien changed his mind again. He wrote in a letter, "I am not at all happy about the title The Two Towers. It must, if there is any real reference in it to Vol. II, refer to Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. But since there is so much made of the basic opposition of the Dark Tower and Minas Tirith, that seems very misleading."

Most people agree the title works for the novel because of the unique dual structure of the book. But the film had a completely different structure, and therefore the filmmakers had to be less ambigious. The previews, trailers, and Two Towers film all make it clear that in the movie version of Middle-earth, the two towers are definitively Orthanc and Barad-dûr.

Filming locations

Fictional Location	Specific Location in New Zealand	General Area in New Zealand
Plains of Rohan	Greenstone Station	Kinloch
Rohan	Poolburn Lake	Maniototo Plain
Edoras	Mount Sunday	Rangitata Valley
Dead Marshes	Kepler Mire	Te Anau
The Black Gate	Rangipo Desert	Lake Taupo
Helm's Deep	Hayward's Hill	Lower Hutt

Deviations from the source material

Jackson's The Two Towers differs from Tolkien's in several important ways. The Elves do not appear in the second book at all (with the exception of Legolas). Yet they are a major part of the film. Jackson felt it important to keep these characters from falling out of the story, as a major theme in both the books and the films is Middle-earth changing from an ethereal world of diversity to the more familiar world of mankind. In the books this largely happens "offstage", but Jackson needed to show it happening on screen.

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