Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The miracle is that 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is better: tighter, smarter, funnier.

Time Richard Corliss

Towers, while not quite so varied as Fellowship in its moods and settings, has a grave gusto that energizes every moment...a thrilling work of film craft.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The Two Towers moves faster, covers more ground, has more action and -- with the introduction of the marvelous character Gollum -- packs some much-appreciated laughs.

Film Threat Chuck Russel

Thank you, Mr. Jackson for pushing film into a new age -- Ladies and gentleman, we have our new directing God!

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Like its predecessor, The Two Towers is a great motion picture, and not to be missed by anyone who appreciates fantasy adventure.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Jackson has a genuine epic gift: Few filmmakers have ever given gross-outs such resplendence.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

One fabulous Middle-earth show.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Gripping, whole and nourishing. Certainly of the fantasy film series currently in American theaters -– I include "Harry Potter and the Secret Toity" and "Star Trek: Halitosis" -– The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the best, and not by just a little.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Moviegoers should be almost as entranced by the teeming, glorious landscapes and dark, bloody battlegrounds of Two Towers: astonishing midpoint of an epic movie fantasy journey for the ages.

Newsweek David Ansen

What's remarkable is how immediately, after a full year, The Two Towers seizes your attention, and how urgently it holds you through three seamless, action-packed hours.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Casts a spell and then some -- a ringing testament to the power of motion pictures.

Film Threat Eric Campos

There’s no question here that moviegoers will be treated to a completely enveloping, three-hour vacation from reality.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The result is harrowing and inspiring. As escapist entertainment, it's the movie of the year.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

What makes Towers so staggering is the way it brings the full scope of Jackson's adaptation into focus. Without missing a beat in three hours, the film shifts from epic to lyrical and back.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A brilliantly conceived, boldly executed, cumulatively thrilling fantasy epic that expands the art of film and is sure to be the middle link of one of the movies' greatest trilogies.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

You will be heartened by the amazing sensation of watching one of the greatest works in the history of the medium unfold in front of you, piece by piece, year by year.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The virtues of Jackson's trilogy, thus far, have been pace and astonishment, which is almost the same thing. [6 January 2003, p. 90]

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

One of cinema's most absorbing fantasies.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Yes, there are some "middle-chapter" problems, but Peter Jackson's Tolkien adaptation hasn't lost its devastating humanity, its heart-stopping cinematography or its epic sweep.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Never has a film so strongly been a product of a director's respect for its source. Mr. Jackson uses all his talents in the service of that reverence, creating a rare perfect mating of filmmaker and material.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

The year's greatest adventure, and Jackson's limited but enthusiastic adaptation has made literature literal without killing its soul.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Has a sharper narrative focus and a livelier sense of forward movement than did the more episodic "Fellowship."

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

God forbid this should ever play on an IMAX screen -- the concussive soundtrack and relentless visuals would likely strike viewers deaf and blind (but what a way to go!). Simply breathtaking.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Epic battles, spectacular effects and multiple story lines make The Two Towers a most excellent middle chapter in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

For now, The Two Towers feels like the second installment in what next year, when Frodo finally reaches Mount Doom and the story draws to a close, we'll surely be hailing as a masterpiece.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Most moviegoers will leave buzzing about the climactic Battle of Helm's Deep. But in my eyes, this is Gollum's show more than anyone else's, even the special-effects wizards behind the scenes.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

What it comes down to is superbly staged battle scenes and moral alliances forged in earnest yet purged of the wit and dynamic, bristly ego that define true on-screen personality.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

An outstanding effort that maintains the integrity and purpose that distinguished "The Fellowship of the Ring."

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Jackson's superior sequel to last year's first installment in his Rings cycle - resurrects the beloved Gandalf (majestic Ian McKellen) and rejuvenates the audience, too.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

The sequel's battle scenes -- especially the climactic assault on the Helm's Deep fortress by the armies of darkness -- easily put those of the "Star Wars" series to shame.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Both a triumph of design and cinematic engineering and, at the same time, long, repetitious and naive.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A rousing adventure, a skillful marriage of special effects and computer animation, and it contains sequences of breathtaking beauty. It also gives us, in a character named the Gollum, one of the most engaging and convincing CGI creatures I've seen.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Spectacular in every sense of the word, even if you don' t know an Orc from a Uruk-Hai.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Seeing Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is like having a second date with the woman who made you fall in love at first sight.

LA Weekly Russel Swensen

Falters precisely because there's not enough stumbling, and far too much striding gallantly forward.

Slate David Edelstein

A glorious, visceral mess -- The film is, by most criteria, an ungainly piece of storytelling. Yet it sweeps you up and hurtles you along like water from an exploded dike.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Jackson's movie is one portentous happening after another -- not unreasonable in that his source, J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy, is basically the fantasyland equivalent of a world war against absolute evil.

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

If the second film never reaches the highs of the first -- we have met the players before and there are no new worlds of wonder -- it nonetheless invests moviegoing with a sense of adventure.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This second installment is heavy on battle sequences, which will thrill some viewers more than others.