The Lord Of The Rings And The Hobbit: Ranked From Worst To Best
3. The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers
Now were cooking. The Lord Of The Rings is Ages ahead of The Hobbit, with its prequel feeling like a watered down version of Peter Jacksons generation-defining trilogy. The Two Towers is the most drastically altered of the original three films in the transference from book to screen. Two of the novels focal plot points - Boromirs death and Frodos confrontation with Shelob - are moved to the other films in the trilogy. And yet it doesnt feel at all slight, with the continued balance of story and look feeling totally justified. The proper introduction of Gollum, a mix of groundbreaking CGI and Andys Serkis go-for-broke performance, could easily have overshadowed the rest of the film, but with the already well-drawn characters developed, new lands introduced and the action ramped up to jaw-dropping levels this stands as a remarkable sequel, a once more of the same and excitingly different. Where The Two Towers is weakened is by being a knowing middle entry. The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II are notable second films that rise above the rest of their trilogies thanks to not being made with the overall gameplan in mind (the grand scope of Star Wars and The Godfather wasnt decided at these respective points). The Two Towers, made explicitly as part two of three, is hampered slightly by having lots set-up, yet an inability to provide grand pay-off. This is far from a damaging issue, but when put against the sublime world-building of The Fellowship Of The Ring or resounding resolution of The Return Of The King, it cant help being the weakest film of the originals.
