the lord of the rings the two towers gollum it burns

But when we see his face, up-close, his is instantly believable, and thoroughly sympathetic and compelling. Interestingly enough, Gollum himself is imperfect: his digital nature is often betrayed by his choppy, squirrelly movements in long shots. (l-r) Saruman (Christopher Lee) and Wormtongue (Brad Dourif): mobilizing their army towards Helm's Deep, in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

And, despite the giddy vastness of the sequences mentioned above, the greatest accomplishment of all is a guy named Gollum. But for every shortcoming, there is a triumph. 'Animated' objects (such as the Ents – the walking, talking 'tree creatures' mentioned above) sometimes look inorganic with their surroundings and backgrounds (the different 'layers' of the effect are obvious), and even basic compositing sometimes makes characters seem 'cut out', or 'flat' against a background of different texture or depth. 'Halo-ing' around character's hairlines (a little bit of green screen spill that makes for a sloppy composite) runs rampant here. Visual effects by WETA are generally top-notch, although observant viewers may catch a few pesky weaknesses suggesting the film's VFX team may have, simply, just run out of time. Orcs ride herds of horsy-sized helldogs into battle against our heroes. Armies of talking tree creatures tear into villain Saruman's lair, exacting primal revenge against those who have abused their brethren. Rarely (if ever) in the history of cinema have sequences of such magnitude been brought to the screen: tens-of-thousands of soldier-creatures storm an imposing fortress called Helm's Deep, where human refugees are holding out in fight for survival and freedom – a fanciful riff on the legendary Alamo. But such deficits are counterbalanced by the sheer audacity of the spectacle before us. Those who felt Fellowship's greatest triumph lay in its depth and characterization may find TTT a bit remote – more distancing, and not as uninvolving. Those who felt the first film meandered a bit will find The Two Towers much more tightly focused and hard-driving. With a two-hour and fifty-something minute running time, TTT is remarkably well paced, and is so texturally dense that several viewings may required just to take it all in. Where Fellowship shocked viewers with its unrelenting focus on character development and dramatic truth, such qualities are sidelined here in favor of propulsion and sheer grandeur.

They need worry no longer: The Two Towers is an accomplishment equal to its predecessor, but it succeeds in very different arenas.

The lord of the rings the two towers gollum it burns