Maquiladora: Warning! Spoilers everywhere, describes the ending of the movie!

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS ( 2002 )

" A true cinematic masterpiece! "

What seemed like an eternity after Fellowship Of The Ring was released into theaters, The Two Towers, the second story/book in The Lord Of The Rings saga will be released onto the masses late this month. In an extraordinary turn of events I was able to experience The Two Towers in it's entirety at the very first Southern California screening today.

Let's dive right into the magic and lore that can only be The Lord Of The Rings...

With so much excitement filling my heart as I sat and watched the title screen take form on screen, I had to calm myself for the coming adrenaline rush. As the old broken logo "Lord Of The Rings" logo, as seen at the beginning of Fellowship, formed onto the screen and the music swelled, the audience clapped in admiration for what they were about to experience.

The mountains of Caradhras then appeared on screen. We heard remnants of when the fellowship was trapped along side of the mountainside as Saruman tried to bring the mountain down. Then, BAM! We were transported deep inside the mines of Moria where we see Gandalf The Grey (at a different perspective from that in Fellowship) defying the likes of the Balrog. Gandalf yells the famous words "You shall not pass", at that point the Balrog is then plunged into the black depths of the mines. Gandalf, is of course, pulled into the pit as well as the Balrog's whip latches onto Gandalf's leg.

From this point, we now follow Gandalf into a free falling scene, where Gandalf draws his sword, Glamdring, and plunges the blade deep into the Balrog as they fall. Then comes one of the coolest sequences of events in fantasy film history.

With a barrage of scenes hitting the screen, we are clued into how Gandalf The Grey becomes Gandalf The White...but first we are treated to a few battle scenes between Gandalf and the Balrog. The Balrog is defeated, but we don't actually see it onscreen until a storytelling sequence later in the movie when Gandalf returns to join Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in their quest. When the Balrog is defeated, one of the most goose bump inducing scenes ever seen unfolds onscreen as the Balrog's fire is put out and put to rest forever.

The first 30 minutes of the movie moved very quickly, in which a good third of the book, from which the movie was adapted, is ripped through, giving the basics of the plot, and the whereabouts of each character as we had left them at the end of The Fellowship Of The Ring.

The movie follows the fellowship by cutting between the 3 stories of the separated groups. It starts with Frodo & Sam as they journey to Mordor. We get a glimpse of the fires of Mordor from far away. Frodo, carrying the weight of the ring, and Sam commenting on how the only place in Middle-earth you don't want to go, is the only place they were trying to get into!

We then get a few sequences of Aragorn, Legolas, & Gimli tracking the group of Urk-hai that had taken Merry & Pippin. Many things straight out of the book ensue, and within a very short amount of time the two hobbits escape the clutches of the Uruk-hai...but we are led to believe that they didn't. A great cinematic tactic to keep fans of the movie guessing who have not read the book.

Nightfall comes to all parties, in which we turn back to Frodo & Sam who have Gollum to reckon with. Gollum, trying to steal The One Ring back, scuffles with the hobbits a bit and becomes tied and bound by Samwise Gamgee.

When Gollum appeared onscreen for the first time, the CGI blew me away. NOTHING that has ever been computer generated to act out scenes with human actors has ever looked this good. Gollum fit right into the background, the foreground, and everything in between when it came to key sequences that included his character. Even as Frodo & Sam both wrestled Gollum to the ground in his introductory sequence, in which both live action characters beat extremely hard on the CGI character, the CGI Gollum stood the ultimate test of blending in. Forget CGI Yoda, Jar-Jar Binks, and Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets' "Dobby", WETA Digital have outdone themselves with Gollum. Absolute beauty.

Right about here in the film, we are introduced to King Theoden, Eomer, Eowyn, and the vile Wormtongue. They all ensue in a power struggle which ends up leading to Eomer's banishment from Rohan. King Theoden seems to be under a spell, cast by the likes of Saruman The White. King Theoden makes no decisions of his own, and is puppeteered by Grima Wormtongue. This spell is lifted later in the film when Gandalf The White, and the others of the fellowship show up to Rohan.

Back with Aragorn, Legolas, & Gimli, the group are surrounded by The Riders Of Rohan, in which they reveal that the two Hobbits they seek were no where to be found in the dead pile of Uruk-hai that was killed the previous night by the Riders. Leaving the fellowship, the Riders move onward, and the fellowship starts to give up hope of finding their friends...that is until the skills of Aragorn, one of the greatest rangers of all time, come into play. Aragorn starts tracking the trail and the happenings of the previous nights' activities of the Hobbits. Flashback sequences are then revealed and the audience is enlightened as to how the Orcs & Uruk-hai argued about eating the fresh meat that was the Hobbits, and how Hobbits in turn escaped their grasp. From this flashback, we then follow the Hobbits into Fangorn Forrest, we meet the almighty Treebeard as he stomps out an Orc that was on their tail.

Now, of course my review can't go on forever like this as I will give away the entire movie, but I do want to mention some keys moments in the film that stood out from the events in the book, as well as things that were changed to enhance the overall viewing experience and story telling of The Lord Of The Rings in cinematic form.

A key sequence which I thought was absolutely brilliant in the film is the spilt personality of Gollum. There is a sequence in the movie where Frodo, being the master of the ring, has gotten Gollum to obey his orders and lead them to the black gates of Mordor. Gollum, willingly obeys Frodo, but when the Hobbits sleep, Gollum struggles with a sort of split personality. That of "Gollum" and that of "Smeagol", which Frodo reminded him to who he was before he came into possession of the ring early on in the film. In the sequence, "Gollum", who acts as the mischievous devil, argues in a shot by shot conversation with "Smeagol", who wants to do good by the Hobbits.

I felt this was a great way to delve deeper into the psych of Gollum, and to deliver to the audience who he was before the ring rotted his mind for 500 years. From what I can tell, this sequence will hopefully lead very well into a scene I hope to see in Return Of The King or the extended edition of The Two Towers, that we've all seen pictures of with Smeagol & Deagol sitting in a boat long ago just before Smeagol got hold of the ring.

After seeing trailers and clips from The Two Towers. I like everyone else, was very skeptical about the love triangle between Aragorn, Arwen, and Eowyn. Though, after seeing the film, my qualms have been put to rest. The love story is shown through a sequence of flashbacks, flash forwards, and present events. Aragorn and Eowyn do take a liking to each other, but it never really reaches beyond the point of some low level courting. And even when the courting commences, Aragorn can do nothing but to think of Arwen, who in a flashback sequence, is shown supposedly leaving the shores into the undying realm after the fellowship left Rivendell. We also see moments of Elrond giving his daughter the advice to move on as she would only see her love in Aragorn die because of her immortality.

As Elrond spoke of his daughters troubles, a really interesting flash forward was brought into the story as Arwen saw herself at Aragorn's graveside. If anything, the love story served as a testament to the love that Aragorn and Arwen share for each other.

Treebeard and the Ents of Fangorn are another example of the wizardry that special effects company, WETA Digital, possess. When you see Treebeard for the first time you will realize the brute strength and power of the oldest creature in Middle-earth. Being a huge talking tree with a beard, one would think that Treebeard might be a cheesy character onscreen. Quite the contrary. Treebeard, being from the dark greenish brown forest of Fangorn is somewhat shrouded in mystery. He blends so well with the forest that the only time we really get to see him in full action is he is moving, or we get a close up on his eyes and mouth.

One thing I found to be different pace wise was the placement of the Ent battle at Isengard. In the book, this event happens in the middle of the book and seems like ancient history once we get to Shelob, but in the movie we get the Ent battle dead last. This makes complete sense as the to final battles of the film seem to happen concurrently onscreen. This would also make sense for the chapters of the book that are supposed to coincide as well, but the nature of the way the stories are split in The Two Towers made this stand out in the movie as I watched.

When Frodo, Sam, and Gollum reach the Black Gates Of Mordor they watch men who supposedly serve Sauron enter into the gates. This is obviously different from the book, and I cannot see why or how they fit in as of yet. These men are also present in a scene where they ride Oliphants as Frodo & Sam watch, just before their capture by Faramir.

Speaking of Faramir, in the book I got the feeling that Faramir had more integrity then his brother Boromir, but in the movie the essence of Faramir comes in right where Boromir's left off, as a slightly weary soldier who believes the ring will help his people win the battle against Sauron and his forces. Faramir holds his stature until the very end, where in an extraordinary change in character, releases Frodo & Sam, and gives his life to do so.

I felt that this change in character was very odd, considering that he was so unwilling to let Frodo & Sam go the entire time he held them captive, yet, at the slight comparison by Samwise to his corrupted brother, Faramir has a change of heart, puts his own life on the line, and lets them go. To me, the chnge seemed too drastic.

In the book, Tolkien describes a scene where the fellowship has to hide from the likes of what they suspect to be a Ringwraith, riding something big, black, winged, and flying throughout the night sky in search for The One Ring. The movie emphasizes their wrath, and brings their images to life.

The Ringwraiths ride what looks to be a giant dragon like figure, with a long neck, long tail, and massive wing span throughout the realm of Mordor. These creatures and the Ringwraiths that ride them are very menacing, and extend the fear that the Ringwraiths brought on horses in the first movie, into the second. I think fans of the movie and the book will both be very impressed as to how these mysterious beings are portrayed onscreen.

Another key sequence in the movie that was apart from the story in the book was a scene in which the people of Rohan are making their way to the solitude of the Helm's Deep fortress, are attacked by Orcs riding nasty looking creatures called Wargs. During the battle, Aragorn knocks an Orc off his Warg and ends up riding the Warg to the end of a cliff where they both go over the edge! After a moment of grief, King Theoden, Legolas, and the others accept Aragorn's fate and press on to Helm's Deep.

Aragorn is later seen floating down a river face up, where he seems to be passed out. The memory or spirit of Arwen wakes him, and he travels back to the fortress of Helm's Deep.

This really seemed unnecessary, but now that I look back at that particular scene in the movie, I felt it did add some depth to the caring of one another in the fellowship, and how their friendship has grown since the first movie. Legolas, Gimli, Eowyn, and King Theoden were very distraught over the apparent loss, and very enthralled once Aragorn made his way back.

Where as Hobbits, Merry & Pippin, were used as the tension breakers in Fellowship of The Ring, The Two Towers used Gimli, the dwarf, throughout the film as comic relief. From the playful taunting with Legolas, to the remarks Gimli would make during his Uruk-hai slaying, Gimli's character was used to break a lot of the tension and lessen the seriousness of a situation.

Do we want to see Gimli, representing all dwarves of Middle-earth, as comic relief? does is degrade the society of dwarves? These are questions that kept coming up, but after some thought, I feel that it was alright for Gimli to be used as a tension breaker in this film since we spend the most time with him, Legolas, & Aragorn in the film. Hobbits, Merry & Pippin, took on a much more serious tone in this film which lended more creditability to their characters and character traits. I think as long as Return Of The King doesn't use Gimli TOO much as the "funny man", we'll be able to see Gimli from all angles, as we do now with Merry & Pippin.

One of my absolute favorite parts of Fellowship Of The Ring is the prologue sequence. With The Two Towers we are treated to a sort of prologue which happens in the middle of the film. Just before things get rolling in Helm's Deep, a flashback happens where we get to see a conversation between elves Lady Galadriel and Elrond. During the scene Galadriel gives Elrond as well as the audience a rundown of where things stand at that point with Saruman, Sauron, the ring bearer, the fellowship, and Middle-earth.

Although this narration happens within the middle of the film, not a beat is missed. It's fits right into the story up to that point, and transitions beautifully into the next. Plus, for the people that aren't jaded by knowing everything from the book (like myself) it catches them up to speed with a lot of the meat of the plot that one wouldn't know if they didn't read the books.

This scene also serves for a greater purpose. By adding this conversation in between the head of Elves of different regions of Middle-earth, it makes more sense as to why Elves, led by Elf Haldir, come to assist the people of Rohan in the battle of Helm's Deep instead of rangers as it was portrayed in the book. Elrond made a decision, and that decision was to help.

As we've all seen from the trailers, the battle of Helm's Deep is absolutely massive. If someone never told you there was CGI in these sequences, you'd NEVER, EVER know it. It is absolutely seamless. Beautiful in every respect...even though it is the carnage of battle. The battle of Helm's Deep will amplify what you think you know about the struggle of the free peoples of Middle-earth and then some.

Not having yet read Return Of The King, knowing the end of The Two Towers book, anticipating how the filmmakers were gonna end the movie, and seeing what actually happened was baffling, but made sense in the end. The ending of the film consisted of 3 parts, all of which concluded the stories of each member of the fellowship.

In the end, Frodo, Sam, & Gollum are taken to Gondor where Orcs are already attacking the city. In the aforementioned change of heart that Faramir has, he releases Frodo, Sam, & Gollum back into the wild to complete their mission. Before they leave, Frodo, being controlled by the ring, is summoned to the top of a structure in Gondor where a Ringwraith flying a winged creature tries to snatch the ring from Frodo's grasp. The Ringwraith is shot by arrows from the men of Gondor and Frodo is taken down the steps by Samwise.

Now, not knowing what happens in Return Of The King, this was a tad confusing to me as a book reader, but as a straight movie watcher ofThe Lord Of The Rings saga, I found no problems with it. I felt it was added as a climatic ending to the Frodo side of the story.

On the Merry & Pippin side of the story, the two Hobbits convince Treebeard to take them to the south end of Fangorn forest where Treebeard finds trees chopped downed to the stump. Angering Treebeard, he calls upon the Ents and wages war against Isengard, which is now empty expect for the likes of some Orcs and Saruman The White. The Ents bring forth a breaking of a damn and flood all of Isengard...this is the last we see...for now.

I felt this was a great way to show what ends up happening to Isengard, although some events are missing from the end of the film that were in the end of the book, for instance Gandalf banishment of Saruman from Isengard, these events HAVE TO make their way into Return Of The King.

Morning comes to Helm's Deep where the people of Rohan, the Elves, and the fellowship have been slaying Uruk-hai all night to keep them from breaching the inner wall, but to no avail, the Uruks enter. At the last moment of dawn, Gandalf The White shows up with the 2000 banished Rohan warriors and helps to destroy the rest of the Uruk-hai. We dissolve into afternoon and we see Aragorn & King Theoden talking about how the battle is over, but the war for Middle-earth has just begun.

The only part of this end scene I didn't like is that as soon as we saw Gandalf and the Riders Of Rohan go into battle with what still looked like an overwhelming amount of Uruk-hai, the end sequence where they talked of their victory from the battle was cut in. It seemed a little too easy for a task that seemed extremely daunting. I can see the approach being that they had shown so much battle earlier in the film that there was no reason to go into more, but it seemed just a little to fast of a transition to me.

The very last scene, which takes us into the credits on a very weary note, is a sequence with Frodo, Sam, & Gollum drudging towards Mordor once again. As they headed into the wild, Gollum went into his schizophrenic split personality mode once again. He argued with himself about killing the Hobbits and taking the ring. His Smeagol side was against it, while his Gollum side struggled for control. In the end, his Gollum side won, and convinced his Smeagol side to kill the Hobbits.

Ending the movie on a very unstable note was pure genius. Gollum hinted at leading them a certain as to not having to kill the Hobbits himself, but rather to let "her" do it. References to "her" pay a bit of homage to the book readers and give way for an outstanding intro sequence in the next film. Like I said, pure genius.

With all that said, the ending of The Two Towers ends the same way the Fellowship Of The Ring does. The fellowship is once again on an uneasy path. The ring bearer and his partner are alone to face the challenge of destroying the ring in Mordor. And the fate of Middle-earth is unknown.

This is exactly true to the book. But, the question is, does The Two Towers stand alone as an independent movie from the others? Does is bear it's own weight? Personally, I'd lean towards NO rather than YES. The fact that you are thrown into the middle of a story with a bunch of characters you don't know and aren't introduced to in the film might confuse someone who has never seen or heard of Lord Of The Rings before.

The Two Towers as a film was absolutely amazing. Any fan of the books as well of the first movie will be thoroughly engulfed by the story of The Two Towers. To compare this "middle movie" with that of another great in the world of trilogies, like The Empire Strikes Back is to say many wonderful things, as Empire is hailed by many to be the greatest in the Star Wars saga.

Like Empire, The Two Towers has no beginning and has no end, but does a greater service to the characters we have been cheering for since the first film. The Two Towers plays on a very darkened tone. A tone where there is not much hope and things seem to be teetering on the end edge of permanent despair. Even the imagery in the film is very dark and contrasted. Unlike the beautiful greens and blues of Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers draws from the many "dead" colors of the world, and throws our beloved characters into the mix.

The actors performance were truly brilliant. Not a flawed character in the bunch, and that includes all CGI characters such as Treebeard & Gollum. Never once did I think to myself..."that person doesn't fit the part".

An absolute masterpiece is at hand. With the second chapter under our wings, we shall soon have the one of the greatest stories ever to be told in the greatest cinematic form that we could have ever hoped for. This movie truly does justice to the books that inspired it.

In response to questions from readers, Balchack has created a FAQ with specific questions about the movie that he goes into more detail about.

HEAVY SPOILER WARNING

Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers: After an overwhelming response to the review I posted last night for The Two Towers many fellow fans have e-mailed in asking questions about certain happenings in the plot that take place in the movie. Therefore, we've decided to compile all the questions here into an FAQ of sorts.

Please be warned. As with the spoiler filled review, HEAVY SPOILERS are present in this FAQ as well.

Does Faramir die?
NO. In my review, I mentioned that Faramir had sacrificed his life to release Frodo & Sam. I may have worded this incorrectly, but the moment in the film is still as heavy as I alluded to in my review.

In the movie, Faramir brings Frodo, Sam, & Gollum back to Gondor where Frodo and the ring are to be brought to Faramir's father, the host of Gondor. A struggle with Frodo & Sam occurs when Faramir tries to take the ring from Frodo. In a pivotal moment inside the walls of Gondor, during the fight against the Orcs (which we never really see), Sam screams at Faramir about how Boromir got corrupted, tried to take the ring from Frodo, and eventually died. This is where Faramir has a change of heart and decides to let the Hobbits go. This decision does not come without consequences as a captain of Faramir's men tells Faramir that if he does not bring Frodo and the ring to his father he will be punished by death. Faramir contemplates a decision and tells his men and the Hobbits that he sacrifices his life to Frodo and his mission.

After this, we don't see anymore of Faramir, which leaves his fate to be dealt with in Return Of The King.

Does Saruman die in The Two Towers? Does he get 'spiked'?
Nope. Saruman does not die in The Two Towers. The end of movie shows the Ents kicking the crap out of the Isengard Orcs, all as Saruman watches from the tower above. This is the last we see of Saruman in The Two Towers. No resolve, and no finishing of the Ent battle. I can only speculate that we'll see the demise of Saruman in the 3rd and final chapter. if he will be impaled on a spike like the rumors say, it is not known and no one will be able to tell by what commences in The Two Towers.

The Two Towers - the right towers?
There is much speculation here, even as Tolkien described the many towers of Middle-earth, there is no clear distinction as to what the two towers actually are. In the movie we are led to believe that the two towers are the alliance of Saruman's Orthanc, and Sauron's Barad-Duhr.

Can you clarify the Nazgul attack episode?
Many have written in about the Nazgul attack. I realize that Sauron is not supposed to know who has the ring, but from what was portrayed on screen at the end of The Two Towers, one can only come to believe that Sauron knows where the ring is.

At the end of the film, Frodo, not by his own will, is controlled by the ring somewhat and summoned to the top of a dwelling in Gondor. At the top of this dwelling, the Nazgul, riding the big black winged creature, hovers right in front of Frodo as Frodo is tranced by the power of the ring. The winged creature then comes within inches of grabbing the ring from Frodo until some men of Gondor shoot arrows into the creature causing it to falter and fly away. Frodo is then tackled by Sam who then tumbles down the steps of the dwelling which then knocks the trance out of Frodo.

How well is the conflict between the Mordor-Orcs and the Uruk-hai developed? Is there much talking or fighting?
This part of the story is completed with so many aspects of the book within the first 30 minutes of the book. Yes there is a 2 minute sequence where the Orcs and Uruk-hai do argue, but it is not lengthy at all. But, don't get me wrong, the scene is brilliant, and though it does not spend as much time in the scene as the book does, the scene in the movie does the book justice.

The Orcs start to get hungry and talk about fresh meat. They realize that the Hobbits are fresh meat. The Uruk-hai then stand in their way stating that the Hobbits are to be spared. One Orc lunges towards a Hobbit and the head Uruk-hai (must be Uglúk) chops off his head, then offers fresh Orc meat to the other Orcs as food! Then a bigger scuffle ensues as the Orcs and Uruk-hai are now upset with each other. Right then the Riders Of Rohan appear and start slaughtering them all. This is when the Hobbits escape into Fangorn Forrest. An Orc is right on their tail, calling for them. Then Hobbits then climb a tree which happens to awaken the almighty Treebeard. Treebeard then takes care of the pursuing Orc (who must be Grishnack) and squashes him like a bug.

Explain the Balrog fight sequence.
Many people have asked about this scene. To me this is one of the coolest scenes in the entire movie.

When Gandalf the White finally shows himself to Aragorn, Legolas, & Gimli in Fangorn forrest he recounts what happened to him after he fell in the mines of Moria. As the movie flashes back, we get to see the Balrog and Gandalf's decent into the black. After many cuts back and forth of the two fighting as they fall, the two end up on top of a mountain where they do battle with each other. From what looked like Gandalf summoning lightning from the sky, he harnessed the power to his sword and plunged it deep inside the Balrog. The Balrog then let out a high pitched shriek and fell to his death on the mountain side below. His flame gets put out, but we never really see what the Balrog looks like underneath the flame, as steam from the snow rises towards the camera and shields it from view.

Gandalf draws his sword? How does he do that when in LOTR we saw it go flying over the edge of the bridge into the abyss before he ever fell himself?
Gandalf actually catches up to his sword as it was falling with him. This is how he's able to stab the Balrog as they fall into the abyss.

How long is the battle at Helm's Deep really?
As rumor had it, the Helm's Deep battle was to take 45 minutes! This is not the case. The battle at Helm's Deep is about 20 minutes long, if that. It is the climax of the film, and does stretch into the end of the film, but the actual battle takes about 20 minutes. BUT, within the Helm's Deep battle we do cut back and forth to the other side stories as well, so that might make the sequence appear longer then it actually is.

Where people might be confused with a 45 minute length is the time that the fellowship and the people of Rohan actually spend in Helm's Deep. Many scenes happen in Helm's Deep before the battle even starts.

How exactly does Haldir die, and what is the role the elves play at Helm's Deep?
Haldir is sent to Helm's Deep with his troops by a decision made by Galadriel and Elrond. Haldir leads the group to helm's Deep and is welcomed whole heartily by the fellowship. His death comes on the walls of Helm's Deep as he is struck by an Uruk-hai axe. Aragorn ends up cradling him as he passes. For a character we really didn't get to know in Fellowship, the emotional impact is high when Haldir passes.

Does the Ent Battle (Storming of Isenguard) take place during the night or the day? I always imagined it took place during the day!
The battle takes place during the day, right at the end of the film. You see all of Isengard lit up and Ents trashing the place and the Orcs in it!

Is there any mention of the sword Anduril (which should have been re-forged in the first movie) does it finally make an appearance in the Two Towers? Is there any indication that Arwen is rebelling against Elrond to go find Aragorn and bring him the sword?
No reforging takes place in The Two Towers. The sword is not even mentioned in the movie. Arwen DOES NOT bring the sword to him, and Aragorn goes through this movie without the sword in hand. Looks like Peter Jackson is leaving this be dealt with in Return of The King.

How about the humorous chapter of Flotsam and Jetsom at Isengard? Is there any part of that in the movie?
Nope. This sequence is not present in the movie at all. Maybe we'll see something of it when we finally get an extended release on DVD.

Is Eowyn the LADY of the book, or does Arwen still take precedence?
A very good question indeed. I think everyone will have different opinions about this, but the way I saw it, Arwen was still the only lady for Aragorn. While Eowyn was portrayed as a powerful influence on the men of Rohan, every time Aragorn showed interest in her his thoughts drifted back to his love for Arwen. And even though Arwen only appears in the film as flash backs, and dream sequences, she still had the same impact on Aragorn as she did in the first movie. But, like I said, I feel that most people will have different opinions on this matter.

Does Arwen look into Galadriel's mirror? What does she see?
This doesn't happen in The Two Towers. The only thing that happens that alludes to the future of the story is a a sort of flash forward dream sequence in which Arwen sees herself next to Aragorn's graveside, grieving for Aragorn's mortality, and her immortality.

Is Arwen among the elves that come to the aid of Rohan or is she never *physically* present in the main movie plot?
As mentioned before, Arwen is never physically in the movie. Arwen only appears in flash backs, flash forwards, and dream like sequences. The only time she might even be considered physically part of the movie is when Aragorn awakes by the river bed after plunging into the water in the battle with the Warg riding Orcs. A mist-like Arwen appears and kisses Aragorn on the lips which eventually wakes him from slumber.

Another scene, in which I'm not too sure if it was meant as a flashback or a present situation is a scene that commences with Arwen and her father, Elrond. Elrond tries to convince Arwen that their love would never work with Aragorn being mortal and Arwen being immortal. This is when we get to see the aforementioned sequence of seeing Arwen grieving by Aragorn's graveside in the future.

No, Arwen does not make her way to Helm's Deep with the other elves in the movie. Arwen's main presence in the movie is to show the strong loving bind her and Aragorn and, and nothing more.

I heard they added a sex scene between Arwen and Aragorn, please tell me this is not true!
Nope. Not true at all. The only thing we see between Aragorn and Arwen is some light romantic kissing.

Do they show the scenes where Aragorn leaves Rivendell and he and Arwen are talking/holding each other? In a recent trailer, one scene has him sitting on a couch with Arwen looking out over Rivendell with her back to him....
This happens in a dream sequence. It's something that does not actually happen, but only in a dream. As the people of Rohan and the fellowship make their way to Helm's Deep, Aragorn has a dream of himself and Arwen together in Rivendell. In the dream Aragorn even says "this is only a dream" in which Arwen goes to comforting him.

Does Boromir appear in the film, even if its just a flashback?
Boromir does not appear at all in The Two Towers.

Do we see Shelob at all?
Nope. Shelob is only hinted to by Gollum at the end of the movie. Gollum figures he'll lead the Hobbits to "her" and have "her" do the killing for him. Then he can take back the ring that he so loathes for.

Does the film have any beheadings like Strider Vs. Lurtz in the first film?
Oh yes. Be prepared, many beheading fall upon the unlucky orcs and Uruk-hai throughout the film.

How is the Oliphaunt? Is that whole battle sequence cool?
The seqeunce is very cool indeed. Sam and Frodo watch from a distance as the Oliphaunts and their men are attacked by the men of Gondor.

Did the movie have a preview for Return of the King?
No. Due to the nature of the screening, no trailers were shown before the movie. The lights went down and the magic started. I don't think that there will be a trailer for Return Of The King for months due to the fact that post production on the movie is still in the early stages.

Is the theater version the full movie or was it cut down like the first movie was. If so, will they release an extended version on DVD like the first?
This movie, like Fellowship Of The Ring, had tons of footage that had been shot for it. I remember reading recently that there WILL BE an extended DVD cut of The Two Towers, just like we have with Fellowship. For more information on DVD info, stay tuned to our DVD section!

How long is the finished film?
As previously stated in early reports by Lights Out and other websites, The Two Towers runs 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 9 seconds!

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LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS ( 2002 )

" A true cinematic masterpiece! "

***HEAVY SPOILER WARNING***

HEAVY SPOILER WARNING