The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition)

Revisiting The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring twenty years after its release was a pure joy to see one of the best films ever made again, and the extended edition was just more of a that great experience. It added further development to some of the characters, the history of Middle Earth and sprinkled a bit of Peter Jackson's comedy throughout but controversially, I'd still happily enjoy watching the theatrical version. Both are great but there was just something about the pacing of the original that works so well for me. Maybe it's because that is the version I enjoyed on video but now we are twenty years on from the release of the sequel, The Two Towers, how would the extended edition build on what was released in 2002...

With the fellowship dashed as Frodo and Sam take the ring to Mordor on their own while stalked by Gollum. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli go in search on the trail for Merry and Pippin while the power of Sauron and Saruman spreads across Middle Earth. The latter has built an army and now threatens to eradicate the world of men from the face of the earth while he undercuts Rohan's king with ease. 

The Two Towers is criminally overlooked when there's talk of great sequels but Jackson perfectly builds on the first film balancing old characters while introducing new faces into the mix as the story builds towards that all important conclusion in the third film. This was one of the first films I ever had on DVD and remember it well so would an extended cut throw me off the pacing? It is different, yes, but here I really found the story to benefit from the enhanced running time offering a richer experience.

The theatrical cut is a great film on its own terms but here Jackson spends more time exploring the likes of Faramir and the Ents. We even see further uses of Jackson's background in horror films when it comes to some very brutal action sequences but these never come at the expense of the story or become ostentatious, unlike that dreaded third Hobbit film which the less said the better. Instead here I really felt that this is the definitive version of The Two Towers and any viewer would be missing out on the full story going back to the theatrical version.

Two decades later and this is still fantastic. The perfect performance from the cast once again, the brilliant use of practical effects with CGI, that score and Jackson's direction is all on top form making for a great middle film. I will still enjoy the theatrical version and rewatch it again in the future but any Tolkien fan would be remiss to overlook the stellar extended edition.