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You cannot hide from the hype of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The commercials, toys, posters and more are all a part of the Christmas rush. Bookstores are seizing the opportunity to convert moviegoers into Tolkien-bookworms.

Meanwhile, critics are predicting that that the sequel will grab a Best Picture Oscar nomination like its predecessor. Regardless, many moviegoers have been nervous: Can director Peter Jackson deliver a second helping as spicy and fulfilling as the first?

The answer is, for the most part, yes. Two Towers is packed end-to-end with helter-skelter action, jaw-dropping New Zealand scenery, standard-setting animation, and a stirring score. But the film unfortunately falls short of Fellowship's emotional impact. Super-sized portions of violent conflict cost us precious periods of intimacy with the characters. Further, Jackson goes beyond the skilled abbreviation of the novels evident in Fellowship and begins revising plotlines to mixed results. Action fans won't mind much. Purists, however, will be disgruntled.

Nevertheless, Towers will have moviemakers striving to match its brilliance for years to come. They will only succeed if they recognize that the saga's greatest strength is the profound spiritual foundation on which this mythology is constructed.

My review for Christianity Today can be read in its entirety here, and a lengthier treatment of the film is posted at Looking Closer.

Steven Greydanus (Decent Films) writes, "Along with Fellowship, this film delivers much of what is great about the book, and remains an order of magnitude above all previous cinematic efforts at "fantasy" or epic fairy-tale mythopoeia … [but] this film is also destined to be more controversial than its predecessor."

Other religious media critics are celebrating without reservations. J. Robert Parks (Phantom Tollbooth) calls it "one of the most thrilling movies of the last year. It's difficult to write a review of a movie you positively love and not sound somewhat foolish. I promise the movie … won't disappoint. It's hard to miss the obvious Christian symbolism on display here."

Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP, (The Tidings) focuses on the themes: "Can good and evil exist within the same person or society at the same time? At what cost? How do we discern what is right and just? What are we to do?" She points to surprising parallels between Towers and another popular sequel — Terminator 2: Judgment Day. "Note themes like the destruction of the environment; the incursion of the machines and technology permitted by people who do not consider consequences; the process of dehumanization brought about by war and the worship of technology; the physical, moral and ethical conflict/dilemma between the violence of oppressors and violence of those who seek to preserve the good. [These films] are not so very different at all." In a follow-up article, she discusses Tolkien's avoidance of clear Christian allegory, and explores Christian values that shine through the tale anyway.

David DiCerto (Catholic News) says, "Two Towers is a veritable passion play, with Frodo serving as a Christ figure. The story's overall message of hope in strife, and the ultimate victory of light and goodness over darkness, are as reassuring to our troubled times as they were when Tolkien wrote it during the horrors of the Second World War."

Ken James (Christian Spotlight) highlights its emphasis on "the bonds of friendship, the continual battle against evil, redemption of those who seem perhaps beyond hope, the choices one can make to choose the right, concern for the environment, and one word: HOPE."

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December (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46