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This was always going to be the tricky one, the difficult second album, the story with no real beginning and no actual end. Throw in the fact that audiences expect bigger, bolder and just plain better each time, and you knew The Two Towers would disappoint some people. After all, it's only as good as The Fellowship Of The Ring.
Hmmm... "As good as" an outstanding movie that visualised Tolkien's world in such a way that (batten down the letters page) it improved upon aspects of the original book. Think about that. What did we expect from Peter Jackson's second instalment? The second coming of Jesus?
Take a look at it again. From the thrill of the chase to the shock of the darkness, from the plains of Rohan to the bloodshed of Helm's Deep, The Two Towers delivers. If you think this is just the missable, pop-out-and-make-a-three-course-meal middle section of a 10-hour-plus movie experience, then you're hugely mistaken.
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