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"THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS"
(2002) (Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen) (PG-13)

Alcohol/
Drugs
Blood/Gore Disrespectful/
Bad Attitude
Frightening/
Tense Scenes
Guns/
Weapons
None Moderate Extreme *Heavy Extreme
Imitative
Behavior
Jump
Scenes
Music
(Scary/Tense)
Music
(Inappropriate)
Profanity
Mild None Extreme None None
Sex/
Nudity
Smoking Tense Family
Scenes
Topics To
Talk About
Violence
Minor Minor Mild Moderate Extreme


QUICK TAKE:
Action/Fantasy: Various beings of Middle Earth battle an evil wizard's forces as they continue on their quest to transport a powerful and dangerous ring to its place of origin so that it can be destroyed.
PLOT:
When we last saw the Fellowship of the Ring, one of its members was dead, another - the wizard Gandalf (IAN McKELLEN) - seemingly fell to his death saving the others, and the rest had split up into various groups.

The bearer of the Ring, Frodo Baggins (ELIJAH WOOD) is still attempting to make his way to Mordor with his friend and fellow Hobbit, Sam (SEAN ASTIN), where they plan on destroying the ring once and for all. They're soon accompanied by Gollum (voice of ANDY SERKIS), an emaciated little creature who once possessed the ring. Suffering from a split personality disorder, he offers to help lead them to Mordor, but his evil side apparently has different plans. They eventually run into Faramir (DAVID WENHAM), the brother of a slain member of the Fellowship, while on their way.

Then there's Merry (DOMINIC MONAGHAN) and Pippin (BILLY BOYD), other hobbits who were captured by the forces commanded by evil wizard Saruman (CHRISTOPHER LEE) who still plots on ruling Middle Earth and is building an army of monstrous Uruks to assist him. The hobbits eventually escape, but soon find themselves under the wary eye of Treebeard (voice of JOHN RHYS-DAVIES), an ancient and gargantuan tree-shepherd who wonders if they work for Saruman and are responsible for the heavy deforestation that's occurring.

Meanwhile, human Aragorn (VIGGO MORTENSEN), elf Legolas (ORLANDO BLOOM) and dwarf Gimli (JOHN RHYS-DAVIES) are on their trail, hoping to save the hobbits. They eventually make their way into the Kingdom of Rohan where King Theoden (BERNARD HILL) has been put under a spell by Saruman and is controlled by his court advisor, Wormtongue (BRAD DOURIF).

With the king's son dead, his niece and nephew, Eowyn (MIRANDA OTTO) and Eomer (KARL URBAN), now doubt the king's abilities, particularly with Saruman's forces closing in. Once the King is freed from his spell, things improve and they head off for the cliff fortress at Helm's Deep where they hope to make a stand against the approaching hordes. Eowyn sees much in Aragorn, but he still longs for Arwen (LIV TYLER), his elf lover, who must make a decision about whether to leave with the rest of the departing elves, or stay with him and face his mortality.

With Saruman's massive forces making their way through the land and toward the fortress, the various groups continue on their quest to defeat the evil wizard and eventually return the Ring to its point of origin where it can be destroyed once and for all.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
If they liked the first film, it's a good bet they'll want to see this sequel.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13
For epic battle sequences and scary images.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
  • ELIJAH WOOD plays a young hobbit who hopes to return the Ring to its point of origin so that it can be destroyed. He must confront various external and internal forces, however, that complicate his mission.
  • SEAN ASTIN plays his best friend who accompanies him on his quest and is suspicious of Gollum.
  • GOLLUM is an emaciated little creature suffering from a split personality. He offers to help the two hobbits, but really wants the Ring back in his possession once again.
  • BILLY BOYD and DOMINIC MONAGHAN play other hobbits who find themselves in various perilous situations.
  • IAN McKELLEN plays an old and wise wizard who guides and assists various members of the Fellowship on their quest.
  • VIGGO MORTENSEN plays a human ranger who risks life and limb in trying to rescue two of the hobbits and defeat Saruman's forces.
  • ORLANDO BLOOM plays an elf bowman who's part of the Fellowship of the Ring and kills various beings that attack their party.
  • JOHN RHYS-DAVIES plays a gruff dwarf who accompanies Aragorn and Legolas, and fights and kills various attacking forces.
  • CHRISTOPHER LEE plays an evil wizard who's building a massive army so that he can destroy and rule Middle Earth.
  • LIV TYLER plays an elf who must decide her future and whether it involves Aragorn.
  • BERNARD HILL plays a king who's under Saruman's spell until he's freed when he then tries to protect his people.
  • BRAD DOURIF plays his evil advisor who's really a spy working for Saruman.
  • MIRANDA OTTO plays the King's niece who doubts his motives and apparently falls for Aragorn.
  • KARL URBAN plays her brother who sets out to battle and defeat Saruman's forces.
  • DAVID WENHAM plays a human whose brother was earlier killed and who battles Saruman's forces while finding the Ring enticing.
  • TREEBEARD is an ancient and towering tree-shepherd who's suspicious of Merry and Pippin.
  • CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

    HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE


    Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
    Then read OUR TAKE of this film.


    (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).


    OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
    Here's a quick look at the content found in this action/adventure fantasy picture that's been rated PG-13. Violence consists of all sorts of fantasy-style fighting and deaths that occur throughout the film, where various beings fight, injure or kill others via arrows, swords and other means. Despite the high body count, much of the lethal and injurious mayhem is relatively non graphic, although there is some blood as well as the sight of a severed head and a pile of charred bodies.

    Some of those scenes as well as encounters with monsters, monstrous beings and evil creatures intent on harming the heroes could be unsettling, suspenseful or downright frightening to some viewers, particularly younger kids if they're allowed to see it (although that depends, as usual, on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material that does get rather intense at times). On the flip side, some kids may want to imitate all of the fighting and/or action.

    Various characters have bad attitudes, a character smokes a pipe several times, a computer-generated character wears a loincloth and some brief, tense family material is present. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

    For those concerned with flashes of light on the screen, some of that occurs late in the film during a thunderstorm scene.


    ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE
  • None.
  • BLOOD/GORE
  • Theoden's son has some blood on the side of his head after being wounded (which we don't see).
  • Merry has some blood above his eye and on the side of his head.
  • A monstrous leader attacks one of his own and we then see many of them attacking this other one (to feed on him) and they tear apart the body (only briefly and partially seen without blood).
  • We see a severed, non-human head on the head of a spear (with a little bit of blood) as well as a pile of charred bodies of these monstrous creatures (that were killed by another army).
  • A creature has some blood from its face after being kicked there.
  • We see a little bit of blood on a plant.
  • We see a little dried blood from Gandalf's nose in a flashback.
  • We see a tiny bit of blood down the side of a person's nose.
  • Wormtongue has some blood from his lip.
  • Gollum has a dead rabbit (or similar creature), breaks its back and then bites into it, pulling out some flesh (a little gross looking).
  • After a large battle, we see some blood on an ax, a horse, on the ground and from the mouth of a creature.
  • We see a little bit of a bloody wound on Aragorn's shoulder.
  • We see a tiny bit of blood on some warriors that have been killed.
  • DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE
  • The various evil beings all have extreme cases of bad attitudes for wanting complete power and/or doing harm to others to get it (as well as practicing deforestation).
  • Wormtongue spies for Saruman and against King Theoden for whom he works as a close and trusted advisor.
  • Sam is mean to and has a bad attitude toward Gollum.
  • Faramir prepares to have his men kill Gollum (who's unaware of the pending doom) if Frodo doesn't do what he says. He then holds his sword on Frodo (this is as the Capt. is falling under the spell of the Ring).
  • FRIGHTENING SCENES
  • Scenes listed under "Violence" might also be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to some viewers (particularly younger ones), which also holds true for the sight of various monstrous creatures.
  • Gollum, an emaciated little creature with beady eyes and sharp teeth, crawls along the rocks above Frodo and Sam. He's after the Ring and the two grab him, but he pushes them aside and then jumps on Frodo. Sam pulls him off, but it punches Sam. They continue struggling and it bites Sam on the neck until Frodo holds a sword to his throat.
  • Some monstrous looking creatures that have Merry and Pippin might be scary to some kids and some of them later state that they're hungry and look at the two small hobbits as potential food.
  • We see a flashback of two hobbits trying to escape from the middle of a battle and the related non-bloody carnage. They enter a scary forest, but one of the monstrous creatures chases them through it with his sword and up a tree. It pulls one from the tree who kicks him in the face. It then prepares to kill him, but a huge tree then "comes to life" and steps down onto the creature, killing it (no blood).
  • The huge tree, Treebeard, then picks up Merry and Pippin and all of that could be scary to younger kids, but he/it turns out to be friendly.
  • As Gollum leads Sam and Frodo through a swamp, we see various dead people lying or floating just below the surface of the water (from a long ago battle and as suspenseful music plays). One of the body's eyes suddenly open and Frodo, who became mesmerized by the sight of all of this, falls face first into the water (and into a surreal type nightmarish world where a ghostly looking creature with white eyes comes at him as does a partially decomposed body reaching up).
  • Frodo, Sam and Gollum try to hide from various black-cloaked beings, one of which flies around on a huge dragon looking for them.
  • Sam falls over a rock and then down a rocky hill where he becomes trapped. Frodo then tries to pull him out as two guards come looking and then throws his cloak over both of them as they hide within feet of these guards.
  • Faramir prepares to have his men kill Gollum (who's unaware of the pending doom) if Frodo doesn't do what he says. He then holds his sword on Frodo.
  • GUNS/WEAPONS
  • Swords/Spears/Bow & Arrows/Crossbows/Explosives: Carried or used to threaten, wound or kill others. See "Violence" for details.
  • IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR
  • Phrases: "Stinker."
  • All of the fighting, etc. could possibly entice some kids to act out such scenes.
  • JUMP SCENES
  • None.
  • MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)
  • An extreme amount of suspenseful, ominous and dramatic music plays in the film.
  • MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)
  • None.
  • PROFANITY
  • None.
  • SEX/NUDITY
  • Gollum wears the equivalent of a loincloth over his emaciated body.
  • Aragorn dreams of kissing Arwen.
  • SMOKING
  • Aragorn smokes a pipe several times.
  • TENSE FAMILY SCENES
  • A miscellaneous mother tearfully sends off her young son and daughter to avoid Saruman's approaching army.
  • Eowyn tells King Theoden that his son is dead, but since he's under a spell, he doesn't have much of a reaction. Later, when out from under the spell, he briefly grieves for his dead son.
  • TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT
  • The battle of good vs. evil.
  • Frodo stating that there's some good left in their world and that it's worth fighting for.
  • Mental illness - Gollum appears to have a split personality (and the two personalities talk to each other).
  • Arwen's father telling her that if she chooses Aragorn, she'll be bound by grief forever as he's mortal and will die by the sword or old age.
  • VIOLENCE
  • We see a scene from the last film where the huge demonic creature battles Gandalf. The creature then falls toward an abyss but its whip grabs Gandalf around the leg, eventually causing him to fall into the abyss as well (and to his presumed death). We see, however, that he eventually catches up with the falling creature and repeatedly stabs and strikes it with his sword as the two continue to fall (with the creature banging into the walls on the way down). Both crash into a body of water.
  • Gollum, an emaciated little creature with sunken eyes and sharp teeth, crawls along the rocks above Frodo and Sam. He's after the Ring and the two grab him, but he pushes them aside and then jumps on Frodo. Sam pulls him off, but it punches Sam. They continue struggling and it bites Sam on the neck and has him in a bear hug until Frodo holds a sword to his throat. We then see that they have a rope around him and Sam drags him along the ground when he won't walk with them. He later pulls Gollum down some rocks.
  • We see quick shots of Saruman's army attacking various peasants in a village (hitting them, etc. but nothing graphic).
  • A man grabs Wormtongue by the face. Some other men then hit him.
  • A monstrous leader attacks one of his own and we then see many of them attacking this other one (to feed on him) and they tear apart the body (only briefly and partially seen without blood).
  • We see a creature decapitated (not gory) and many are then impaled and struck by swords and arrows as an army attacks them (no blood). During this, we see the point of view of a hobbit looking up and apparently seeing a horse's front legs landing down on him (but the scene ends there).
  • An army holds their weapons on Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, while the latter aims his bow and arrow at their leader (but nothing happens).
  • We see a flashback of two hobbits trying to escape from the middle of a battle and the related non-bloody carnage. They enter a scary forest, but one of the monstrous creatures chases them through it with his sword and up a tree. It pulls one from the tree who kicks him in the face. It then prepares to kill him, but a huge tree then "comes to life" and steps down onto the creature, killing it (no blood).
  • Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas fire or throw things at a white wizard, but he knocks them aside.
  • We see a flashback of Gandalf battling the demonic creature from above and stabbing it with his sword.
  • Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas fight various people who rush them as they approach Theoden. Moments later, guards throw Wormtongue down some steps and Theoden prepares to kill him with his sword, but Aragorn stops him.
  • Gollum has a dead rabbit (or similar creature), breaks its back and then bites into it, pulling out some flesh (a little gross looking).
  • An army attacks a passing army with arrows and we see characters being hit and falling from gargantuan elephant type creatures. Sam and Frodo then encounter some of these people with one throwing Frodo to the ground while a sword is held on Sam.
  • Gimli accidentally falls from a horse and hits the ground rather hard (played for laughs).
  • A character riding a huge, wolf-like creature knocks a person from their horse and the creature apparently bites a person and throws him aside. Sword fighting breaks out and Legolas fires an arrow into the creature, killing it.
  • A swarm of these characters on wolf-back then rapidly approaches and there's a huge battle between them and Aragorn and others. During this, Legolas fires arrows into them, spears are thrown and creatures and characters are struck, stabbed or sliced and wounded or killed (with one being decapitated). One is pulled over the side of a cliff by a creature (to their presumed deaths).
  • Faramir's men capture Gollum and then throw him to the ground.
  • A man accidentally lets an arrow fly on Saruman's massive army, striking one warrior in the neck.
  • The hordes of warriors then rush the fortress and the archers let many arrows fly, impaling and wounding or killing many of them. The warriors then return fire with crossbows, hitting and wounding or killing those trying to protect the fortress. Once the warriors breach the top of the fortress walls, hand to hand combat ensues with parties on both sides being hit, stabbed and sliced, etc. (but no blood).
  • The warriors put mines or some sort of explosive devices inside a hole in a wall and detonate it, destroying a large part of a huge wall. Pieces of that fall and hit people, while other warriors try to break down the main gate. More hitting and striking of both parties continues (with swords, spears, arrows, etc.), with many more deaths and injuries.
  • Crossbows are fired through a partially breached door, while more hand to hand combat continues with more deaths and injuries (including knocking many warriors from a bridge).
  • A huge ladder carrying many warriors falls back down into the crowd, smashing those below it.
  • Various characters ride out on horseback and hit or slice various warriors.
  • Another army arrives and battles with the warriors (with many more deaths and injuries, but no blood).
  • Various trees throw boulders that hit warriors, while they hit, kick and step down onto others. The warriors try to kill them by pulling them down and whacking them, while they set another on fire. The trees eventually break open a huge dam and the ensuing wave of water sweeps away and kills many warriors while also causing a great deal of property destruction.
  • Sam saves Frodo and they fall down some steps, but Frodo (affected by the Ring) holds his sword on Sam.



  • Reviewed December 2, 2002 / Posted December 18, 2002

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