Some consider this to be the best movie of the trilogy. I do not feel that way. But I do like this better than the first movie. I won’t go into too much detail about why this one has issues at time that makes it not the best movie in the trilogy for me, but I will go into the next review of this movie series.
Watch this as alternative to reading post (Part 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIvEfId80C4
(Part 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q1gU64dA0Q
We begin back with Gandalf fighting the Bel-rog. He falls down and uses his sword to attack the beast and keep up the fight past what we had seen in the last movie. They fall to the water below and the battle cuts off with Frodo seeming to have dreamt it.
Frodo and Sam continue to Mordor, feeling that they are lost on their way to getting there. They stop for food, having only lamis bread. They don’t think that they are alone, smelling something that makes it seem like they aren’t. Sure enough, Gollum shows up and attacks them. But they knew that something would happen so they instantly fight back. They gain the upper hand and talk Gollum as a captive. He begs for mercy and to serve them. Sam is skeptical of the deal, but they continue on.
Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin are alive, but being held captive by orcs. Merry is a bit injured. The orcs catch the smell of men, leaving Pippin to leave a mark for them. Sure enough, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas continue on their trail and sees the mark that Pippin left, learning that they might still be alive. And Legolas points out the now famous phrase, “They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Uz1icjwrM&t=456s
Saurmon continues his threat to rule Middle Earth. He incites violence against those who oppose them, starting against those from Rohan. The king’s son is injured in a battle. They bring up concerns to the king, telling them that Saurmon is attacking them. But Grima, a man speaking for the king, winds up banishing Emour, the king’s nephew, from the kingdom.
Merry and Pippin are put in a dark place near a place where trees are said to come alive. The orcs are there for the night. The orcs want to eat the hobbits, or at least part of them. This leads to one of them getting killed and the others seek to resort the cannibalism. But a group of men come out at start to kill the orcs. The scene cuts short here for now as we skip to the next day when Legolas talks about how blood must have been spilt this night.
Seeing riders of Rohan, the company of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli seek to find help. But they soon get surrounded. The people talk to Emour who talks about how King Theoden of Rohan can’t tell who is good or bad. He warns of a white wizard who walks here and there, like a stranger in the night. The company gets two horses from the old riders who died in the fight as they say that all of these orcs are dead now with no sight of any hobbits with them. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli then go to where the bodies are burning. At first, they are very frustrated at what looks like certain death of the hobbits. But then the expert tracker, Aragorn, notices that the hobbits ran into the forest, away from the battle of the orcs that was at hand.
Skipping back in time, the lone orc pursues Merry and Pippin. The two of them climb a tree. It seems like the orc is gone, but it still attacks them. Pippin notices a tree come to life and winds up in its grasp. This tree kills the orc and gets both of the hobbits in each of his hands. He explains that he’s an ent and not a tree. He climbs to be without a side in the fight as no one is on his side. He doesn’t believe that Merry and Pippin are hobbits as he isn’t sure that they are real. This ent named Treebeard leaves their fate in the hands of the white wizard.
Meanwhile, Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through a marsh. He explains that the marshes have dead people in the water and he is warned not to follow the lights. Frodo gets mesmerized by one of them and winds up falling into the water. Gollum saves him from this fate by pulling him out. At night, Frodo wants to know more about Gollum’s past, saying that Gollum or Semegal might have been like a hobbit at one point in time. He reacts to his old name. That is when black riders, the ringwraths, show up on flying creatures. This is when we learn that they are alive, although only one is in this scene.
While wandering through Fanghorn forest in search of Merry and Pippin, Legolas reveals that the trees are talking to each other. But they aren’t trees. They are ents. The three of them seek to quickly fight against a glowing wizard and are told of the fate of the hobbits who are told that they didn’t expect to meet someone. That is when we see that Gandalf is alive. He fought with the Bel-rog, somehow going from the water that he fell in to the top of the mountain. He did not die, but was brought back. He says that he is now Gandalf the white, seeming to forget that he was Gandalf at all or at least was grey instead of white. The now four of them continue on their quest.
Treebeard is shown with Merry and Pippin walking through the forest. We then go back to Frodo, Sam, and Gollum. They see the black gate of Mordor. A group of people are walking there as it opens. Sam looks to find a way down, but falls. Frodo goes after him. Sam is buried waste deep in rocks as two of the people approach. Frodo is able to hid then in his cloak that looks like a large rock and is able to get these people to walk away. Gollum prevents the two of them from leaving, warning that Sauron wants the ring back, perhaps wanting the ring for himself. He reveals that there are stairs that they could take instead of the black gate. Frodo trusts Gollum, but Sam has his doubts.
Gandalf takes the company to Ederas where the king lives. It doesn’t look like much. His niece tells him that his son is dead. But Theodon doesn’t seem to react at all. Grima seeks to comfort this woman, but she sees through his ruse. She notices the company coming there. Gandalf warns the rest of them not to look for welcome here. Gimli even thinks that graveyards are more cheerful.
They arrive at where the king is and the company has to surrender their weapons. Unlike the book, this happens quite quickly. Gandalf keeps his staff as a walking stick of an old man, something that this man doesn’t question at all. While Grima seeks to tell Theodon that Gandalf isn’t welcome, the wizard then reveals his staff and then white form. He seeks to draw Sarumon out of Theodon. Despite claiming that he would kill Theodon, the king is revealed to be safe and reverts back to his true form that we have not seen before. I am never not impressed by that, even knowing what was coming.
Gandalf seeks to remind Theodon of what happened by drawing his sword. Theodon wants to kill Grima, but Aragorn prevents this. Grima leaves quickly, somehow getting a horse that could have been stolen. Theodon then realizes that his son is dead. Gandalf seeks to comfort Theodon.
Two kids are seen arriving there. They were briefly seen earlier. Gandalf warns of the wrath that is going on because of Sarumon. Gandalf wants him to fight Sarumon head on. But Theodon orders them to retreat to Helms Deep. Gandalf does not like this idea. He leaves, seeking to return at the light of morn on the fifth day in the east. Aragorn talks to Eowen, the niece of Theodon. She wants to fight. He also lets a horse go from this place. Grima, who is now with Sarumon, tells of what Theodon would do which leads Sarumon to send out the borg riders.
Frodo tries to defend Gollum while getting upset at Sam. Sam realizes that the ring is making Frodo turn evil and start to sound like Gollum. Meanwhile, Gollum talks to Semegal as Semegal seeks to banish his other self. He grabs food like rabbit, but doesn’t like how Sam prepares it. Frodo notices a company of people walking by where they need to be. Gollum calls these men wicked. They see an Oliphant. This is when a group of men attack the bad men. But these other men take the hobbits away. Gollum had slipped away at some point during this time.
The group of people walk to Helms Deep. Aragorn thinks about Arwen. He thinks about their love thus far and how she wanted him to be with Frodo. But we return to the moment as they learn that they are under attack by the warg riders. Eowen is told to lead the people to Helms Deep. This attack was not in the book, but does add a bit of a layer to the story that we wouldn’t get to see otherwise. During the fight, Aragorn fell off a cliff. An orc tells the others of this. They see the Evenstar that Arwen gave him in the hand of the orc.
Eowen is upset that few have returned. A lot is shown happening at once. Saurmon works on a plan to take Helms Deep by working on an explosive and also gathering a large army of men. Pippin, Merry, and Treebeard notice the smoke from Isengard. Arwen is told by Elrond to leave for the undying lands as even victory would lead to the death of Aragorn and her mourning. Aragorn is picked up by the horse that was let go earlier. He is alive. Elrond has a mental communication with Galadriel who was the main elf woman from Lothlorian. They think about helping those at Helm’s Deep.
Frodo and Sam are seen with a man revealed to be Foramir. This is the brother of Boramir who wants to know why his brother is dead. But they did not know of such a thing happening. Foramir reveals more of his purpose with the group of people that he is with. They show the geography of Middle Earth and reveal more of the stakes at hand. Despite saying that Gollum wasn’t with them at first, Frodo has to reveal more about him since Gollum faced death otherwise. Gollum’s life is saved, but it seems that he is angered at Frodo since it wasn’t handled well.
Meanwhile, Aragorn sees the approaching army as he makes his way to Helms Deep. He warns the people when he gets there and they prepare for a fight. Theodon thinks that they will strike against this fortress like water on rock, apparently unaware that water beats rock. I can’t blame him as Pokémon does not exist in Middle Earth, although there is a Gollum. Legolas thinks that they will lose as they are badly outnumbered going into the fight. The army should arrive at nightfall.
Before the fight begins, an army of elves arrives to honor their commitment to helping men that they had a long time ago. All of the men, some of them young, are sent to fight. The women and children are put in a special place of the fortress at hand. We also lose a subplot of Eowen helping to deliver a baby that is not even in the extended edition, but you can sort of see that moment in the final cut of a woman in pain and Eowen looking relieved.
Pippin and Merry try to convince Treebeard to help fight against Isengard by getting the ents to attack the city in question. The fight goes on at Helms Deep with Theodon tempting fate. The orcs do wind up succeeding in blowing up the wall and getting into the fortress. Merry wants to convince the ents that they are part of the war. Pippin is told that they would be glad to go home, while Merry is convinced that there won’t be a home if they lose. Things at Helms Deep are looking grim. While Aragorn and Gimli prove a distraction, the orcs are still breaking through, getting further into the fortress.
While Treebread is taking the hobbits back home, he is convinced by Pippin to go south to Isengard. This is where they are taking the hobbits to. To Isengard, to Isengard. While on the way there, Treebeard sees a lot of his old ents and now dead, being burnt up by Sarumon. This makes Treebeard call ents and they go to war.
Meanwhile, Faramir has taken Frodo, Sam, Gollum, and the ring to Osgiliaf where he seeks to use the ring to his advantage by joining it to his side. The city is already fighting and under siege. The Nazgul show up to attack as Frodo gets more warped in his mind, seeming to lose his sense of self.
While still defending Helms Deep, they realize that the light is rising and Gandalf will return. Theodon is fighting with Aragorn and the others. I admire a king who fights, but should someone that important be on the battlefield? The men fight against the orcs. Aragorn sees that sure enough, Gandalf has returned with the riders of Rohan who were last seen heading north. This changes the tide of the battle.
The ents fight strong against the forces of Isengard. Not many are there to defend the location as the orcs and others were sent to fight at Helms Deep. The ents destroy the dam which releases the river. This does not take out the tower, but does cause a lot of damage.
Back at Osgiliath, Frodo is almost controlled by the ringwrath into putting the ring on. Sam breaks his friend out of it, only to have a sword pulled on him. Frodo snaps out of it. Sam references the fact that they shouldn’t be here, which is a reference to the fact that they never went here in the book. Sam then does an inspirational speech about the stories of the world. There is hope in the world worth fighting for. Faramir seeks to let the hobbits go, willing to forfeit his life and making the decision not to seek the ring further, being the better person than his brother was.
Gandalf realizes as he and others go to where Sarumon lives that the battle for Middle Earth has only just begun. The fate of Middle Earth rests in the hands of two hobbits. As they walk on, Gollum believes that Frodo betrayed him and wants an unknown her to take care of the problem as he wants to take the ring for himself. Mt. Doom is seen in the background as the quest continues and movie ends.
Those who know the books know that a lot still has to happen, but those events were pushed back until the next movie in the trilogy. It seems like the movie ends pretty well and I like it, although it still is not my favorite Lord of the Rings movie. The next one is. I still like this movie pretty well and have all of the movies covered in my top ten greatest movies of all time. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.
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