(Extended)
As to be expected, The Two Towers very much feels like the middle act of a larger story. While Fellowship's story was a focused quest against a sprawling backdrop and epic consequences, Two Towers zooms out from one adventure into three major storylines and several smaller subplots, deepening the lore and expanding the scope. The threat no longer looms over just Frodo and his allies, but the world of Men and Middle-Earth in its entirety.
All of that set-up and widening narrative means that the plot loses quite a bit of the momentum that drove Fellowship, introducing myriad characters and backstories but never really giving us much time to care about them beyond how they help or hinder our protagonists. Much of the first half just feels like build-up; what would be the lull between the first act and second act climax in another movie, is two hours of setting up new plot lines and repositioning characters.
But none of that diminishes The Two Towers' strengths. Frodo and Sam, their compelling dynamic with the excellently-realized Gollum, their desperate journey. Aragon, Legolas, Gimli trying to gather allies and hold back the tide of evil. The epic spectacle, authentic sense of place, the grand vistas. Where the movie excels most is establishing the oppressive doom threatening to crush Middle Earth. In Fellowship, Gandalf and the Elves talk about what's to come, Frodo sees glimpses of it, but The Two Towers brings that danger to the forefront. Hopelessness and destruction and despair is ever-present, cities and villages fall, black-armored armies stretch for miles.
All of that masterfully culminates in the epic interweaving finale of Helm's Deep, Isengard, and Osgiliath. Three thrilling battles, each developing the central storylines in crucial ways. Helm's Deep alone is a masterclass of escalation, a harrowing siege drenched in atmospheric rain, seamlessly transitioning between set-pieces, constantly raising the stakes.
