Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers

This topic contains:

• details about Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 12 February 2003.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• sexual references, nudity, substance use and coarse language
• the movie's message
• overall comments

A synopsis of the story

The ending of the first episode saw the disbanding of the Fellowship of the Ring which has now broken into three groups whose stories intertwine throughout the film: Frodo and Sam continue their journey to Mordor, now accompanied by Gollum as their guide. Gollum is torn between his desire to serve his new master or to kill him to regain his 'precious'. This indecision continues throughout the film.

Their path takes them through the Dead Marshes where dead people lie in watery graves lit by flaming torches. Frodo is mesmerised by this and falls into one of the pools. He almost drowns but is rescued by Gollum. Frodo and Sam are captured by the men of Gondor whose captain is Faramir, brother of Boromir. Faramir also greatly desires the ring and the power it wields however he finally releases Frodo and Sam when he comes to realise what's at stake.

Meanwhile Merry and Pippin manage to escape the Orcs who are beset upon by the Riders of Rohan and are all killed. Merry and Pippin head into Fangorn Forest where they meet Treebeard, an Ent or tree herd. The Ents are very slow to make decisions and are reluctant to become involved in the war between Wizards and men. However they are greatly stirred up by the destruction of their forest and they march onto Isengard in fury, destroying everything but the tower.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli follow the trail of the two young hobbits to Fangorn where they again meet up with Gandalf who is now Gandalf the White. These four journey to Rohan where they manage to revive King Theoden who had been under the spell of Saruman. The King leads his men to battle against the mighty host of Isengard. This great battle is the culmination of this part of the story. The men are vastly outnumbered by the Uruk Hai but they battle valiantly on and are helped in the end by Gandalf who has managed to rally a host of over a thousand men from Westfold to claim victory over the host of Isengard.

Use of violence

There is much violence in this film. It is mostly performed by heroes and is successful, with nearly all the victims being evil people or beings. As this is purely a fantasy film there are very few real life consequences. The following scenes contain violence:

• The start of the film begins at the end of the last film where the Balrog attacks Gandalf and pulls him into the abyss. Gandalf manages to kill the Balrog after a violent struggle.
• When Frodo and Sam find Gollum, he viciously fights them, kicking, biting and screaming.
• Gollum is held by an elvish rope around his neck which causes him great pain, making him writhe and scream.
• Orcs destroy the village of Rohan, burning people and killing them with swords.
• The Orcs who have captured Merry and Pippin have debates about whether to eat them or not.
• The Riders of Rohan attack the Orcs and there is a great sword battle in which all of the Orcs are destroyed and their bodies burnt. Orc heads are left on spikes.
• A horse rears up and it seems as if it is going to land on Merry.
• Wormtongue is physically thrown down the stairs.
• The final battle is long and gruesome: horses, wolves, men, orcs and elves are all killed. Aragorn falls over the edge of a cliff and is thought to have died, however he is revived by Arwen. He has a torn and bleeding shoulder. An Orc chokes out blood.

Material that may scare children

Under sevens

There are many scary images in this film that would terrify children in this age group including:

• The Balrog is a huge monstrous creature with horns and towers over everyone
• Gollum is a thin, bony creature who crawls on all fours. He is only covered by a loin cloth and his spine sticks out. He has a grotesquely large, hairless head with huge eyes and large ears.
• The Orcs are also grotesque creatures with long pointy faces, ears and eyes & they look extremely ugly and evil.
• The Uruk Hai are very large Orcs with monstrously painted faces and long hair and again look very ugly and evil.
• Isengard is a scary, evil, dark castle.
• In Isengard all of the workers look monstrous and a huge creature emerges from a slimy membrane.
• Wormtongue is a very evil, scary character with long unkempt hair, pale face and evil eyes.
• Treebeard the Ent who appears to be a tree, opens his eyes and starts talking in a very deep voice.
• The Dead Marshes have dead bodies in watery graves. Frodo is mesmerised by them. Gollum says 'Hobbits might go down to join the dead ones and light little candles of their own'. Frodo falls into the water when the dead person's eyes open blankly and seems to be drowning. He sees ghostly creatures in the water before Gollum pulls him out.
• Black Riders appear in wraith like forms on huge flying birds screaming in high pitched voices.
• At the gates of Mordor the great army of Mordor appears covered in brass armour and looking terrifying.
• Gollum eats raw rabbits and fish.
• The Wolves of Isengard are huge fierce creatures.
• Young boys of Rohan have to put armour on and go into the battle.
• The army of Uruk Hai roar with huge wide open mouths and again look terrifying.
• Frodo is almost overcome by evil forces but Sam manages to prevent him giving the ring back to the Nazgul. However, while under the evil influence, Frodo almost kills Sam with the sword.
• Theoden physically transforms. Gandalf releases Theoden from his spell by 'exorcising' Saruman out of him. He visibly changes into a much younger looking man.
• When the Orcs are attacking Rohan, a mother sends her children away to protect them but they are much distressed at being separated from their mother.

Seven to twelve years

Much of the violence in this film is not realistic and children in this age group would be able to start discerning reality from fantasy. However some of the above mentioned scenes could still be disturbing including:

• Gollum's grotesque appearance. Also Gollum has a split personality and vacillates between trying to be nice and being overcome by an evil persona.
• Wormtongue's appearance and character.
• The scene at the Dead Marshes
• The young boys of Rohan having to go into the battle
• Frodo being overcome by evil forces
• Gandalf's exorcism of Saruman out of Theoden

Early adolescence

Most early adolescents would understand that the violence and scary characters in this film are purely fantasy. However some of the wizardry might still be disturbing to people in this age group particularly the 'exorcism' scene.

Sexual references, nudity, substance use and coarse language

There are no sexual references, nudity or coarse language in this film. The only use of substances is some pipe smoking.

The movie's message

The take home message in this movie is that good triumphs over evil. In this case the evil beings are Orcs, Uruk Hai, Wargs or Wolves, and the evil wizards Sauron and Saruman, all of whom are fictional characters.

Values parents may wish to encourage include:

• friendship
• loyalty
• courage
• perseverance
• mercy
• the hope of redemption.

Overall comments

This is a film that adults would enjoy and the acting is very well done, the scenery is beautiful and the special effects are excellent. It is an heroic, epic tale full of adventure, tragedy and fantasy.

However as it is made as an adult's film, it is really not suitable for children; its M rating is appropriate.

Children under 7
Not recommended

Children aged 8-12
Not recommended

Children over the age of 12
May be able to see this film with parental guidance.