The title, in short, signifies what the movie stands for ? sticking together and sticking out for each other. While this line appears twice in the book, it doesn?t figure anywhere in the movie.
Story
As already mentioned (in the review of the first part) the Fellowship is now broken? Frodo and Sam have set out towards mordor (with the ring); Merry and Pippin have been taken captive by the Uruk-Hai and are being taken towards Isengard (the dwelling place of Saruman). Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli have decided to follow them to rescue the hobbits.
Rohan: A kingdom of people skilled with horses; ruled by King Théoden; Saruman through his magic (and with the aid of Théoden?s aide, Grima Wormtongue) takes possession of Théoden?s mind and renders him practically useless to rule; This angers Eomer, Théoden?s nephew, who tries to get rid of Grima but is himself banished from Rohan (along with many other soldiers who are still loyal to Rohan).
Meanwhile the Uruk-Hai, while passing through Rohan (because Isengard is close to Rohan) rest for the night near Fangorn forest where they are attacked by Eomer and his company. All the Uruks are killed but Merry and Pippin luckily escape into the forest where they are taken by an Ent (walking tree, shepherd of the forest) named Treebeard.
The Man-Elf-Dwarf trio (Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli rply), meanwhile, meets Eomer and learns that the Uruks have been destroyed near Fangorn. The trio goes into the forest and are utterly surprised to find Gandalf (remember the wizard who fell into the depths of Moria while fighting Balrog?) who has now miraculously returned as Gandalf the White (more powerful than his older self ? Gandalf the Grey). Gandalf tells them that Merry and Pippin are safe with Treebeard and that they are now needed in Rohan where help is needed.
All four of them head for Edoras, the capital city of Rohan. Gandalf, who is now more powerful, drives Saruman away from Theoden?s mind. Theoden now realizes that the situation is not good and, in anticipation of an attack from Saruman, orders that the city of Edoras be emptied and that the people take refuge in Helm?s Deep ? the great fortress of Rohan. Gandalf leaves Rohan in search of help.
In Helm?s deep a huge army of Uruk-Hai (10, 000 strong at least and dispatched from Isengard to destroy Rohan) attacks the fortress. In the last moment, when everything is about to fall into the Uruks? hands, Gandalf arrives with Eomer and his company of warriors in tow. The Uruks are slaughtered and destroyed; Rohan is saved ? for now at least.
All the time, there is a parallel story running ? that of Frodo and Sam on the Fellowship?s original quest to take the One Ring to Mordor. En route they find the creature Gollum (remember? He had the ring for 500 years after it was lost before Bilbo found it). They take Gollum captive and ask him to lead them to Mordor.
On their way however, they are taken captive by Faramir (Boromir?s younger brother and a captain in the army of Gondor). Faramir learns that Frodo carries the One Ring and takes him to Osgilliath (a ruined city of Gondor, bordering Mordor). Eventually, however, Faramir realizes that the Ring has only the power to destroy and that the only way out is to destroy the one ring. He lets Frodo go free.
The movie ends here.
Direction and Screenplay:
According to Peter (Jackson) himself this movie has been the most difficult in terms of adaptation, shooting and direction. Adaptation because the story had to run in two (at times three) parallel tracks. Shooting (of filming) was extremely difficult; especially the battle for Helm?s deep which had to be shot continuously for many weeks and all of them in night shoots.
As already mentioned the screenplay (adapted from the book) has been heavily altered in order to make the movie more viewable. There were already too many characters and this movie had more to add. The characters had to be introduced without altering the pace or tone of the movie and this job has been done perfectly by Peter (Jackson).
Acting and Performances:
While the old characters (i.e. the characters already introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring) continue with their excellent performances, some new characters have been added this time, among these the most notable performances are
Bernard Hill as Théoden, we know him better as the actor who played the role of the Captain of the ship in Titanic. As expected he does an excellent job of portraying a king who is bereaved at the loss of his young son but at the same time has to try and fight against an unstoppable enemy.
Miranda Otto as Eowyn (Eomer?s sister) has done a good job of a strong minded woman who is fearless and is also an excellent warrior herself. However, it is only in the third installment of this series that she gets to brandish a sword.
Music and Sound
The background score that figures most prominently in the movie is the score that was composed for Rohan. It is a wonderful tune which has been used in a variety of situations with varying pace; it perfectly compliments the mood of the film.
Visual effects and cinematography :
Another movie! Another Oscar for Visual effects! If you thought that The Fellowship of the Ring had good special effects (with 540 sfx shots then The Two Towers had a whopping 799 shots!. The class leading visual effects enhance the various battle sequences and even create a character wholly out of special effects; the character of Gollum was never ?there? ? Andy Serkis played the role while shooting with white overalls which were later completely removed and Gollum was created.
Oscar race
The movie got six nominations in the year 2002 viz. best picture, art direction, visual effects, film editing, sound editing and sound. It won in only two categories ? those of visual effects (obviously!) and sound editing.