The Journey continues all right! Get ready to see the heroes travel for a while and then have the “epic” showdown at the two towers. This sequel doesn’t really fare any better than the first film and does make some serious mistakes that essentially dig its own grave. Time to see what mistake could have been so fatal!

The plot continues from the last film. Frodo and his companion keep on heading to the villain base so that they can throw the ring back into the lava from whence it came. Unfortunately, it’s a very long journey and since Frodo lacks strength of character, they could be doomed before they even start! In the other plot, Aragorn, Legolas, and the third member of their party seek to rescue the two hobbits. It will be tough and they shall have to overcome many obstacles to do so!

The film suffers from one of the major holes that most films suffer from. Unnecessary animal violence. It definitely didn’t help me like Gollum anymore than I did in the first film and the scenes were very wince worthy. There was just too many cases of animal violence and I immediately knew that the film could score no higher than a 3. The film just hasn’t changed much since the first one.

The characters are still very unlikable. Some characters are decent like Aragorn and Legolas, but they still won’t really rank in the long run. Balrog is a decent villain, but he looked pretty weak since he couldn’t beat a human sorcerer. Frodo is even worse than in the first film because he shows that he can be easily corrupted. He nearly destroys his friend without hesitation and it won’t really help you to sympathize with him. Merry was also a terrible character since he was very mean to the trees. I felt bad for the creatures. It wasn’t their war after all and the hobbits didn’t really care if they died since they were only trees. It’s not as if Merry would be doing any of the real fighting, so he was just putting the trees in danger.

The fight scenes are about what you’d expect and people keep on swinging their swords. The amount of plot hax in the fights were staggering since you would see people jump right into the army and he would not get hurt. There are many points where people literally run into the spears and they do not get hurt. I feel bad for the horses since they’re the ones who take the most damage. It just isn’t fair to the poor creatures. The fight scenes just aren’t impressive and they really drag on.

The Lord of the Rings is the first film series where I nearly went unconscious for both films. They really should have cut out a good 90-120 minutes of the film. They never cease to make me tired and feel like I need some sleep. It’s because there are a lot of unnecessary scenes and times where the characters talk for nor reason. We don’t need to see their day to day life! Usually, talking can be interesting, but not if you dislike both of the characters who are talking. It just doesn’t work!

The effects are a little better than the first film, but they should still look a lot better considering that we’re past the year 2000. The soundtrack is all right I suppose, but none of the themes really stood out this time around. It’s the end of an era!

There’s not much more to say about it. I could go more into depth with the characters, but they just aren’t likable. The trees are all right, but ultimately you can’t count on their survival. The Lord of the Rings may be very popular, but I only enjoy the games at this point. I’m wondering if the Hobbit trilogy will be better. It’s newer, but at the same time…the graphics look about as bad, if not worse than this film’s effects. That’s definitely not a good sign.

The film has a direct cliffhanger to lead into the next film, but it doesn’t come off as epic or intriguing. You don’t really care what’s going to the heroes and you’re just looking to get out of the theater and into your car so that you can pick up a bowl of mashed potatoes at KFC. This film nearly cracked 1 billion dollars in the box office, which is pretty intense. The series has a large following so I know that many still enjoy it. I’m sure that the series is cooler in the EU. An anime for the franchise could be intense.

If I were to compare this movie series to many of the other big names, it still would not be in last. I prefer this series to James Bond and Pirates of the Carrabean after all. It just gets completely wrecked by other classics like Star Wars, Jaws, Godzilla, and Terminator. I do appreciate the fact that the series is still going since more films is always a good thing. It gives us more scenes to appreciate, no matter how bad they may be. They could do a lot with a modern film and they should try to embrace that. A 1 hour film taking place 1000 years in the future would have a Lot of potential. It’s something that I could actually be intrigued by since we need more Sci-Fi films.

Overall, this is a film that I highly do not recommend checking out. The series may be legendary, but its reputation highly outweighs the actual film. If you like old war movies and realistic warrior fights, then you may enjoy this film. The effects are still pretty dated and the characters are hard to root for, but one can look past all of that. Still, you would be much better off watching the new Pac-Man show on TV. If you want a movie to replace this one, then check out the original Pokemon movie. It has more action and the graphics are much better. I highly doubt that the trilogy can end on a high note, but it should be better than this film so that’s always a plus. This review was actually a little tough to write since it is easy to just bash a film for a while, but one can only bash each section for so long. If the next film is at the same level as this one, then I will likely have a longer review at the ready since the whole trilogy would have been underwhelming. I shall see the finale at some point, so you can expect a review someday. Meanwhile, go check out Pokemon!

Overall 3/10