Peter Jackson is Cecil B. De Mille for the new millennium. The director-cowriter creates stunning, massive battle scenes using digital special effects galore -- as well as hundreds of grimy extras -- in his three-hour, second episode of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But any sort of compelling story gets lost amidst all the spectacle.
The Two Towers, the second film based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels, is about marking time. Frodo (Wood) and his Hobbit pals are still imperiled, the kindly wizard Gandalf (McKellen) continues to uphold good, while the evil wizard Saruman (Christopher Lee) remains intent on conquering Middle Earth, using hordes of monsters to help him. And the noble warrior Aragorn (Mortensen) is still pining for his elf love (Tyler), though he's not above exchanging yearning looks with a princess (Otto) whose people he's aiding. None of these story lines is resolved because there's still a final film to come next December, making Towers akin to cinema interruptus.