The most INTENSE movie of all time!

Rating: 10/10 (10 February 2003)

There are new standards of cinematography, artistic settings, and action for the movie making industry. Never before has any movie brought to the screen so visually the horrors of war and the complexity and depth of battle, with the seemingly hopeless courage of the outnumbered few. And yet fine details in settings and storyline were not lost amidst the ferocity of combat. The battle at Helm's Deep is one of the greatest achievements of all time and will be remembered as the definition of medieval war.
This movie from the opening scenes with Gandalf fighting the Balrog to the final scenes is captivating to the extreme, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, even if I had read the books at least 25 times and knew what was to happen next. The movie flowed seamlessly from one storyline to another.
Something needs to be said about the performance of Andy Serkis as Gollum. He was absolutely incredible in bringing Gollum to life as a real complex being with a dual personality. His performance should earn an oscar, but we all know that personalities and favoritism govern the choosing of oscars, not competence. Witness the choosing last year of "A Beautiful Mind" over "The Fellowship of the Ring" as best movie of the year. This was a sympathy award to Ron Howard because he never earned an oscar before. Perhaps the IMDb should start presenting awards based on the voting of participants. Then we would see awards based on actual best performances and no more sympathy awards.
No other movie comes close to the greatness of "The Two Towers" except of course "The Fellowship of the Ring" which itself was among the greatest of all time, but to me is only a sneak preview of what was to come. (After the "Return of the King" is released, I may feel the same way about "The Two Towers"!) For now, "The Two Towers" is my favorite movie of all time deservedly so.