My pick as the superior episode of this trilogy

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2008)

Of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, adapted from the famous book(s) by J.R.R. Tolkien (which I haven't read), this second installment is my favourite. It should have been the one to sweep the Academy Awards, as the last chapter in the trilogy did. Maybe I'm a cynic, but I get the feeling that the Academy jumped on the juggernaut/band-wagon for the final episode.
The main reason I liked this movie so much was for the engrossing war scenes. It's one of the few films where there are countless thousands of soldiers fighting yet is nevertheless fascinating. Notable failures in this respect include one of the early Star Wars prequels (hey, apart from the third installment of that prequel trilogy, they're all pretty forgettable). In that movie, countless thousands of computer generated soldiers fighting each other was just mind-numbingly boring. As was the giant brawl between hundreds of apes in one of the sequels to the "Planet of the Apes" series.
In "Two Towers" you get one things those failures didn't have...military strategy. Tension is built up by seeing military tactics and equipment deployed. It's just not one humongous but mindless fight scene. The best example of that is when one of the castles is besieged and attacked.
In any case, this if a fine trilogy. Watch it from start to finish. It's just the second chapter that I'd give 5 stars too, though.