The middle film from Middle Earth.

Rating: 9/10 (30 October 2010)

The Two Towers is my favourite film from the entire The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It starts with my favourite scene of the trilogy—Gandalf's breath-taking battle against the Balrog in the bowels of Middle Earth; ends with the best action scenes of the trilogy—the epic battles at Helm's Deep and Isengard; and features many of my most memorable moments from the trilogy, including Gollum's schizophrenic conversation with Smeagol, a hilarious discussion between orcs about whether they should eat Merry and Pippin, and Legolas shouting 'They've taken the hobbits to Isengard!' (check out the dance music remix of this on YouTube—it's hilarious!).
A few minor niggles prevent me from awarding The Two Towers top marks—the rather slow scenes with Treebeard in Fangorn, Legolas surfing down some steps on a shield (a portent of the excesses of The Return of the King), and the fact that it took me three viewings to completely understand all that happens—but on the whole this is an excellent film. Did I mention it was my favourite of the trilogy?