Best film of 2002.

Rating: 10/10 (11 March 2003)

**Warning! Mild Spoilers Ahead!**
There are a handful of issues I have with this movie. I thought the cross-cutting between stories was disjointing due to the vastly different paces of each tale. I noticed a few blatant blue screen shots. Some of the dialogue seemed out of place, almost hokey. And on top of all of that, the film suffered from being the middle one in a trilogy, a film that by definition did not contain a true start or finish.
Having said all of that, I still choose it as my best film of 2002 for this reason. After I saw "Chicago," I sneaked across the theater hall to catch the last half hour of "Two Towers" again. Not even close. I thoroughly enjoyed "Chicago" (#2 or #3 of 2002), but "Two Towers" was simply on another level. It completely swept me away into Middle Earth as I relished the final battle for Helm's Deep. Gandalf and company streaking down the hill into the enemy was one of the best movie moments of the year. The emotion seemed quite real, and even the slight melodrama didn't bother me at all.

Other highlights...the opening sequence of Gandalf and the Balrog was excellent, yanking the audience back into the story as though they never left. All the battle scenes were not only epic, but cohesive. Some directors just don't seem to know how to put a fluid and continuous battle together (see "Gladiator"). But these (Helm's Deep primarily) were fantastic, ranking among the best ever on film.
Bottom line: The best movies pull you into their world, make you feel their emotions, and relate to their characters. "Two Towers" did all that and more, which is quite remarkable given the adventurous and fantastical nature of the film.