The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

This second film based on Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (The Return of the King being the last part) is an amazing combination of breathtaking adventures, outstanding characters, terrific special effects, incredible computer animation, and superb music background. Without an explanation for first-time watchers, the story immediately throws us right into action and continues right from the moment, where The Fellowship of The Ring left off.

The story captures and impresses with its unexpected nature of the epic full of colors, graphics and explosion of emotions that may leave you breathless. But apart from beauty and special effects, the film is driven by a very powerful and streamlined story that grasps attention immediately and plunges us into the adventures of a young Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) and his heroic friends – Samwise Gamgee, more commonly known as Sam (Sean Astin), Meriadoc Brandybuck or Merry "the Magnificent" (Dominic Monaghan), Peregrin Took or simply Pippin (Billy Boyd) and others.

Following Boromir's death and Gandalf's fall into the Khazad-dum pit, the Fellowship is separated, and each of the three groups has to move its own way. However, the mission must be fulfilled and the main goal must be reached: the Ring has to be destroyed.

The events of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers unfold on the hills of Emyn Muil, where hobbits friends Frodo and Sam feel they are followed by Gollum (Andy Serikis), a mysterious creature affected by his previous devotion to the Ring. Despite protests from Sam, Frodo agrees that Gollum shows the way to the Black Gates of Mordor, if they set him free.

Meanwhile, Aragorn the warrior (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas the elf (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli the Dwarf (John Rhys-Davies) find themselves in the Kingdom of Rohan. Once a courageous leader, the monarch of this land, King Theoden (Bernard Hill), has lost his glory under the influence of his counselor, Grima Wormtongue, who turns to be a spy of Saruman. Aragorn, whose heart is filled with love for the Elven Princess Arwen Undomiel (Liv Tyler), feels sympathy for Theoden's niece, Eowyn.

Gandalf, who survived the battle with the Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-dum, returns as Gandalf the White and reminds Aragorn of his main mission: to unite the Kingdom of Gondor, the last bastion of resistance to evil.

Meanwhile, hobbits Merry and Pippin manage to escape from their Uruk-Hai capturers and find themselves in a mysterious forest of Fangorn, where they find an unexpected ally, Treebeard the Ent, a living tree that was mercilessly cut by Saruman.

Following different paths, the members of the separated Fellowship have to fight with the union of evil, the Two Towers – Saruman's Orthanc and Sauron's Barad-Dur – located in the heart of Mordor, the kingdom of darkness.

The visual effects in The Two Towers astonish by realistic hordes of mystical creatures, including Uruk-Hai, the Balrog, and of course, Gollum. The latter was created using the latest technology that was later used by James Cameron to create his blockbuster Avatar and Guillermo del Toro to create his award-winning Pan's Labyrinth. Gollum was miraculously depicted as a living creature – desperately unhappy and indeed charming. Marvelously shown is the battle between the "dark" side, worn out by the yearning for "the precious", and the "good" side, while Frodo's naïve believe that "the good can still win" enchants.

It is almost impossible to create a full-fledged sequel that can match the original movie; however, Peter Jackson has shown that there's nothing impossible if you know exactly what you want and how to achieve it. Jackson showed that despite all the negativity, there is still hope for the better and there are many things to fight for.