The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson and based on the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings. It is the second film in The Lord of the Rings film series, preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and concluding with The Return of the King (2003).

 

The second film in Peter Jackson's series of screen adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's internationally popular Lord of The Rings trilogy, with the Fellowship splitting into three groups as they seek to return the Ring to Mordor, the forbidding land where the powerful talisman must be taken to be destroyed. Frodo (Elijah Wood), who carries the Ring and his fellow Hobbit Sam (Sean Astin) are lost in the hills of Emyn Muil when they encounter Gollum (Andy Serkis), a strange creature who once carried the Ring and was twisted by its power. Gollum volunteers to guide the pair to Mordor; Frodo agrees, but Sam does not trust their new acquaintance. Elsewhere, Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are attempting to navigate Fangorn Forrest where they discover a most unusual nemesis -- Treebeard (voice of John Rhys-Davies), a walking and talking tree-shepherd who doesn't much care for Hobbits. Finally, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), and Legolas (Orlando Bloom) arrive in Rohan to discover that the evil powers of Saruman (Christopher Lee) have robbed King Theoden (Bernard Hill) of his rule. The King's niece éowyn (Miranda Otto) believes Aragorn and his men have the strength to defeat Saruman, his henchman Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), and their minions. éowyn soon becomes infatuated with Aragorn, while he struggles to stay faithful to the pledge of love he made to Arwen (Liv Tyler). Gandalf (Ian McKellen) offers his help and encouragement as the Rohans, under Aragorn's leadership, attempt to face down Saruman's armies, but they soon discover how great the task before them truly is when they learn that his troops consist of 10,000 bloodthirsty creatures specially bred to fight to the death.

 

Most of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was shot in tandem with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King during a marathon 18-month shooting schedule, overseen by Peter Jackson.

 

The Two Towers received widespread critical acclaim. On the reviewer aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 221 reviews, the film has a 96% rating, along with an average score of 8.4/10. CNN film critic Paul Clinton called The Two Towers an "utter triumph", and writer Philip French of The Guardian noted in a review of the second film that "these Tolkien films have a weight and seriousness that very few sword-and-sorcery pictures of the past 30-odd years have attained." The Battle of Helm's Deep has been named as one of the greatest screen battles of all time, while Gollum was named as the third favorite computer-generated film character by Entertainment Weekly in 2007.

 

Meeting high critical acclaim, the film was an enormous box-office success, earning over $900 million worldwide and is currently the twenty-first highest-grossing film of all time (inflation-adjusted, it is the sixtieth most successful film in North America).

 

In 2003, the film was awarded two Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effects. It also received four other nominations for Best Picture, Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing (Michael Horton) and Best Sound Mixing.