Some say the first installment of Lord of the Rings (LOTR), “Fellowship of the Ring,” is the best of the trilogy; I prefer this one. In “Two Towers,” the good guys split up into two groups and two separate storylines—one in which most of the good guys go to defend a human kingdom under siege, and the other in which two hobbits journey into a land of darkness to destroy an evil ring. The entire epic reaches its darkest, grimmest and greatest point here, since it’s in the greatest challenges that we show what we’re made of.  Consisting of some of the best battle sequences ever captured on film and the best CGI character ever (Gollum), the characters and LOTR shine the most in this installment.

Extra:

• I give 91% for the theatrical version and 96% for the extended edition. To calculate the Wise Rating, I averaged both and rounded it out to 94%.