Good Lord, it's even better than the first. Picking up where last year's cliffhanger left off, Towers finds chosen Hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) continuing their treacherous nature hike to Mordor, while the rest of the fractured Fellowship walk into a kingdom under siege. Besides more breathtaking shots of New Zealand, er, Middle Earth, there's a quicker moving story, wilder creatures, higher tension and that deliciously wicked computer-animated Gollum.
There's plenty of blood and guts, too, when it all comes to a head during the gloriously choreographed battle at Helm's Deep, which, yes, blows away the CGI-heavy Attack of the Clones climax. Once again, Rings simply Towers above the rest.