Release Year: 2002

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy

Director: Peter Jackson

Writer: Fran Walsh, J.R.R. Tolkien (book)

Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood

Ugh, sequels. Who needs them? Aren't they just evidence of directors pandering to fans to rake in that sweet, sweet cash? Aren't they evidence that our once-great cinematic tradition is sliding into decline?

Nope. Not when it's a) as good as the first film, b) filmed at the same time as the first film and—oh, yeah— c) based on the second book of a beloved, revered, and uber-analyzed work-of-literary-genius trilogy.

That's right, all of the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed at once in New Zealand, with a singular, $281 million budget… which probably explains why they were all the same (insanely amazing) quality and were released in such rapid succession. In 2002, just a year after The Fellowship came out, The Two Towers was released… and the world saw the return of Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Sean Astin, and a very realistic, slimy, and bug-eyed Andy Serkis (CGI, of course).

If you're wondering how one film can have so many principal actors and actresses, it's because The Two Towers has three separate narratives now that the fellowship has broken up. We have Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas helping Rohan defend against the tides of Saruman's massive orc army, we have Frodo, Sam, and Gollum slowly working their way toward Mordor, and then there's Merry and Pippin lollygagging around with Treebeard in Fangorn Forest.

Do all of these names sound like nonsense words a captcha would ask you to reproduce so it can laugh at you when you fail? Well then, you should probably head over to our Fellowship of the Ring movie guide and start with that one (or, you know, watch the movie). If not, staytuned—because his movie didn't win an Oscar in sound editing for nothing.

Why should you study a movie? Study a movie that's not a million years old, isn't in black and white, and was a smash-hit at the box office? Don't we mean "watch it in your pj's while drinking melted ice cream out of the carton"?

Nope. If studying the #2 highest-grossing film of 2002 (and we think it only lost out to Spider-Man because it was released thirteen days before 2002 ended) sounds a little bit ridiculous, we suggest you stay away from media studies, cinema studies and studying the brilliant work of the author of The Two Towers: Mr. J.R.R. Tolkien. Because Peter Jackson & Co's adaptation of the series is just as worthy of your time—okay, almost as worthy of your time—as Tolkien's original, genre-defining, game-changing work.

In terms of impact on the movie industry, no modern series has yet to reach the same impact of The Lord of the Rings… at least when it comes to bringing fantasy out of the Dungeon Master's keep and into the spotlight. Just think about all of the wartime, quest-oriented fantasy movies you've seen come out since the earlier 2000s. We're willing to bet you a few Silmarils that they owe their conception to LotR. Fantasy as a genre has been around for millennia, but it was the LotR trilogy that showed it could be a blockbuster success in the movie business... not to mention hitting it out of the park when it comes to small screen fan favorites like Game of Thrones.

But hey, maybe you don't care about how many movies about pointy-eared pretty boys come out… or which movie dictated their thematic and design aesthetic. We get you.

But can you really say you don't care about themes of warfare and honor? Companionship and loyalty? Industrialization and the natural world? That's right; The Two Towers isn't three and a half hours of sword fighting and situational humor. This movie isn't afraid to get as heavy as the Ring, as deep as a Rohirrim fortress, or as dark as Gollum's wildly dilated pupils.