Starring: Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Liv Tyler, Bernard Hill, Brad Dourif, Andy Serkis, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Karl Urban, Hugo Weaving and John Rhys-Davies

Co-screenwriter/Director: Peter Jackson

Running Time: 179 mins
2 Disc DVD out to buy 26th August

• It's Lord of the Rings
• It's just as good as the Fellowship of the Ring
• The battle at Helm's Deep
• Gollum
• Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn

• You have to have watched The Fellowship of the Ring to understand what is going on
• Christmas 2003 for the next one!

The burden of the ring bearer grows stronger as the ring of power starts to enforce its influence onto Frodo Baggins (Wood) as he and Sam (Austin) continue their journey to Mordor. Aragorn (Mortensen), Legolas (Bloom) and Gimli (Rhys-Davies) persist in their pursuit of the Uruk-hai that have taken Merry (Monaghan) and Pippin (Boyd). Meanwhile Saruman (Lee) and the evil Lord Sauron are creating an army with one purpose, to plunge the realm of Middle earth into darkness.

The second part of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is here and it is even more jaw dropping than the first.

Continuing straight on from The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers thrusts you straight into the action and doesn't let go until nearly three hours later. Peter Jackson takes you into Middle Earth, creating a world that seems real, making it like you are watching a piece of history unfold before your eyes.

All of the surviving cast from the Fellowship return with Viggo Mortensen coming into his own. His portrayal of Aragorn will be remembered as one of the great big-screen heroes as he excels in the role. He has the most screen time of all of the major characters and it is thoroughly deserved as he takes command of every scene he is in as we witness Aragorn grow into the King he is destined to become. He is aided by his companions in arms Legolas and Gimli, performed to perfection again by Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies, who provides much of the movie's comic relief. Elijah Wood and Sean Astin have more drama to deal with as Frodo and Sam as they try and cope with the power of the Ring starting to consume Frodo. They do this very well, with Elijah capturing his character's despair and need for the ring superbly. Sir Ian McKellen is as good as ever, returning as Gandalf and Christopher Lee makes Saruman even more evil, but both only have limited screen time in this part of the story. Hugo Weaving and Liv Tyler return as Elrond and Arwen but while their screen time is also limited they bring the Elf's predicament of whether to get involved in war again to life with their heart felt performances. Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd move Merry and Pippin away from their comic relief limitations of the first movie as they release there is more at stake than just where they are going to find time for second breakfast.

Joining the established cast is a throng of new characters that open up new story elements to the fantasy trilogy. Chief among them is Bernard Hill's Théoden, the King of Rohan, one of the last strong holds of men and the target of Saruman's aggression. His performance brings a sadness and then dignity to the role. Miranda Otto is the beautiful Éowyn, Théoden's niece who has an eye for Aragorn and David Wenham is Faramir, Boromir's brother and the latest to be tempted by the ring.

As Frodo and Sam continue their perilous journey to Mordor, they are joined by the star of the movie, Gollum. He is the most convincing computer generated character that has ever been seen on film (for now) but he would be nothing without the performance of Andy Serkis, who provides his voice and all the movements that the boffins over at the WETA visual effects house used to create Gollum's character. Serkis's vocal talents bring the schizophrenic river-dweller to live, with the argument between Gollum and Sméagol been one of the best character driven scenes in the movie. But it's the way he interacts with Frodo, Sam and his surrounding environment that makes him so astonishing, if it wasn't for his eyes, that give away the fact that he is CG as they are quite poorly animated at times, you'd think he was a real character.

WETA Workshop has moved the goal posts again when it comes to special effects. Every other SFX house in the world will watch this movie in awe as the boundaries of visual effects are pushed beyond their limits. As well as the unbelievable Gollum, we have Wargs, Fell beasts, Ents and every other beast and monster of Middle Earth, the incredible models, armour, weapons, sets and scenery are all provided by the Workshop. Their tour-de-force is the battle of Helm's Deep. Ten thousand Orcs and Uruk-hai with one purpose, to destroy the race of men. This is a visual feast and one of the best battle sequences ever put to film.

Howard Shore beautiful score complements the visuals superbly. Rising high drama and moments of tenderness and loss are stunningly accompanied by musical renditions that will stir the soul and evoke every emotion.

A lot of the credit has to go to the driving force behind the project, Peter Jackson. With every frame of this and the previous picture, you can tell this is a labour of love from someone who leads a team and cast that is totally devoted to the material. This is a humongous task and, up to now, they have delivered big time and are two thirds through producing a piece of cinematic history that will be loved for generations.

The movie is in every way as good as the first, if not better in places but it is unfair to compare the two, as they are part of one large story. You do have to have seen The Fellowship of the Ring to understand what is going on however. The only problem I could find with the movie is that we have to wait until Christmas 2003 to see the final chapter, The Return of the King.

2 Disc Version

• On the Set - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
• Return to Middle Earth
• 8 Featurettes (Forces of Darkness, Sounds of Middle-earth, Edoras & Rohan Culture, Creatures, Gandalf the White, Arms & Armor, Helm’s Deep, Gollum)
• Music Video: Gollum's Song by Emiliana Torini
• Ten-minute "Return of the King" behind-the-scenes preview
• a preview of the 'Two Towers' extended DVD edition
• Sean Astin's short film "The Long and Short of It" (with 'making of' featurette)
• DVD-Rom content

4-Disc Platinum Series™ Special Extended DVD Edition Content Overview

DISCS 1-2:
The Feature Feature (approx. 223 minutes)- Over 40 minutes of new and extended scenes were added by Peter Jackson, including 200 new digital effects and new score by Howard Shore: Anamorphic widescreen 16x9 (2.35:1) version of the film Dolby Digital EX Surround Sound DTS ES 6.1 Stereo Surround

Four audio commentaries:
Audio Commentary 1: The Director and Writers
Peter Jackson (Director/Co-Writer/Producer) Fran Walsh (Writer/Co-Producer) Philippa Boyens (Co-Write)

Audio Commentary 2: The Design Team
Richard Taylor (WETA Workshop Creative Supervisor) Tania Rodger (WETA Workshop Manager) Grant Major (Production Designer) Ngila Dickson (Costume Designer) Alan Lee (Conceptual Designer) John Howe (Conceptual Designer) Dan Hennah (Supervising Art Director/Set Decorator) Chris Hennah (Art Department Manager)

Audio Commentary 3: The Production/Post-Production Team
Barrie Osborne (Producer) Mark Ordesky (Executive Producer) Andrew Lesnie (Director of Photography) Mike Horton and Jabez Olssen (Editors) Rick Porras (Co-Producer) Howard Shore (Composer) Jim Rygiel (Visual Effects Supervisor) Joe Letteri (WETA Digital Effects Supervisor) Ethan Van der Ryn (Supervising Sound Editor/Co-Designer) Mike Hopkins (Supervising Sound Editor) Randy Cook (WETA Animation Designer & Supervisor) Christian Rivers (WETA VFX Art Director) Brian Van't Hull (WETA VFX Cinematographer) Alex Funke (Miniatures Director of Photography)

Audio Commentary 4: The Cast
Elijah Wood (Frodo) Liv Tyler (Arwen) Sean Astin (Sam) John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) Billy Boyd (Pippin) Dominic Monaghan (Merry) Orlando Bloom (Legolas) Christopher Lee (Saruman) Sean Bean (Boromir) Bernard Hill (Théoden) Miranda Otto (Éowyn) David Wenham (Faramir) Brad Dourif (Grima) Karl Urban (Éomer) John Noble (Denethor)

DISCS 3-4 : The Appendices
Two discs of all-new bonus content, including multiple documentaries, galleries and interactive maps. Documentaries that were started with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended DVD Edition are continued here, delving deep into the stories and experiences unique to The Two Towers.

DISCS 3 - The Appendices Part III: "The Journey Continues...
" J.R.R. Tolkien - Origins of Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
From Book to Script - Finding the Story (Video Documentary)

Designing and Building Middle-earth
Designing Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
Weta Workshop (Video Documentary)

Design Galleries
The Peoples of Middle-earth
The Realms of Middle-earth

Gollum
The Taming of Smeagol (Video Documentary)
Andy Serkis Animation Reference (Video Documentary)
Gollum "Stand-in" (Video Documentary)
Design Gallery

Middle-earth Atlas (Tracing the journeys of the Fellowship) (Interactive map)
New Zealand as Middle-earth (Interactive map)

DISC 4 - The Appendices Part IV: "The battle for Middle-earth begin..."
Filming "The Two Towers"
Warriors of Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
Cameras in Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
Production Photos

Visual Effects
Miniatures
"Big-atures" (Video Documentary)
Galleries
The Flooding of Isengard Animatic
Weta Digital (Video Documentary)
Abandoned Concepts

Editorial: Refining the Story (Video Documentary)

Music and Sound
Music for Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
The Soundscapes of Middle-earth (Video Documentary)
Sound Demonstration: "Helm's Deep"

"The Battle for Helm's Deep is over ..." (Video Documentary)

The Lord Of the Rings: The Two Towers collector's DVD Gift Set released on the same day, will comprise the following:

The following contents will be presented in packaging illustrated by famed artist , Alan Lee:
Special Extended DVD Edition of The Lord Of the Rings: The Two Towers
Collectible Gollum polystone statue created by Sideshow Weta
"The Evolution of Gollum" exclusive: Bonus DVD on the Weta Workshop and how the Gollum statue was created, featuring interviews with Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, the cast and more!
A printed companion piece showing how Gollum evolved from pencil sketch to sculpted maquette to digital character