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The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power sees two episodes on Amazon Prime now, and while I saw all of the Hobbit films in the cinema, in IMAX 3D at Vue Printworks (then Odeon), almost the biggest IMAX screen in Europe, I’ve still to see the original LOTR movies, even though I’ve got the Extended Blu-ray boxset, and have had it for well over 8 years…
Maybe one day… still, this series is a prequel.
After the young Galadriel (Amelie Child Villiers) creates an origami-style boat which floats down the river and demonstrates her unique talents with the craft, since it can move, we’re told the backstory about how the great Foe Morgoth destroyed the light of their home, and they resisted… which translates as running off to Middle-Earth. A huge battle ensued, Morgoth was killed, thousands of people were slaughtered, blah blah blah…
As such, Sauron took the big baddie’s place, and Galadriel’s brother wanted to take him out, but… yep, guess how well that one went.
Now, if I followed things properly – and I might not have done – they all headed off to Forodwaith after many centuries, and so I don’t understand how Galadriel (Morfydd Clark, in adult form, who’s also been in Crawl and 2020’s Dracula series) is still alive at that point, but then it’s fantasy fiction, so don’t try to take it seriously.
Like the average Star Wars movie, the ‘action’ moves from place to place quite frequently, but this lot eventually find what they’re looking for, even though the dialogue always sounds like they’re talking in riddles, which does get annoying after a while.
Meanwhile, in episode 2, Nori (Markella Kavenagh) becomes engrossed in the ‘giant’ who’s come to their town to stay for a while… I say ‘giant’, because he’s bigger than anyone in this world.
Add in a load more location-hopping, and along the way, there’s clearly a spark between Arondir (Ismael Cruz Cordova) and Bronwyn (Nazanin Boniadi), while Robert Aramayo – as Elrond – acts like an even more miserable Colin Firth, a bunch of strong – and faked – Manchester and Yorkshire accents, a trip on a ship, and I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
It looks great – and in the opener, it’s 17 minutes before we get the opening title, since there’s a huge Orc to be battled and defeated!, but once you’ve seen one oversized Lake District with multiple lakes falling down the sides of mountains – all with a drone flying overhead to capture the motion – you’ve seen them all.
While I loved all the Hobbit films, I understand that for this series, their director, Peter Jackson, wasn’t even consulted for this, which comes across as a big mistake. I understand that since the well of this story has been dredged fairly dry already, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power is taken from the appendicies, rather than the meat of the books.
So far, just the first two episodes are available, with new ones coming out weekly thereafter. It’s visually impressive, but the plotting is a bit dull and it drags, with leaden acting. It’s mostly endless plot exposition, and could do with some decent humour added in… well, SOME humour added in! Everyone looks all po-faced and serious! In fact, this really needed Peter Jackson’s touch, but I guess it’s too late now.
It certainly had his type of budget, since that is expected to run to $1bn for five seasons. Still, whatever the true figure in the end, it’s Mickey Mouse numbers at this point.
The episodes were not available for review prior to launch. For reasons best known to them, access was restricted to big sites and ‘influencers’ with goatees and shouty voices. I’ve been reviewing films and TV shows for over 28 years, and I’d bet my energy bill that the reviews on DVDfever.co.uk have more care and love and attention put into them than any of them, but that doesn’t count for anything, it seems.
Then again, given the price tag, perhaps they only wanted guaranted ‘yes men’ to review it, so they could control the narrative? That won’t help, since as I type, the series so far only has 6/10 on IMDB, which is very poor for the money spent on this.
The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power is on Prime Video now, with two episodes in the first week, and the remaining six being put out weekly.
Series Directors: Wayne Yip, JA Bayona, Charlotte Brändström
Producers: Ron Ames, Christopher Newman
Based on the novel by JRR Tolkien
Writers: Patrick McKay, John D Payne, Jason Cahill, Justin Doble, Gennifer Hutchison
Music: Bear McCreary
Cast:
Galadriel: Morfydd Clark
Sadoc Burrows: Lenny Henry
Elanor ‘Nori’ Brandyfoot: Markella Kavenagh
Marigold Brandyfoot: Sara Zwangobani
Malva: Thusitha Jayasundera
Poppy Proudfellow: Megan Richards
Largo Brandyfoot: Dylan Smith
Vilma: Maxine Cunliffe
Elrond: Robert Aramayo
Arondir: Ismael Cruz Cordova
The Stranger: Daniel Weyman
Bronwyn: Nazanin Boniadi
Celebrimbor: Charles Edwards
Young Galadriel: Amelie Child Villiers
Finrod: Will Fletcher
Waldreg: Geoff Morrell
Tredwill: Peter Tait
Theo: Tyroe Muhafidin
Finrod: Will Fletcher
Thondir: Fabian McCallum
Rian: Kip Chapman
Prince Durin IV: Owain Arthur
Dilly Brandyfoot: Beau Cassidy
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.