By Landon Graybill
Intro: The Rings of Power Review
Where to Stream It? Amazon Prime Video
Starring: Morfydd Clark, Robert Aramayo, Markella Kavenagh
Produced by: J. D. Payne, Patrick McKay
The first two episodes were screened for this review.
I’d like to start this review by clarifying that I’m probably in the 50th percentile of Lord of the Rings fans. I know the community in-jokes. Like when Aragorn kicks the helmet you have to turn to the other people watching and say “did you know he actually broke his toes there in real life?” Or why asking “why didn’t the eagles just fly them there to the volcano” is a foolish question.
I watch the movies (extended editions) around once a year. I think they’re fantastic, an achievement in cinema, and one of the greatest stories ever told.
But I’ve never read the books. I have a pop culture understanding of Tolkien and his work. So I’m not going to be able to relate to hardcore book fans who have read The Simmarillion and whose objections to this new series come down to those finer details about Middle Earth that I never learned (the same details I suspect a large part of the audience doesn’t know either).
Can a non-canon story be told in Middle Earth without desecrating Tolkien’s world? I think so, and I’m cautiously looking forward to the rest of the series.
A New Story, for Better or Worse
The Rings of Power so far have set up a multitude of storylines, though the focus for now at least is on the elves. We see a young Galadriel who is deciding about her responsibility to see evil vanquished, we see a young Elrond before he became an Elf-ruler, and an Elf-soldier named Arondir deciding between duty and love. We also have been keeping up with a Harfoot (a race of Hobbits) named Nori.
It has been a slow start, no doubt about it. No one would accuse the pacing of not taking its time. I think every show with this scale sort of needs these episodes to set up the pawns and then hopefully pick up steam. We get moments of action and awe, but they’re over all too soon or set up an unclear power scale (how many Elven warriors do you need for a snow troll?!)
I think the show started working for me when the Dwarves showed up. Ever since I met Gimli I think I’ve just always been charmed by the proud, stubborn, and vertically-challenged race of smiths and builders. They also bring a much needed sense of humor into the show, and I hope we get to see much more of them.
Undeniable Beauty
The amount of money that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos threw at this project was bound to result in at least one thing: absolutely stunning visuals. The production value is just so insane, with some genuinely beautiful landscapes and costumes (I mean that Dwarven city was just *chefs kiss*).
It doesn’t always match the visual storytelling of the movies, and from what I’ve heard from book fans, it’s way off. I think there are a lot of legitimate criticisms of details that should have been adhered to (female Dwarves should have beards) getting mixed up with nonsense from anti-SJW types whining about black actors getting cast as Elves. Now should those Elves have long hair? I think that’s a legitimate question to be asking (Arondir in particular has a buzzcut)
You can’t gild a turd, but this isn’t a turd. This is a sprawling fantasy tale with lots of money behind it. Perhaps that money takes an average story and makes it visually spectacular enough to be a worthwhile watch. I’m hopeful about where the story goes, as already The Rings of Power feels much different than its contemporary, House of the Dragon. Not to say stories with sex and violence are bad, but stories for all types of audiences is what fantasy is about.
Final Thoughts: The Rings of Power Review
Maybe it’s impossible for a show of this scale to be without controversy. It’s a story that’s being extrapolated from the footnotes of Tolkien, and who’s to say how much risk and creative license to take? I think it will be interesting to see if interest in the show picks up or dies down as we get more of it.
I’d love to discuss the show with a spectrum of Tolkien fans! If you hated the CGI or loved the real props of the Harfoot village, let us know in the comments below!
