Der Herr der Ringe: Die Ringe der Macht

As a Lord of the Rings fan, I was eagerly awaiting the origin stories of Middle-earth. Of course, I have high expectations after Lord of the Rings, which is close to perfection in terms of time and fiction. Because they have a considerable budget and opportunities, that's why I gave my points by watching the first episode right away. Although it is the beginning part, I can say that I liked the first part very much. The character of Galadriel could have been more strong, but she is still successful. We will warm up to the characters better over time.

Characters: 8 Story: 10 Decor and venue: 10 Costume: 10 Music: 10.

A pleasant surprise, the cinematography is impeccable, the characters quite well done, the plot looks like a link between the stories of the First Age, the Silmarillion and the stories of the Lord of the Rings of the Third Age, the rhythm of narration is pleasant albeit a bit slow. If the outcome of the series will be to narrate how Sauron forged the Rings of Power, it will definitely be something to watch. Until this moment, I think that in general terms, at least the first chapter delivers. I think enough to be cautiously optimistic about what the next 7 episodes might turn out to be. I must add, again that I am pleasantly surprised.

We all know liberties were taken with this series so my review is not based on faithfulness to the source material.

A lot of the marketing for this show led people to fear it would be woke. I didn't see anything like that. I wasn't rolling my eyes or cringing at any virtue signalling.

The pace is a little rough in parts but since it's the beginning of the series I almost expect a little dawdling. There's a lot going on, things to be set up and introduced etc...

The characters and the story is engaging though, the cinematography was well done, and the score seemed to fit... so I'm honestly excited to see where this series goes.

Definitely give this a shot and decide for yourself.

I will start by saying the visuals are excellent in most parts, but there are also many spots where they are just average. Considering the budget, I was very surprised by this.

The dialogue is terrible in this show, to the point where I was rolling my eyes at many scenes.

The worst part of the series so far is the lead actress that plays Galadriel. She is not likeable at all, and she does stupid things like jumping off a boat in the middle of the ocean when she's like 300 miles from land. Did she expect to swim 300 miles shore?

There are only 8 episodes so I don't understand why they waste so much time on scenes that accomplish nothing. They will waste 5 minutes on a rock smashing competition which doesn't move the story along at all, and serves no purpose in the story.

I really hope the show gets better but from what I've seen so far, I have little faith it will happen. Most of the characters are dull and don't act appropriately for their race. For example, the Harfoots (basically Hobbits) don't act or "feel" like Hobbits. Go watch Lord of the Rings and you will see how engaging and delightful the hobbits are. They make you feel happy and you like them instantly. In Rings of Power, you watch these Harfoot's and you don't feel anything. It's like they are short people hanging around a little village and that's it.

It's too bad because I was looking forward to a fun new adventure series from Middle Earth and got this instead.

This is not Tolkien. This is bad fan fiction masquerading as lore. The actors are all terrible. The script even worse. (Who writes like this?). I don't even get the raving about the CGI - which is much better in GoT. Nothing in this show hits a nerve in the way the movies did. Unfortunately the show runners, writers, actors, directors etc. All seem to first and foremost struggle with getting their modern political points across. Stay clear and save yourself the time.

Elon Musk is correct.

"Tolkien is turning in his grave," the Tesla CEO and founder wrote on Twitter. "Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice."