Il Signore degli Anelli - Gli Anelli del Potere

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.

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.

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.

What a pointless exercise in burning money.

If you'd like to see how this show could've successfully adapted the material they had the rights to visit Tolkien Untangled on Youtube.

I can't fathom how terrible this show is. I just don't understand how and why it was allowed to be this bad.

There is not one redeeming feature. You could argue that some of the shots are pretty, and that sometimes the music is quite good. Even that's a stretch.

But how you transform such an epic narrative into a small, mundane, boring story with unlikeable characters, dialogue that sounds written by machine, and narrative lacking any coherence or logic is truly beyond me.

I could list everything wrong with this show, but if I did that I'd be typing for days, and I'd end up with a novel. Not one that any sane person would want to read but an actual doorstop of material eviscerating this utterly forgettable show.

I've had more fun being punched in the face than I experienced during eight hours of this horror show.

If you like it, I don't understand how.

One thing is certain, this show will not last. It will not make it to a fifth season. I doubt it will stretch to a fourth season, and even a third would be such a waste of time, and money that I don't see it happening.

Nobody wanted this show to work more than I did. It doesn't work, and it shouldn't exist.

So Amazon Studios spent about a billion dollars buying material from the Tolkien estate. What did they get?:

* Names of characters * Names of places * A tiny bit of backstory

What DIDN'T they get?:

* Any actual character-driven stories * Any actual dialog * Any in-depth material describing character motivations * ANY access to ANYTHING from "The Lord of the Rings" (the books) or "The Hobbit"

No, everything they didn't get, they had to make up, along with a bunch of brand-new characters -- and clearly the writers are not actual fans of Tolkien or his work.

So you have characters doing things they shouldn't and saying things they shouldn't and interacting with other characters who weren't even alive at the same time, all within a just decent-looking setup that doesn't even look as nice as the original movies, 20 years ago.

This was a dumb mistake, Amazon. I hope you come to realize that.