O Senhor dos Anéis: Os Anéis de Poder

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.

I am a big fan of LOTR (both the book and the movies) and I must confess that I was eagerly waiting for the web-series. The trailer looked great and just watching it made me breathless with anticipation.

But when the two episodes released and I watched them, I was in for a massive disappointment. The CGI is good enough; but the story is pretty boring. The dialogues are cringe-worthy. The characters are very poorly-developed. There is not a single character that you actually get attracted towards or want to see more of.

Its a very mediocre effort; especially considering the fact that it is hyped as the most expensive series made for television. With so much at stake, the least that the makers of this series could have done is to have hired the best script-writers and others in the industry.

The story so far is not at all exciting. Normally, if you are watching a well made series, you are eager for the newer episodes to be released. But there is no such eagerness that I feel after watching the first 2 episodes. Yeah I might watch the newer episodes; if I have time; but I don't really find myself waiting for them.

In fact, even while watching the first two episodes, I found myself checking to see how much more time is remaining (which happens only when the movie/series is a drag).

The characters all feel completely one-dimensional and deliver some shamefully cheesy/corny dialogue. There are some really great moments here and there but it's a slog to sit through the other 50 minutes per episode to get to them. There is practically zero character development so far (I'm up to episode 7), and the characters very rarely have any memorable moments or interactions where their personality shines. The show completely lacks any discernible main forward momentum, the presence of which was the very foundation of the movies. It could all be forgiven if the action scenes were satisfying and the show had some good pacing, but they aren't and it doesn't. It feels simultaneously too slow and too fast. It's pretty remarkable how much they got wrong.

Also annoying is how every set feels so SMALL and strangely immaculate. Like all of their cosplay armor was just taken out of its box. Everything looks plastic and shiny and un-lived-in. I can't believe this cost $90 million dollars per episode... just insane.

I really hope they change writers for the second season, otherwise I don't think this will survive to see a season 3.