Le Seigneur des anneaux : Les Anneaux de pouvoir

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 never read any of the books for The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit so I didn't know what to expect but I did enjoy TLOTR trilogy and the trailers for this looked pretty good so I gave it a chance. Also, they've been hyping this show ever since it was announced years ago that this is going to be the next big show everyone falls in love with so I was expecting the next Game of Thrones. It's not, I was hoping it would be a lot better than what it is. I should have known since the reviews are so mixed but people were hyping it up forever and again the trailers were pretty good. I'm currently watching season 2 and it's just more of the same. I'll probably continue watching it but it's going to be a struggle to finish it.

I really wanted to like this. After having read almost everything Tolkien wrote in my childhood and the promotional materials and the music, I was ready to dive back into Middle Earth. But on first watch, something seemed off.

Visually, the series has the same brightness of the Hobbit. It's pretty, but doesn't feel real. Even the things that are old feel new. Costume design is okay, nothing special but not terribly egregious.

The script and acting however, falls really flat. It's stiff, lifeless, and unimaginative in places and many conversations feel incredibly unnatural, both in text and delivery. It's frequently hard to watch.

But my biggest gripe is with the in-world consistency. The glory of Middle Earth is in the world building which Tolkien meticulously designed and revised. I accept that any adaptation has to take a certain amount of creative license; the LOTR movies certainly did. The difference between the two is that the LOTR movies approached the story from the same angle as the book and made minimal adaptations in order to tell the story effectively. They also were reasonably faithful to the ethos of the world. This however, does none of this, instead having the arrogance to claim better knowledge of Tolkien's creations better than the author himself. This is a show centred on Galadriel. A Galadriel that bears precious little resemblance to the one in the source material save her name. Creative license lets you create new events, delete events, merge events, or modify events slightly to tell the story better. The problem with the way it has been done is that the original plot points will no longer fit.

The thing is, as a stand-alone series, if Tolkien had never existed or the LOTR movies never made, this would actually be a half decent serial deserving 3-4 seasons to see the story through. But, in light of its origins, it really is a let down. For some reason, the only part with any life is the Harfoots.